New to email marketing? We’ll teach you how to email market. We know how confusing that can be. Helping people get started in email marketing is why we created The eMail Guide! Have any questions? Send us an email: questions@TheeMailGuide.com or post a comment and we’ll be happy to respond!

So, what are we waiting for? Let’s get started!

Using Outlook for email marketing

Email marketing isn’t about what you send out. It’s about what you get back. Outlook or any other eMail client (using addons or plugins) just doesn’t support the reporting data which is so critical to building a winning email marketing strategy. At the most basic level, you need to know who opened your messages and Outlook can’t give you even this information.

Outlook means you have to handle list hygiene (removing unsubscribe requests and invalid addresses) manually. Don’t fool yourself into thinking this is not a lot of work because it is.

Outlook can tie up or even crash your company’s email server if you are sending out a lot of emails.

ISPs take a dim view of a lot of emails coming from one address/source. You may find your access turned off if you try to send out even just a few hundred eMails at one time. You may find your ISP shutting down your access or you might have server crashes as a result.

While there are creative templates available for Outlook, you really can’t be sure your creative design will translate on the receiver’s end as it looked on yours. An Email Service Provider provides the support to ensure your message’s creative arrives in the same condition it left. Considering Microsoft’s disregard for web standards with Outlook, this is a critical consideration.

Still don’t want to heed our advice and feel the urge to use Outlook?

Don’t put everybody in the CC field, use the BCC field. This prevents those you send to from seeing other’s addresses

• Check with your ISP to see what their outbound threashold is (the number of messages they will allow you to send out at once). This will fall somewhere between 20 – 50 addresses at a time.

• At the least if you want to go down this road, look into programs/plugins which work with Outlook for email marketing.

Email Marketing Laws

Knowing the basics of these laws is key to your success in email marketing. However, using a legitimate ESP will take most of that load off your shoulders since their livelihood depends on compliance. Any reputable ESP will ensure that you are provided the guidance you require to stay on the good side of the law with your email marketing campaigns.

Here are some other basic points you must follow to stay compliant with anti-spam laws in most regions:

• A valid reply (contact) address which is live and monitored.

• A propper unsubscribe address.

• Your physical address as an alternate for people to contact you at.

• Ensure your email header (subject line, from line and address) honestly represents who you are and the subject is not misleading.

Current anti-spam laws around the globe:

Asia
Australia
Canada (see also C-27 at CAUCE.org)
European Union
New Zealand
United Kingdom
United States (see also CAN-SPAM at Email Stats Center)

What’s your SPAM IQ? Take a test designed for email users here and find out!

Buying or Renting an Email List

Rule 1: You can’t legally buy an email list.
Rule 2: If someone is trying to sell you a list, refer to rule 1.

As for list rental, the only proper way is when a list owner or manager (not yourself), will send your message to their list either as a standalone message or an included advertisment.
Any other variations beyond this, fall into the realm of spam and will do your brand harm.

No Email Service Provider (ESP) will knowingly allow you to send to a list which is not permission based. In other words, you need to have a list of email addresses from people who have opted in to get email from you. You can’t buy permission.

Matt Vernhout of Thindata puts it in perspective in this video interview with The eMail Guide’s Jeff Ginsberg.

Email List Building and Growth

You can use your current contacts to build your own list. Send your first email to those you have established a relationship with and ask them to opt-in. When you do contact them, make sure you tell them front and centre, who you are and remind them of your relationship – which of course, is why they are getting an email from you.

Here are some more ways to help you build your email marketing list:

• Web forms: If you’ve got a website you should be asking people to sign up to your email newsletter there.

• Refer-a-friend: Include a forward to a friend link in your email newsletter and on your website. This is a great way to expose new potential subscribers to opt-in to your list.

• Social Sharing links should be included in all your emails and on your website.

• Always place a subscribe link right next to your unsubscribe link. If someone has been forwarded your message this is a golden opportunity to get them to join your mailing list. Never hide a remove or unsubscribe link in an email or shove it to the bottom. You’d rather have them unsubscribe then have them click the “report spam” button.

• Create a preference centre for your website. This automates management of accounts where your subscribers update their addresses, unsubscribe and change subscriptions. This will save you a lot of time and money.

