Online Marketing 1-2-3, Part 2 - eMail Marketing

by Bob Stovall

Knowing the "do's and don't's" of email marketing can make or break your business.

Last month, I presented the first part of the 1-2-3 series, Online Marketing 1-2-3, Part 1 - the Website. Remember this isn't an all-inclusive Online Marketing Tutorial, but a simplified three-step system to get you started or get you on the right track if you are using only one or two of modules at present.

If you recall, I described the website as the foundation of your Online Marketing strategy. Be sure your foundation is solid. Read my blog post Taking the REVOLUTION Online for quick check-up on the strength of your foundation.

This month, we are going to get into eMail Marketing. No matter what you may have heard, email marketing is alive and well - and will be for some time to come. In my SocialNomics blog post, one of the items that got the most attention was the slide that stated, "In 2009, Boston College stopped giving new students emails addresses."

That slide was meant to give the impression that students weren't using email. Nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, BC stopped giving out email addresses because the vast majority of them arrived with an email address already in use and they were not terribly enthused about getting a new one.

Although students are very acclimated to sending text messages about virtually everything, there are times when email is more appropriate - and for the most part, they know when those times are.

Second, even if students rely heavily on texting while in school, post-graduation jobs will require the use of email for a long time to come.

So email will play an important role in your Online Marketing strategy for the foreseeable future. You might as well do it right.

"Do it right?" What does that mean?

Some folks, especially very small businesses and independent salespersons, may be tempted to just add folks to their address book and send them emails from Outlook, Thunderbird, Apple Mail, etc.

That would be fine for personal email, but as soon as an email takes on a commercial dimension, it falls under the jurisdiction of the CAN-SPAM Act. The CAN-SPAM Act, known officially as the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003, regulates the sending of commercial email messages and sets penalties for violations. More on this later.

The purpose of the Act is to discourage that "spam" that seems to flow like a river into your INBOX. I recently took a rough count of the number of spam emails that I receive into my main email accounts. It came to roughly 800 per day. I've since installed a bit of software (SpamSieve) for Apple Mail to control it, and it is doing very nice job. It has eliminated most spam messages and given very few false positives.

Let's get back to the subject at hand.

The advantages of having a responsive email list are numerous. Some are them are:

• Ability to stay in touch with customers who have already bought from you
• Ability to contact visitors to your place of business and remind them of what brought them in
• Ability to place different persons in different mail groups to receive messages that are of interest to them
• Ability to send birthday greetings on their birthday or holiday greetings to the entire list
• Ability to notify them of special sales or promotional events that your business is running
• Ability to send a series of pre-composed emails on a schedule to every new subscriber to your email lists (auto-responder)

Businesses have successfully used email to bring the customers in with a sale or special offer at those times of year when business is naturally slow.

During the recent recession (of which many are still feeling the effects), savvy businesses used email to keep in touch with customers who may have been temporarily unable to come in and buy - positioning themselves perfectly to do more business with those customers as things pick up.

Although feeling the effects of recession more than most businesses, Lowe's and Home Depot keep sending messages on how consumers can do more with less. It keeps a flow of business going and creates a psychological debt that they can count on in better times.

Maintaining and using an email list is one of the most cost-effective things you can do to build your business. You need to add email marketing to your toolbox if you are not using it now. If you are using it now, but aren't getting the results you expect, give me a call at 859-544-9005.

How do I get started?

There are three things you need in order to get started:

1. A list of customers or prospects emails
2. A email database and mailing application
3. A willingness to compose and send a few emails per month

You may already have an email list gathered from your place of business. It may be on scraps of paper, cards, receipts or on a signup sheet. If you aren't getting the email address of every visitor to your place of business who will give it, START RIGHT NOW! I don't care what method you use - any method is better than no method.

Next, you'll have to get those emails into your email application (see below for a list of recommended email applications). Key them into the application, or if you have a lot of them, get them into a spreadsheet and follow the instructions to import them into your application.

There will be some bad addresses in the bunch and there will be some typos. Be sure that your email application has a way of handling these without choking up your email system. I had to leave a very popular open source email application off of my recommended list because of numerous problems several of my clients were having with its handling of bad email addresses.

