Permission-Based Marketing

Permission. Permission. Permission. Any idea what the most important aspect of your email marketing campaign is? You got it - permission. True blue "I would very much like for you to put that in my inbox" permission.

So how do I get that kind of permission, you ask. Or, just as importantly - How do I know that's the kind of permission I have? The rest of this blog will answer all those questions and more.

But before you read on (or down, if you prefer) here's is an awesome permission marketing blog post from Seth Godin.

The type of permission you MUST have

It's not permission marketing unless you obtained permission in any of the following ways.

• They opted in via your web site. (This could either be through a newsletter subscribe form or by ticking a checkbox on another form. This checkbox cannot be checked by default and it must clearly explain that checking it will mean you will be contacting them by email.)
• They completed an offline form and indicated they wanted to be emailed. (If someone completes an offline form like a survey or enters a competition, you can only contact them if it was explained to them that they would be contacted by email AND they ticked a box indicating they would like to be contacted.)
• They gave you their business card. (If someone gives you their business card and you have explained to them that you will be in touch by email, you can contact them. If they dropped their business card in a fishbowl at a trade show, there must be a sign indicating they will be contacted by email.)
• They purchased something off you in the last 2 years. (By making a purchase from you they have provided their permission implicitly. Feel free to email them but at the same time, we think it's always better to ask anyway, so why not include an opt-in checkbox as part of the checkout process.)

Scenarios that DON'T equate to permission

Basically, anything outside the examples above doesn't equal permission in our eyes, but here are some examples to make sure we're crystal clear.

• You obtained the email addresses from a third party. (Whether you purchased a list, were provided one by a partner or bought a bankrupt competitor's customer list, those people never gave YOU permission to email them and they will consider your email spam.)
• You scraped or "copy and pasted" the addresses from the Internet. (Just because people publish their email address doesn't mean they want to hear from you.)
• You haven't emailed that address for more than 2 years. (Permission doesn't age well. Even if you got their permission legitimately, they won't remember giving it to you. If you haven't sent something to that address in the last 2 years, you can't start now.)

Tips for Managing Spam Complaints

Managing spam complaints can be a daunting task. Here are some tips that can help you lesson the burden.

• Make sure your abuse@ and postmaster@ addresses are valid and are able to receive email. Make sure that you have access to those addresses and can review incoming mail. These addresses are recommended by Internet standards set by IETF for reporting of complaints.
• Register the above addresses with www.abuse.net. Abuse.net is a clearinghouse for registered abuse addresses and is used by many network administrators and tools to send complaints to the right destination. 
• Register for a feedback loop. Some ISPs, such as AOL, will share with you complaint data they receive from their users. AOL's feedback loop is set up as part of their whitelisting process. More information can be found here: http://postmaster.aol.com/
• Provide instructions for complaints in your Privacy and Anti-Spam policies. Often times a less tech-savvy recipient will want to complain to you but will not know how. Make sure that your privacy policy is linked at the bottom of your email as part of the footer.

Six Tips to Improve Your Email Opt-In Process

1. Promote your email program at every customer touchpoint: online on each page of your Web site, in order or registration confirmations and white-paper downloads, and offline at call centers, on point-of-sale cards in retail outlets, at trade-show booths, in print ads, etc.
2. On your Web pages, briefly explain the benefit to your subscribers ("Want to get email -only deals? Sign up for our newsletter!") and provide an address field and link to your registration page. 
3. List all your email opportunities (newsletters, announcements, press lists, news alerts, special offers) on a central registration page, but group them in common categories. 
4. Keep registration/subscription to one page. Don't force people to ?click more than twice at your site (not including an email confirmation if you use it.) 
5. Limit how much personal information you request, but give prospects many opportunities to customize their subscriptions. Provide blank checkboxes to let users indicate preferences for frequency, format (text vs. HTML), content and personalization. 
6. For offline registrations, tailor the message to the medium. Keep text explanations short and sweet in POS cards (just a one-sentence benefit explanation, the field for an email address and a short privacy statement). Similarly, a brief but compelling pitch from a customer-service rep can help a prospect say yes on the phone, after the initial business has concluded.

4 Ways to Get To Know your Customers and Build Trust

1. Establish and Build Trust?. Ask only for the most necessary information at registration. (You can ask for more later, when you have built greater trust with your recipients.) Send only what you say you will, when and how often you promised at registration. Without trust, recipients are less likely to open or act on your emails and more likely to unsubscribe or file spam complaints.
2. Give Recipients What They Want and Need. ?Your subscribers expect control. If you don't give them what they want, they'll go elsewhere. Let them decide the format (text or HTML), the frequency, the content and whether you can send them other kinds of information. Then, segment your lists to reflect those choices.
3. Personalize for Greater Relevance. ?Personalization is the next step. It uses recipients own information to create highly relevant messages, which boosts the value of your email. Top-quality email service providers allow you to personalize right to the recipient level, with email that recognizes each one by name, buying history, content, format, etc.
4. Deliver Value Continuously ?Recipients' needs change over time. Your emails will compete with new and changing sources of content or offers that will affect your value proposition. Survey your recipients occasionally on their needs and interests. Make it easy for them to change their subscription preferences. Analyze each send for revealing statistics on factors such as results according to subject line, offer, links clicked, segmenting, etc.

11 Tips to Make Your Email Messages Meaningful and Relevant

1. Use your company or brand name in the "from" line, which tells recipients who sent the email.
2. Write a brief (six words or less is ideal) subject line that accurately represents the message’s major content. Longer subject lines are OK, just make sure each word is critical and the most important are in the first 50 characters – those that follow will get cut off in many email clients. Include the email’s title, if it has one (such as a newsletter title). If you can't, then include your company, division or brand name in the "from" line. List it first here. 
3. Keep HTML-format messages as simple as possible. The more gizmos you pack into an HTML message -- superfluous images, graphics, sound or video -- the more likely something won't work on your recipients' computers. Store rich-media content on the Web; limit image size and use colors that reflect your logo. 
4. In HTML messages, use alt tags and support text around images so that readers whose email clients block images by default will still get the gist of your message. Many email clients will also block alt tags, so good use of text is key. 
5. If you offer a text version, make sure the content includes links to all of your core functions and tasks. Don't force readers to click to the Web version of your newsletter to receive its benefits or manage their subscriptions. 
6. Load up on relevant links. If your goal is to funnel readers to your Web site, give them many access points, such as two or three order buttons sprinkled around a promo message instead of just one, or links to related information on your site. You've probably got a wealth of info at your site; make it easy for your readers to find it. 
7. Lose the generic action button. Instead of "click here," use descriptive terms such as "Order now!" or "subscribe me!" or "Get white paper here." Be explicit about the actions you want users to take. 
8. Test each email message before you send it, in different browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, etc.), email clients (Outlook, Lotus Notes, Gmail, Yahoo!) and platforms (Macintosh and PC). Click each link; watch out for oddities and inconsistencies in the way images load (or don't load) and in text fonts and widths. 
9. Adhere to your users' preferences for frequency, format and content. If you keep sending promo offers to people who signed up just for the newsletter, you'll lose them. 
10. However, you can promote your other publications in your messages, as long as those promos don't get in the way of the main content. For example, add a brief product offer at the end or side of a newsletter or announcement message, or list headlines from relevant news stories in a promotional-offer message. This way, you can promote other products and services without committing readers to extra emails. 
11. Help readers manage your information. Include a forward-to-a-friend link in messages where appropriate and a print option that links to a printer-friendly version of an HTML message. Label those functions, either with icons or brief text.