• Offer incentives such as discount coupons or down-loadable content (white papers) to get people to sign up.

A word about postive and negative opt-ins:

• A positive opt-in is where you actually offer someone the chance to click a box to opt-in and recieve emails from you.

• A negative opt-in is where you might use your contact list to send them an email and give them the opportunity to then opt-out but, continue to send them email if they do not select to opt-out. In general, the positive opt-in method is the better way to go.

Email marketing is about building relationships and positive relationships take time and effort. The good news is that you already have relationships you’ve built and nurtured with current contacts and those contacts will form the foundation of your email marketing success.

Email Marketing Reports and Stats

As mentioned earlier, email clients such as Outlook don’t provide any statistical reporting. You can’t judge how effective your efforts are if you don’t know who opens your messages or who clicks through on links in them. Having this data is absolutely necessary if you want to get anything out of an email marketing strategy.

With a reputable ESP you’ll get a range of reports such as:

• Delivered: how many emails were sent out.

• Opens: how many emails were actually opened.

• Clicks: (AKA Click-Throughs or Click-Through-Rate) – how many links were clicked on.

• Bounces: a hard bounce is a non-existant address, while a soft-bounce means the email just didn’t get to the recipient that one time.

• Unsubscribes: how many people have opted to remove themselves from your list via the unsubscribe link.

• Forwards: how many email were forwarded by recipients.

• Conversions or Sales: number of those who’ve interacted or even purchased something on your website (via a link in your email).

More on metrics:
Email Stat Center
EEC Measurement Accuracy Roundtable

HTML Email Creative Resoures

Most ESPs provide templates which are easy to customize for your needs. This reduces time and effort and frees up resources on your end to focus on other priorities. Anyone who’s ever dealt with an overtaxed creative department can tell you this is a life saver. If you need some creative inspiration, have a look at these eMail creative examples.

ESPs also easily support in-house creative designs as well. It’s usually a simple matter of cutting and pasting code to incorporate your creative.

You can NOT use MS Word to build HTML which is critical for creative email messages.

Coding HTML email messages is a very hard thing to do. Here are some links whic you will find helpful:

Email marketing templates
Campaign Monitor’s Guide to CSS Support in Email Clients
Template Zone

Or use a creative service to design a custom email template for you such as:
StyleCampaign

Scaleability and Growth

Using an Email Service Provider allows you to focus on the message and not on the technical problems of growing needs. Decide what your priorities are first before evaluating possible ESPs:

• Think ahead! Where is your list going?

• Do you see your list growing to thousands or hundreds of thousands?

• How many names you have on your list and how often you are sending to them all influences what solution may be right for you

What matters most to you regarding your email marketing needs?

• Is it throughput?

• Is it functionality/features?

• Is it data reporting?

Is the company you are thinking of working with stragetic and technical enough to get you where you want to go in the long term? You may have to try more than one vendor to see what solution fits your needs.  The eMail Guide has hundreds of eMail Service Providers listed and they all have their strengths and advantages — find a vendor who fits you and not the other way around.

The eMail Guide lists hundreds of ESPs

A good ESP can simply grow with you as your needs do. Most ESPs offer free trials and if your list is small enough, some offer a “free forever” service.

Email Support and Accountability

With an ESP it’s one stop shopping for both accountability and support. If you choose the in-house route, most support issues will require you to coordinate more than one department or individual to resolve the issue. This can result in “cat herding” and we all know you can’t herd cats.

We’ve complied a list of questions you should ask any Email Service Provider before you sign on the dotted line.

Scott Hardigree guides you through hiring an email marketing expert here.

Email Marketing Tips and Tricks

• Start small and keep it simple!

• Connect with others and see what they are doing. A simple Google search for examples will bring up a lot of inspiration.

• Take a look at examples featured in industry blogs and at many Email Service Providers websites.

More helpful articles on email marketing:
What email marketers can learn from Sherlock Holmes
A good post to start with!
Glossary of email marketing terms explained in plain English
Knowing the lingo means a better comfort level and brings wisdom.
Great email marketing conversation starters
Some great talking points to get those meetings buzzing.
Using HTML to improve your click-through-rate
There’s more to it than just grapics and hyper-links.
Creating relevant email marketing campaigns
Your campaigns won’t work and your reputation will suffer if they are not relevant to your subcribers.
Never use a “no-reply” address…EVER
Your reply address should be monitored by a real person who responds to subscriber feedback.

