Email Marketing Strategy - A 'How To' Course

...This is page 7 of the email marketing strategy course. On this page we'll cover email formats.

How to Format Your Email Marketing Messages

We should take some time here to discuss the variety of ways to format an email for the purpose of marketing. In truth I'd love to tell you that one format, one design, has been proven and tested over time to be the most effective...

But I can't tell you that. Every market is different. Each 'class', or 'target group' wants some thing different, reacts to messages differently, etc.

In the email marketing target group, messages that are text based and refer to a well designed web page are the most effective and widely read. I suspect that this holds true in most business arenas, not just marketing.

The best ways to test what's right for your target market are:

• to assess the competition,
• build your own list and survey them,
• testing various formats and measuring the results.

Graphical vs. Text eMail Marketing

Years ago email software was set to only allowed text based messages to download onto a user's machine as graphics were large and it was the 'day of the dial-up user'.

Back then, eMail marketing experts worked hard to write a message that, even though only written in courier font and devoid of pictures, look enticing and organized for their readers.

As faster connection speeds became the norm however, more newsletters and email marketing campaigns started to carry images.

We've gone full circle again. Even though our connection speeds can handle large graphical downloads, images have been found to carry viruses, so our anti-virus software automatically blocks the images in email. An email message that displays an image could set off your reader's anti-virus software! One of two things happens at that point, your message looks terrible, or worse, the message is automatically deleted or shoved into a spam folder.

Email Software - Testing the Programs

If those considerations aren't enough to turn off your desire for graphical emails, consider this: an ezine or newsletter with graphical elements will display differently in the variety of email programs. Think this through. If the look of your email is that important to your ezine's message, then you surely wouldn't want some of your subscribers seeing a stretched, skewed or missing image in their email would you?

There are hundreds of email programs on the market today - you'll need to ensure that you have all your readers software selections covered.

You'd have to download, install and test the look of your email in each one of those programs to ensure that your message looks right to everyone?

Outlook Express, Pegasus, Microsoft Outlook, Eudora, web-based email programs (squirrel, hotmail and yahoo to name a few of the most popular).

Email Marketing: Suggestions on Formatting

Now although I've shared that every market is different and the formatting of your email marketing campaign would do well test various formats and measure the results, I will share with you what has worked best for me in 10 of the markets I am involved in. This is an email marketing strategy that is commonplace upon most of the successful marketers so it makes good sense to try it for your own marketing efforts.

Email Marketing Format Strategy

You'll need to 'train' your subscribers for this, but it's really easy to get them in the 'groove' of reading your marketing messages this way.

Your actual email is simply a few lines of text and a link. The link goes to a page on your website (or in some cases, an affiliate link). The text is something tantalizing, captivating, interesting enough to get the reader to click that link. The text could be a list of 'articles' covered in this issue of the ezine, it could be a short product review, it could be research information with a 'get the whole story here' link.

No matter how you slice it, you want your readers to know that your emails open quickly, get directly to the point, and give them something really interesting on the other side of their mouse click.

And the page on your website can have all the images and fancy formatting you desire. Not to mention, a few advertising images, a few products for sale, or whatever other action you'd hope your reader would take once on your website.

Next Page: We're going to take a break from Email Marketing Strategy over the next few pages and talk about Using AutoResponders for Online Income