Four Top Tips to Help You Develop Effective Email Marketing Campaigns for your Business

Developing sound email marketing programs will allow you to further develop customer relationships, increase sales, improve customer service and decrease client churn.

All too often businesses place way too much focus on just one of these techniques, namely that of avoiding spam filters, or agonising over when to send the email, choosing a correct email subject line etc., when there are in fact more fundamental ways you can use to develop an effective email campaigns.

Understand SPAM Filters, but Don’t Run Your Campaign By Them

“If you place most importance on avoiding Spam Filters, you’re missing the basic concepts!”

Use correct code in your emails! Never use that keyword in a subject line! Always send on a Wednesday to ensure maximum reads! The list goes on.

All too often, people place way too much importance on these much publicised anti spamming measure and while they should be considered to some extent, you should not base your entire email campaigns or your email marketing strategy around them.

That said, it does pay to have some basic knowledge, but be aware that many email marketing software solutions will now do many spam checks for you, allowing you to spend more time on the strategy and results.

In general, spam filters look for certain keywords and phrases when making the decision if your sales and marketing email is to be classified as spam, and therefore consigned to the potential readers’ junk/bulk mailbox.

Words and phrases such as free, click here and buy now, once in a lifetime opportunity should definitely not be used.

1. Develop your email content avoiding the following topics:

• Making money.
• Breakthrough products and services.
• Looks and sounds like a sales pitch for money lending.
• Contains urgent matter.
• Money back guarantee.
• Why pay more.

2. When creating your email content some of the things to avoid are:

• Don’t use exclamation marks. If you have a point to make, craft the sentence or phrase accordingly.
• Do not use capitals. Instead, craft your email carefully.
• Avoid using coloured fonts.
• Creating an HTML email that mainly contains one main image with little text or no text.
• Sending a test to multiple addresses at the same company.
• Developing an HTML email in Microsoft Word and exporting the code to HTML.

A simple guideline is this: I just take a look at your own junk/bulk email folder and make sure that you do not craft similar emails! On the other hand, you may find a few emails that you had expected but spam filters had consigned then to your junk/bulk email folder, so look, learn, adapt.

How do you know if your emails have been classified as Spam?

…and therefore ended up in junk/bulk mail boxes.

Check out your open rate and if it is less than 25-30% you have may have an issue with your email content. Or, as you will see below, your emails may simply not be the right emails for the right people and as a result may have become stale.

Also, review your hard bounce rates and in particular the SMTP replies. You may find some comments there as to why your email has not been delivered to an inbox.

3. Use Segmentation & Reach the Right Audience with the Right Email

Stop blasting emails to your entire list!

Effective email marketing programs, unlike the cold call email introduction, require you to know as much as possible about your contacts and clients.

At minimum, you should have recorded in your contact management or CRM their full name, gender, email address, location, company name and business type, if relevant, website, if available, marital status and career details, as well as:

• Interests in your products and/or services.
• Full purchase history.
• Previous email and website statistics, e.g. opens and clicks of previous email campaigns and visits to your website?

Armed with this type of information you will be able to segment your contact/client base and be able to develop targeted email programs and email messages.

It is not possible to design repeated emails that are relevant or interesting to all of the contacts in your CRM list. It’s a waste of your time trying to do so. But without some form of segmentation, you will never be able to predict who will respond.

With segmentation information you will be able to send targeted, relevant messages. Messages that get the results you are looking for! This will make you stand our from the huge majority of other businesses who ‘spray and pray’!

4. Automate And Be Consistent & Predictable

Don’t lose touch, your contacts deserve consistent communications, whether you have 1 lead or 1 million.


Effective email marketing applications will provide with the tools to be more consistent with your leads, contact and clients.

For example, even with very limited human resources with a sound email marketing application you can:

• Follow up new leads when they request further information.
• Inform your clients about upcoming company events.
• Send regular product updates.
• Inform your entire contact base of industry news and views.
• Deliver regular newsletters.

Clearly it takes time to set up and automate the email programs and develop the content and messages.

However, having done this, then you are in a much better position to consistently respond to enquiries and send out expected information in a timely manner. .

One thing is for sure, nowadays if you don’t do this, then you can guarantee that your competition will be consistently following up your client base with an informed, consistent and timely sales and marketing approach.

By sending ad hoc and campaign emails on a consistent basis to your prospects and clients will help you to improve your relationships, lead to an increase in sales, and a decrease in client churn.

Email marketing is sound, and very effective, but….

It’s not a cure-all!

Email marketing is not everything when it comes to developing relationships and improving sales and customer service.

You still need to make the telephone call when it is required, send the fax when the client needs a hard copy, visit your clients when appropriate, send SMSs, and indeed use any other form communication that your contacts are comfortable with.

CRM Asia Solutions offer a powerful and robust email marketing solution as well as professional email marketing services for business in the Asia Pacific region including Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Vietnam. Click here for more details or click here to contact us for more information or a free, no obligation quotation.