Our friends at EmailBrain have put together a comprehensive glossary of eMail marketing terms. It’s a living document and we’ll keep adding to it as needed.

Takeaway: Knowledge is power but, sharing is wisdom.

Please feel free to post any additions you think we should add!

A/B Split

A mailing list is divided into two equal segments, and each is tested for different offers in order to determine which is more effective.

Above-the-fold

The portion of a web page that you first see without scrolling. “Above-the-fold” is generally the more desirable location on a Website because it is the most readily visible. Any opt in links, tags or banners are better placed at this location.

Ads or sponsorships

Advertising space purchased in an email newsletter or that sponsors a specific section, article or series of articles in an email newsletter and that targets a given audience. The copy can be inserted into the body of the email as text, HTML or both.

Auto Reply

An automated reply message usually set up by the user that alerts the sender when the intended recipient of the email is ‘out of the office’ or ‘away on vacation’.

Bandwidth

Bandwidth refers to the volume of information that can be moved over a network such as the Internet in a specific amount of time.

Blacklist

List of domains or IP addresses that have been identified as senders of SPAM (unsolicited commercial email). ISPs often use blacklists in their filtering process to determine which IP addresses will be banned from their servers, thus protecting members from unwanted email.

Blacklists, however, also include legitimate email service providers that end there after a few spam complaints.

Blocking

Action usually taken by an Internet Service Provider (ISP) or corporate servers that prevents email messages from suspected spammers to reach the inbox in their intended destination. Usually, the ISP bounces back a message to the sender to inform the their email has been blocked.

Bonded Sender Program

The Bonded Sender Program identifies legitimate email traffic. Legitimate email originators post a financial bond to ensure the integrity of their email campaign. If you receive an unsolicited email from a Bonded Sender, you can complain to their ISP, enterprise, or to IronPort Systems (sponsor of the program) and a financial charge is debited from the bond. This allows email senders to ensure their message reaches the end user, and provides corporate IT managers and ISPs with an objective way to ensure that only unwanted messages are blocked.

Bounce

A ‘bounced’ email is one returned to the sender, usually with a message, which indicates that an email sent to a particular address could not be delivered. This happens when the address is no longer valid or the recipient’s ISP and/or email servers were not functioning for 3 days in a row. Bounces can be ‘hard’ or ‘soft’.

(See also: Hard bounce; Soft Bounce)

Call-to-Action

Wording that encourages taking a certain action: “Click here to subscribe to the newsletter”, “Register today for a free trial of our marketing resources!”

CAN-SPAM Act

The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act) establishes requirements for those who send commercial email, describes penalties for spammers and companies who advertise their products in spam messages if they violate the law, gives consumers the right to ask spammers to stop sending their messages.

The CAN-SPAM Act can be found here

C-27

Canadian ecommerce bill similar to the U.S. CAN-SPAM act. The bill is comprehensive, wide reaching and and eMail marketers must be compliant with the new law which is expected to be passed by the end of 2009 – more info here.

Click through Rate (CTR)

CTR is an indicator of response to a given email message. It is measured by the percentage of recipients that click on a link enclosed in the email. To determine the click through rate, you divide the number of responses by the number of emails opened and multiply the result by 100 to express it as a percentage.

Confirmed Opt In (or Double Opt In)

This formula of obtaining permission to send email messages and/or campaigns requires that the subscriber confirms his subscription by clicking on a confirmation link or by replying to a confirmation email, before you include them in your opt in list. See also: Double Opt in

Content

The copy (text), graphics and images in a web page, Website and or presentation.

Contextual Link

A link to a Web location that is incorporated into a line of text in a simpler way than a conventional link. For example, click here [[not an actual link]] to return to the EmailBrain home page.

Conversion Rate

A measurement of a campaign’s success, this is the number or percentage of people out of the total population reached with a specific campaign that actually respond to the call-to-action in a message. The conversion can be measured in sales, subscriptions, appointments, phone calls, etc.

Copy

The text in a web page, Website or campaign, as opposed to the images and graphics.

CPA (or Cost per acquisition)

A payment model where payment is contingent on certain actions, such as sales or registrations.

