One of the primary reasons a lot of companies fail in their efforts to run an effective email campaign is because many of them look at email as another medium to flood with their brand and products. If you are looking at email this way, expect your marketing campaign to fall flat. While some companies can generate limited sales this way, they rarely generate enough to offset any costs incurred through this method.

Email marketing should be viewed as a way to build stronger relationships with current customers, then use those customers to help you expand your customer base. Essentially, this is another way of using word-of-mouth advertising. If you have good, strong relationships with your customers, there is a better chance that they would be willing to recommend your company to others. Additionally, they are more likely to provide your company with good reviews on public websites.

With this in mind, here are some of the keys to running a successful email marketing campaign:

Obtain email lists through opt-in subscriptions, then use them appropriately

• This is the best way to ensure you have a high quality email list. Poor quality email lists and a large number of bounce-backs could get you flagged in many spam filters, crippling future campaigns.
• Email should not be used as a way to blanket the market with offers, promotions and advertisements targeting bunch of random email addresses. It should be used as a relationship building tool.
• Make sure the people you are sending your emails to are aware that they have signed up to receive email from you, and maintain your commitment to respect their inbox. People already waste more time than they care to in order to eliminate email that is not valuable to them.

Provide relevant, valuable information

• The content in your emails should provide information that is relevant and valuable to your customers. Identify ‘pain points’ that your customers may be experiencing and provide them with solutions them. Whenever possible, provide this information for free. Providing free, yet valuable information is one of the most effective methods of building strong customer loyalty. Your customers should feel they are getting more than they pay for by doing business with you.
• Give them information on current industry trends and/or developing technologies. Use this information to get their attention and draw them into what you are offering.
• Refrain from using buzz words and overly salesy terms. Your email should be formatted more like an informative newsletter with a call to action than junk mail you might receive in your mailbox. Value is key here – that can’t be emphasized enough.

Consider the emails you automatically delete or ignore

• Put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Is this an email that you would read? If not, then your customer probably won’t read it either. Revise it.

Make sure you have an appropriate call to action

• At the end of the day, you want your email marketing campaign to be generating sales. Without sales, there is no way to justify the time and expense required to run a marketing campaign of any sort. Transitioning into a call for action is delicate in an email campaign, but it is effective if used appropriately. The key to doing this successfully is in ensuring that whatever you are offering or promoting is relevant to the information you are presenting in your email. You probably won’t generate too many iPad sales with an email focused on the benefits of the new Windows release… just sayin’.

If used appropriately, email marketing can be one of your most effective tools in building your brand. Opt-in email marketing typically has a much higher return on investment than traditional marketing methods, and it provides you with the ability to stay in constant communication with your customers. In order to obtain the best value from your email marketing campaign, make sure you to educate yourself as much as possible on your customers’ needs, wants, and challenges, and provide them with real and useful information that targets them.