There are essentially two different ways to use email marketing as a way to generate sales, acquisitions, or communicate a message for any size company. Usually, however, it’s larger companies that have more refined and elaborate processes for their email marketing activities. When you talk about email marketing you have to seperate it into internally deployed email and 3rd party deployed email. Both are effective at communicating messages and inspiring actions.

Internal email message are usually either meant to communicate a company message or update, or intended to inspire previous customers to purchase more product. Internal email marketing has several integral components that have to be on point to get the most out of your efforts, they include:
- Deliverability - making sure your mail server is getting the mail through the ISPs. This needs to be monitored and managed by someone in your IT department on a monthly basis.
- Subject Lines - Many marketers under-estimate the importance of subject lines, but subject line effetiveness ultimately determines how many people open the message. Good open rates vary from about 10-40%.
- From Lines - From lines are important because many people look at who the email is from to determine if they trust the source or sender. So make sure you are as straight-forward as possible.
- Email Message and Layout - properly crafting an attractive email layout, that is attractive, easy to read, and not to long, is essential. People will quickly delete an email that is not “speaking to them” right away. Make sure you combine a light graphical layout with easy to read, well-crafted copy, and a good call-to-action to ensure your emails are read and acted upon.
- Unsubscribe Link - Of course you can’t leave out a way for your members or data to remove themselves from hearing from you again. This is accomplished by having an “unsubscribe” link in the email that the user can click on and go to a page on your site to indicate they are removing themselves from your list.
- Frequency - How often to send internal email to your members or users is always a debatible issues. I tend to lean towards less frequent, more impactful emails as being the most effective, although some marketers swear by increased frequent. However, if you insist on “hitting them over the head” everyday with emails you can expect a fairly high attrition rate.

3rd-party email marketing has been around for several years now and has gone through many changes. Initailly, there were hundreds of email companies that were looking  to send out “offers” on a CPA or CPL basis. Over the years, as email became harder to deliver, email marketing companies thinned out significantly. However, email marketing has remained as a very viable way to generate acquisitions or leads. Companies like Datran, Virtumundo and Lead Click have been some of the larger companies that have endured. But there are many other “list owners” and “list managers”out there that attempt to monetize email data. A lot of the publishers that produce traffic and revenue for 2nd and 3rd tier affiliate networks like Azoogle and Adteractive are email driven. Some companies are OK with email marketing and some are not. as long as you are conforming to the CAN SPAM act of 2003, you should be fine with using email marketing as a great way of driving sales on a performance basis.

All and all, email marketing is a must for any company. It’s more than just sending out email to your list, it really is how it’s being done and with what message. If you would like more info on email marketing, feel free to contact us through this site! Thanks and have a tremendous day!