Database

A database is an organized collection of information stored in a computer, which can be accessed and consulted in different ways. In terms of email marketing, your database is the software where you store your records, forms and lists. There are numerous forms of databases, including MS Excel, Outlook, Outlook Express, Netscape, Oracle, and Sybase.

Double Opt In

“Double opt in” or “Confirmed opt in” is a means of additional security that consists in requiring that email accounts are first opened and later verified by means of a validation message via email that only the person who has access to the account can respond to. Double opt in is regarded as the gold standard for secure email marketing. (See also: Confirmed Opt in)

Email Campaign

When you build an email and send it to your recipients using EmailBrain this is defined as an email campaign. Your campaign may be a newsletter or may consist of offers. Some marketers may define a campaign as a series of email messages using a common theme, but in the EmailBrain system, any email sent is classified as a campaign.

Email Client

An application used to send, receive, store and view email.

Email filters

“Filtering” is a technique used to block email based on the content included in the “from:” and/or “subject:” lines, or in the copy of an email body. Filtering software finds key words that identify an email as spam. In this case, the email messages are blocked on an individual basis.

ESP

Email Service Providers (ESPs) are companies like EmailBrain that provide a service that enable a user to send permission-based email campaigns to other designated users. They are usually Application Service Providers (ASPs) who offer their services in an online fashion. There are also software ESPs as well.

ESPC (Email Service Provider Coalition)

A coalition formed to fight spam and protect the delivery of legitimate email. ESPC members are active in the war against spam.

False positive

A legitimate, permission based email that is false positive occurs when a legitimate permission based email is erroneously filtered and/or blocked as spam.

Font

A type with dimensions and style that are specific to a type family (for example, Gill Sans Serif Condensed Bold 12).

Footer

An area at the bottom of an email where you find information such as disclaimers, privacy policies and subscribe/unsubscribe instructions.

Frequency

Periodicity in the distribution of an email message, newsletter, campaign, etc. Frequency can be daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, etc.

From: Line

The line at the top of an email message where the sender typically types his/her name/company.

Hard bounce

The failed delivery of an email message that is rejected and returned to the sender due to a permanent reason that cannot be resolved, such as a non existent address, an unknown recipient or a domain that doesn’t exist.

Hard bounced email

(see: Hard bounce)

Header

The header of an email is a part of the document that is usually not visible to the recipient unless ‘view headers’ feature of their email software is selected.

Headers include information such as the server from where the email was sent, the program used to originate it, the route it followed through the Internet, and more.

Headline

The headline in an email marketing message usually speaks of the company sending it and entices the recipient so that he/she reads the whole message.

House List (or retention list)

This is a permission based list that you build over time through your relationship with your customers and use to market, cross sell and up sell, as well as to connect with your customer base. This list is one of your most valuable assets (remember the notion that it is seven times less expensive to market to an existing customer than it is to procure a new one), so make sure you update it and make it grow.

HTML email

This is an email message composed with Hypertext Markup Language (HTML, a language designed for the creation of web pages and other information viewable in a Web browser), as opposed to plain text. Since HTML allows you to apply a wide variety of text effects, graphics, images and background colors, the result is a more appealing message that can increase response rates up to 35%.

ISP

An Internet Service Provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. AOL, Juno, Yahoo!, MSN, Comcast and various local phone companies are common

Landing Page

The page on a website where the visitor arrives, It is not necessarily the home page, but maybe a bookmarked page or a linked page. In the sphere of email marketing, the landing page is the page where the message directs the recipient via link.

Layout

The way the content -copy, images and graphics- is organized in an email message, with the intention that it effectively captures and retains the recipient’s attention.

Links

Text, graphics or images that direct to another online location when clicked.

Load Time

The amount of time it takes for a web page to open completely in the browser window.

Mailing List

A list of email addresses to reach with specific campaigns or email messages.

Multi-part MIME Email

Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) is an Internet standard format for email. Almost all Internet e-mail is transmitted in MIME format.

Navigation

Moving click by click -around the Internet- from website to website and from page to page in a single website, as well as within a single web page.

Notified Opt In

Notified opt-in a format in which, once an email address is subscribed to the list, a message is sent offering the subscriber a chance to be removed from the list. If the subscriber decides not to unsubscribe, his/her information remains in the list until he/she opts out. This method subscribes the account by default, so it does not require active confirmation by the subscriber.