No matter which email application you choose to use, it will offer a way to generate a form for each mailing list you create. You then place that form where you choose on your website and begin signing up visitors as subscribers. Be sure to make both types of subscribers (by paper and by email) some special offer and then deliver on it ASAP.

Once you have an email list in an email application, it's just a matter of composing and sending an email whenever you have any news that might interest those on your list.

Sound too simple? It IS simple. And it works.

Recommended Email Applications

I've maintained email lists since 1996 and have watched email marketing mature over the years. I've also spent considerable time and treasure testing various email applications for ease-of-use and reliability.

Here is a (very short) list of the email apps I have used and feel comfortable recommending:

aWeber – The granddaddy of them all. aWeber has been around for years and offers unlimited mailing lists, easy-to-use html email templates and a very high deliverability rate. Aweber is a web-based application, which means that your email list is stored on their servers, and all email is sent from their servers. They put a great deal of effort into making sure your email messages get through. They offer the 1st month for $1 and start at $19 per month after that. I'd rate aWeber AAA+.

Constant Contact – Constant Contact has been around for a long time as well. Their easy-to-use web interface provides many html email templates for your use and their deliverability rate is very high. Has a 60-day free trial and pricing as low as $15 per month. I'd rate Constant Contact as AAA.

AutoResponse Plus – AutoResponse Plus is a different kind of email application. It installs on your web server and there is no monthly charge after you have bought a license. All subscriber data is stored on your server. A very powerful application that is updated on a regular basis. Service is excellent. AutoResponse Plus is what we use here at MHMSM.com.

That's about it. If you're ready to get started, take the first action right now! Sign up for one of these services and import your email list. Then, make sure that everyone willing to give you their email address does.

Get ready to see your eMail Marketing take off!

Oh, yeah - we didn't forget the CAN-SPAM Act. It's actually very easy to deal with. Read about it, but don't let it put you off.

And if you're ready to go, but need help setting up your eMail Marketing Campaign or maintaining it, give me a call at 859-544-9005. We'll make you wonder why you didn't sooner.

ClickZ published a 10-point checklist on CAN-SPAM Compliance. Here it is for those of you who don't want to click through:

Compliance Basics: A 10-Point Checklist

Many of these are very basic and already second nature to opt-in email marketers: no fraudulent transmission data, no harvesting email addresses. Others are more complex, such as new rules regarding inclusion of a physical postal address. These are good starting points in ensuring your email program is in compliance with the new law:

1. Don't use fraudulent transmission data, such as open relays and false headers (sections 4(a), 5(a)(1), and 6).
2. Don't use misleading sender or subject lines (section 5(a)(1) and 5(a)(2)).
3. Add your postal address to all email (section 5(a)(3) and 5(a)(5)(A)(iii)).
4. If your email list isn't opt-in or double opt-in ("prior affirmative consent"), include a clear notice that states the email is an advertisement or solicitation in commercial messages (section 5(a)(5)(A)(i)). If your list is opt-in or double opt-in, you're exempt from this provision.
5. Include a "clear and conspicuous" unsubscribe mechanism in every email (section 5(a)(5)(A)(ii)).
6. Have a process for handling unsubscribes within the 10-day window. Ensure this is in place electronically, as well as for unsubscribes received via postal mail (and any other contact information you include in the email, such as phone and fax) (section 5(a)(4)).
7. Offer recipients a way to receive some types of email from you while blocking others, along with a "global unsubscribe" option to stop all future email from your organization (section 5(a)(3)(B)).
8. Don't share the address of a person who unsubscribed with any other entity seeking to send that party email (section 5(a)(4)).
9. Don't harvest email addresses or use automated means to randomly generate addresses (section 5(b)(1)).
10. Remove any sexually oriented material from your messages. The law requires such material be readily identified in the subject line. When "initially viewed," the message body should include only instructions on how to access the sexually oriented material, as well as your postal address, a notice the message is an advertisement or a solicitation, and a working unsubscribe mechanism (section 5(d)(1)). You can ignore this if the message is sent to someone who opted in (section 5(d)(2)).

