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Brian's
Introduction
By
Brian Walsh (Founder & CEO of
Entrepreneur.co.za)
Bulk e-mailing has a bit of a negative image
courtesy of all the rubbish we get in our mail
boxes particularly from spam. However having
said that, it is still one of the most powerful
cost effective communications and marketing
tools there is for entrepreneurs to use. The
important thing is to use it correctly.
So what does it mean to use it correctly?
1) Well
firstly, make sure you do not send mail to
people who have not asked for it. I know it is
tempting, but do not buy lists and send
unsolicited mail. Rather build your own mail
list of friends and colleagues and grow it from
there.
2) Opt-in
– this is a global anti-spam standard which
ensures people joining your list do so
intentionally. It basically makes people confirm
they are joining generally by clicking on a link
sent via e-mail to them.
3) Auto
unsubscribe – on all mails sent there should be
an auto unsubscribe link which will
automatically unsubscribe someone without your
intervention. This ensures the list manager
doesn’t simply re-subscribe them. Traditionally
in mail management systems this happens without
your knowledge of who is unsubscribing.
4) Size
– do not send large mails to your lists without
their express permission. Newsletters and
announcements should never exceed 100K
(preferably a lot less) which is a general
standard in bulk mail systems.
I have mentioned mail management tools above and
highly recommend that you use one. We at
Entrepreneur co-developed a system with our
software partners that you can use at incredibly
good rates. A tool like this ensures you have a
managed opt-in joining process, click through
tracking (which records every time someone
clicks on a hyperlink in your mail), grouping,
subscription plug-ins for your website, bounce
tracking, Outlook compatible, full statistics,
complete control of your lists including
downloading and uploading and auto notification
systems.
I should mention that many people send out
newsletters or announcements for the first time
and are concerned when only around five percent
of recipients click through on a link. This is
an acceptable average by industry standards.
People who receive newsletters only read every
fourth or fifth newsletter, however they still
want to be on the list, so you should not
despair. If your newsletter is relevant, a good
percentage of your subscribers will read at
least one out of every four you send. Be patient
and persistent because a well-managed regular
mail campaign will definitely produce results
for your company.
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