Nth Sampling

A secondary mailing list that is produced based on every Nth address. For example, in a Tenth Testing, an email is sent to every record in the list that is a multiple of ten (10, 20, 30, 40.).

Open Rate

The number of recipients who actually opened your HTML email message -of the total messages sent or in a given marketing campaign. In either case, it is typically measured as a percentage of the total number of emails sent.

The open rate is considered a useful measurement of the response to an email marketing campaign. Open rates for messages in text can not be calculated.

The rate is only valid when the message has actually been opened, but some email clients allow recipients to scan the content in their messages before opening them, which renders false opens.

Opt In (or subscribe)

The action of actively agreeing, via email or other means, to receive messages from an email marketer, thus giving the particular individual, website or company permission to send their messages to you.

The opt in or subscribe to formula often fans out an assortment of products, services, and areas of interest for the potential customer to choose from. It tends to render a higher response rate than the opt-out method.

There are different types of opt in practices, some more complex than others.

(See also: Double Opt in, Notified Opt in, Opt out, Single Opt in)

Opt Out (or unsubscribe)

The action of actively demanding, via email or other means, to be removed from an email marketing or membership list. The recipients will continue receiving messages unless they clearly state that they no longer want to remain in the list.

Usually, in order to opt-out or unsubscribe, the individual has either to click an “Unsubscribe” link placed in some conspicuous area of a website or email message, or reply to an email message after typing the word “Unsubscribe” in the subject field.

The opt out formula of building a list tends to render lower response rates than the opt in method.

Permission based email

The practice of only sending email marketing messages/newsletters to a list of recipients who have agreed (opted in, subscribed or requested) to receive them from an individual, a website or a company.

Legitimate, professional, reputable email individual or company marketers use this method to build their business.

(See also Acquisition list)

Personalization

The practice of writing the email messages in a way that makes the recipient feel that it was composed specifically for him/her.

Including the recipient’s name in the salutation line, references to his/her message/purchase in the body, and suggestions based on previous business with the recipient, all contribute to the personalization of your message.

Phishing

A scam in which a spammer poses as a reputable third party -such as a bank, a government agency or an educational institution- that might be trusted by the recipients of an email designed to impel these recipients to disclose personal information (Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, bank account numbers) or to purchase illegal or counterfeit products or services. (See also: Spoofing)

Privacy policy

A thorough description of how a website or company uses the information collected from and about subscribers and/or visitors to the website.

When subscribers, customers and prospects trust you with their information, they expect that it will be safe. If you expressly state your privacy policy, subscribers, visitors and prospects will more readily share information that adds value to your relationship.

Rental list

A rented list of prospects or targeted (by interest category, demographics, profession, etc.) group of recipients who have opted in to receive information on chosen topics.

A rental list must be permission based, usually costs between $.10 and $.40 per address and is never sold.

Beware of inexpensive ‘targeted’ or ‘clean’ list offers that don’t certify that they are opt in, permission based.

(See also: Permission based email/email marketing)

Salutation

The first line in an email message, where you address the recipient. It can be a generic salutation (‘Dear/Valued subscriber’, ‘Dear/Valued member’) or a more personalized one (‘Dear Jean’, ‘Hi, Peter.’, ‘Hello, Tom!’)

SenderID

An email industry initiative headed by Microsoft and other industry leaders to offer a technical solution against phishing/spoofing -a popular deceptive practice used by spammers. (See also: Spoofing and Phishing)

Signature File

A short block of text automatically posted at the end of an email message identifying the sender and providing contact and other information on them.

It can be used as a means to communicate a message and/or add a call-to-action with a link.

Single Opt In

It is the most widely used method of winning subscribers, compiling email addresses and obtaining permission -through the subscriber’s proactive participation and after an acknowledgement email.

A single opt in list is created by inviting visitors and customers to subscribe to your email list through a sign up tag on your Website. The subscriber immediately receives a message from you acknowledging the subscription, and should state what the subscriber signed up for and indicate how he/she can edit his/her interests or opt out.

