Most firms have discovered the benefits of email marketing. Firms send newsletters, alerts, and announcements to clients via email on regular schedules to keep clients informed about developments that can affect their businesses and to let subscribers know about additional services the firm may offer.
If your firm has developed an email marketing program you have no doubt experienced some setbacks. Today's sophisticated spam software blocks many of the email messages from e-marketing campaigns, opt-in or not — which means many clients may miss your messages completely. Additionally, some companies set security policies that prevent email software from properly displaying some messages.
There are solutions to these issues. You can take some simple steps to ensure your messages reach clients, and friends of your firm.
1) Practice Opt-In, & Check Spam Databases Regularly
Make sure your e-marketing program is opt-in only. This simply means that you should send email only to people who have consented to receiving your newsletter. This may seem obvious — spam laws and all — but many organizations receive spam complaints even when maintaining an opt-in list. (Subscribers sometimes forget they have provided consent.)
Complaints sent to your firm can always be dealt with, of course, but complaints sent to anti-spam groups can result in the blocking of email traffic from your domain — which is a bigger issue. It is important to check spam abuse databases every so often to ensure your domain is not listed as an abuser. There are many ways to do this. Try using the Spam Database Lookup tool at www.dnsstuff.com. If you see your site listed on any abuse list you can take steps to have the block removed. Contact individual organizations for information about removal from a list.
2) Offer Format Options
Many spam-blocking software programs will block emails that contain images or other visual elements. This means that many of your HTML newsletters may never reach your subscribers. Additionally, some email programs are configured to display messages as 'text only' — meaning that all images and design elements may be stripped out before messages reach your subscriber, making your message unreadable.
To solve this problem you should offer subscribers a few different subscription options to choose from. Many companies offer their subscribers options to receive emails as HTML, or as plain text versions. Subscribers with text-only email capabilities, or aggressive spam software, will often choose the plain text option to help ensure they receive the newsletters. I suggest 2 additional options as well: 1) 'PDF', where the newsletter is sent as a PDF attachment, and 2) 'Link to Newsletter' where the subscriber receives an email with a hyperlink to the newsletter on a website. Offering more options will improve the chances that your messages will be received.
3) RSS Feeds
RSS is a method of delivering news and publications that will avoid service interruptions caused by overzealous spam filters or the incompatible software configuration. Newsletters, alerts, and other publications can be delivered electronically to subscribers that use an RSS reader program. In this way RSS is similar to email publications. The difference that makes RSS attractive to subscribers is that it isn't possible to receive unsolicited spam when using an RSS reader. Subscribers can only receive publications they have subscribed to, and can delete a subscription at any time.
RSS is still relatively new, but is a growing trend that will probably become the standard for e-newsletters. Most subscribers probably don't use RSS yet — however, there are significant numbers of people who do, and offering RSS will serve those subscribers well. It is one more service option you can offer your clients. To learn more about RSS, search Google for 'rss reader' or 'rss feeds'.
Good Service
Remember that e-publishing is a service you provide — not a gimmick. Offering your subscribers a greater number of subscriptions options is simply good service. Incorporate as many service options as you can reasonably manage, and keep track of client feedback for future improvements.