Another note, not so much on compliance as protection. Under this law, if you want to protect email addresses on your Web site from being harvested, add a notice you don't "give, sell, or otherwise transfer" these addresses to "any other party for the purpose of initiating, or enabling others to initiate" email messages (section 5(b)(1)(A)).

And for those who really want to get up-to-speed on CAN-SPAM:

SO what does the CAN-SPAM Act mean to you?

Despite its name, the CAN-SPAM Act doesn't apply just to bulk email. It covers all commercial messages, which the law defines as "any electronic mail message the primary purpose of which is the commercial advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service," including email that promotes content on commercial websites. The law makes no exception for business-to-business email. That means all email - for example, a message to former customers announcing a new product line - must comply with the law.

Each separate email in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act is subject to penalties of up to $16,000, so non-compliance can be costly. But following the law isn't complicated. Here's a rundown of CAN-SPAM's main requirements:

1. Don't use false or misleading header information. Your "From," "To," "Reply-To," and routing information - including the originating domain name and email address - must be accurate and identify the person or business who initiated the message.
2. Don't use deceptive subject lines. The subject line must accurately reflect the content of the message.
3. Identify the message as an ad. The law gives you a lot of leeway in how to do this, but you must disclose clearly and conspicuously that your message is an advertisement.
4. Tell recipients where you're located. Your message must include your valid physical postal address. This can be your current street address, a post office box you've registered with the U.S. Postal Service, or a private mailbox you've registered with a commercial mail-receiving agency established under Postal Service regulations.
5. Tell recipients how to opt out of receiving future email from you. Your message must include a clear and conspicuous explanation of how the recipient can opt out of getting email from you in the future. Craft the notice in a way that's easy for an ordinary person to recognize, read, and understand. Creative use of type size, color, and location can improve clarity. Give a return email address or another easy Internet-based way to allow people to communicate their choice to you. You may create a menu to allow a recipient to opt out of certain types of messages, but you must include the option to stop all commercial messages from you. Make sure your spam filter doesn't block these opt-out requests.
6. Honor opt-out requests promptly. Any opt-out mechanism you offer must be able to process opt-out requests for at least 30 days after you send your message. You must honor a recipient's opt-out request within 10 business days. You can't charge a fee, require the recipient to give you any personally identifying information beyond an email address, or make the recipient take any step other than sending a reply email or visiting a single page on an Internet website as a condition for honoring an opt-out request. Once people have told you they don't want to receive more messages from you, you can't sell or transfer their email addresses, even in the form of a mailing list. The only exception is that you may transfer the addresses to a company you've hired to help you comply with the CAN-SPAM Act.
7. Monitor what others are doing on your behalf. The law makes clear that even if you hire another company to handle your email marketing, you can't contract away your legal responsibility to comply with the law. Both the company whose product is promoted in the message and the company that actually sends the message may be held legally responsible.

Email Marketers Must Honor "Unsubscribe" Claims

Some marketers send email as a quick and cheap way to promote their goods and services. Be aware that the claims that you make in any advertisement for your products or services, including those sent by email, must be truthful. This means that you must honor any promises you make to remove consumers from email mailing lists.

If your email solicitations claim that consumers can opt-out of receiving future messages by following your removal instructions, such as "click here to unsubscribe" or "reply for removal," then the removal options must function as you claim. That means any hyperlinks in the email message must be active and the unsubscribe process must work. Keep in mind:

• You should review the removal claims made in your email solicitations to ensure that you are complying with any representations that you make.
• If you provide consumers a hyperlink for removal, then that hyperlink should be accessible by consumers.
• If you provide an email address for removal, then that address should be functioning and capable of receiving removal requests. It may be deceptive to claim that consumers can "unsubscribe" by responding to a "dead" email address.
• Any system in place to handle unsubscribe requests should process those requests in an effective manner.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) offers downloadable files that explain requirements of the CAN-SPAM Act.

Download these PDFs to learn more:

• The CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business
• "Remove Me" Responses and Responsibilities:
  Email Marketers Must Honor "Unsubscribe" Claims
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