However, single opt in email practices are susceptible to spam traps -email addresses or domains that have not registered to receive any email. Sometimes people deliberately or inadvertently subscribe spam trap addresses to their lists, and are then blacklisted by the ISP or the organization operating the spam trap.

Soft bounce

The failed delivery of an email message that is rejected for a temporary reason -such as full mailbox on the recipients end- or because the receiving server is unavailable due to maintenance or repair.

Soft Bounced Email

(See: Soft bounce)

Spam

Spam, the common reference to UCE (Unsolicited Commercial Email) refers specifically to email of a commercial nature that a recipient has not subscribed to or actively requested.

Spam is unwanted, unexpected email from a sender unknown to the recipient.

Sending email to people who have not requested your messages will likely result in spam complaints.

Spoofing

Spoofing is a scam in which malicious individuals forge a sender’s address on email messages in order to impel the recipient to read and respond to deceptive mail.

‘Spoofed’ mail often involves phishing scams, damages the reputation of the individuals or companies whose names are used to send the messages, and threatens the online privacy of consumers.

(See also: Phishing)

Subheadings

Subheadings (also referred to as ‘subheads’) are lines of text in the copy that serve as subtitles for the content that follows. In a layout, subheads break up columns of type and render a page more dynamic, appealing, and easier to read.

Subheads

(See: Subheadings)

Subject Line

The field in an email message where the sender indicates the topic of the message. In email marketing, it is often used to motivate the recipient to open the message and read its content.

Targeting

Delivering your emails to those recipients who are most likely to be receptive to your message, according to geographic, demographic, psychological and behavioral criteria.

Teaser

A short, enticing text or compelling image in a message designed with the purpose of causing the reader to explore further into the message or website before the actual offer or promotion is revealed.

Timing

Scheduling the delivery of email so that it reaches the recipient at the best time.

Timing might be seasonal (spring break, summer vacation, back to school), dependent on holidays (Christmas, Easter, Independence Day), etc. or on a standard schedule (Monday mornings, Friday evenings, every two weeks).

The day of the week and the time of day when a mailing goes out are important. Mailing out messages on a Friday afternoon can be great for a retailer, but Monday mornings are best for business to business, for example.

Tracking

Identifying, collecting and evaluating data that reveal the effectiveness of an email, a mailout or an email campaign.

Type

A size or style of typewritten or printed character. For example, a serif typeface, a sans-serif typeface, a bold type, a 12-point type, 14-point type.

Unique Forwarders

The number of unique individuals who forward an email. Each person that forwards a particular email counts as one individual, no matter how many times they forwarded that particular email message.

Unsubscribe

(See: opt out)

Up Selling / Cross Selling

Offering existing customers the opportunity to purchase products or services related to items in which they have shown interest or purchased previously.

URL

Acronym for Universal Resource Locator, a website, web page or address to any other document located on the Internet. URLs pinpoint the location of every file on every computer accessible through the Internet.

Usability

A measure of how easy it is for a user to complete a task on a software or online. In the context of email marketing, it refers to how easy a subscriber or prospect can opt in and opt out of a list, and how easy it is to find and use the resources they are offered.

Value

The overall appeal and usefulness prospects and customers find in a product or service.

Viral Design

Elements, functions and content included in a communication that render the message ‘contagious’ in the sense that recipients feel impelled to pass it on to others, thus leveraging the marketing effort.

Viral Forwards

The number of referrals sent.

Viral Responses

The number of recipients who actually opened a forwarded message and clicked on a link.

Viral Marketing

A method of marketing in which a company’s customers participate voluntarily. It is often referred to as word of mouth (or WOM) advertising. With tools that motivate people to refer or recommend a product, service or specific offer to others (lines such as “send this to a friend”), this method is very popular for email marketing.

Whitelist

The opposite of a blacklist, this is a list of commercial emailers (individuals, companies and ESPs) who have been approved to send mail through a certain ISP. Each must provide the ISP with a list of the IP addresses from which email will be sent, and sometimes must also complete a test period after which each will be approved or rejected.

An IP address included in a whitelist is authorized to deliver email even when blocking measures are in place.

When an email service provider states that they are ‘whitelisted’, this means that their IP addresses are registered with and authorized by specific ISPs, which is a guarantee that the messages sent through this provider will be delivered.

(See also: Blacklist)

Thanks again to our friends at eMail Brain!