Internet Email Marketing the Right Way...

This is the hot topic of the last few years. Email marketing has gotten such a bad name that most small businesses don't want to hassle with the potential harm even to get the potential reward. In fact, if you follow a few simple guidelines, email marketing is not only easy... it can be very profitable. The following are guidelines we encourage every business to use if you are going to use email as a promotional technique for your web site.

NEVER: Never send SPAM. Spam is defined as unsolicited commercial email. So, if you send out a mass email to addresses that have not SPECIFICALLY given you permission to market to them you are SPAMMING. Just don't do it. A number of bad things can happen including having your web hosting company turn your site and your email off. This is NOT the way to operate an email marketing campaign.

DO: Use an automated system to allow people to sign up and opt-out of your system. Also make sure you gather the time the customer opted-in and the IP address they used to do it. This will help if you are ever accused of SPAMMING.

If your email list is being developed from an opt-in form instead of from a customer interaction (they purchase something) make sure your system supports double opt-in. Double opt-in allows the user to sign up for an email list. The user is then automatically sent an email that informs them that they must click the "affirmation" link to actually be added to the list. If they don't click the link within a certain time period they are automatically removed from the database.

DO: Do ask permission to market to your site visitors and only use their address if they have given you permission. In most cases customers (defined as people who make a purchase from you) expect to receive additional emails from you and, for the most part, will not complain about an email or two a month.

DO: Include an OPT-OUT link on every email you send out. This opt-out link should be so designed that they don't have to enter their email address to opt-out. When they get to the opt-out site the email address should already be in the opt-out email address text box. Make the link obvious and it doesn't hurt to mention the opt-out link at the top of every email you send.

DO: Have an automated opt-out system that works immediately. As soon as they click the opt-out button the system should remove them from the marketing email system.

DO: Only send information that the receiver has requested. 

DON'T: Don't use your email marketing to promote other companies unless you specifically told the customer that you were going to do this.

DON'T: Over use the list. Generally you can send an email every week or two but sending more often will increase the number of people who don't read the email or worse, opt-out of your list.

DON'T: Purchase email lists. Even though the company may be reputable and they guarantee that the email list is double opt-in the chances are good that the list will result in at least a few of the people reporting you for SPAMMING. With the huge quantity of SPAM no one is tolerant of SPAM email.

That's about it. Following these guidelines will keep you out of the fire in most cases. Even if you follow all of the guidelines you will occasionally be reported as a SPAMMER. If you are reported, respond to the accusation immediately with all of the opt-in information provided, when they opted-in and note that the email the user complained about included an opt-out link.

Don't let the fear of something going wrong stop you from using a valid and profitable marketing system. Just make sure you do it the right way.