1. Industry Insights
2. E-mail Marketing Tips
3, Sales Tips

Industry Insights
As the economy continues to grind along and marketing budgets are stretched further and further, we've found that e-mail direct mail campaigns are excellent lead producers, cost less, and take less time to oversee. We're strongly recommending direct e-mail to our clients and have witnessed good results all year. The downside? There aren't enough good opt-in e-mail lists (lists where the recipient and stated that the or she wishes to receive this kind of information). The upside? More opt-in lists are becoming available all the time.

We've included a series of tips for those who have some experience in direct e-mail. If you want basic e-mail marketing tips, please e-mail me and we'll try to help. But we've found that a number of companies have tried direct e-mail and now want to refine it. Here's some of what we've learned.

Sales Tips: Qualifying a Prospect

Questions that need answers during the initial sales call:

• Who will be involved in the decision making process?
• When will this project be fully operational? When will the first pilot need to begin?
• What is the project budget? (It wastes everyone's time if your solution exceeds your prospect's budget.)
• If it is a technology sale, be sure to gather relevant information about prospect's present technology platform as well as any anticipated changes.
• Is your prospect speaking with other vendors? If so, whom?
• At this time, what will be the decision making criteria?
• If appropriate, do you anticipate developing an RFP?

• Current Issue
• December 2003: Update on Federal Anti-Spam Legislation
• November 2003: Direct Mail Tips
• October 2003: Impact of Spam on Direct Email; Value of PR (Part III)
• July 2003: The Value of PR (Part II)
• March 2003: The Value of Public Relations (Part I)
• December 2002: Reader Feedback on Hawthorne's 50 Tips
• November 2002: Making Sales in a Tough Economy
• September 2002: The Secrets of Effective Communication with Customers, Employees and Partners
• June/July 2002: ROI & Distance Learning
• May 2002 Newsletter: Accelerating E-Learning Adoption Inside Organizations
• March 2002 Newsletter: Trends in the Training & E-learning Industries
• October 2001 Newsletter: Marketing Thoughts
• August 2001 Newsletter: E-Mail Direct Marketing Tips
• June 2001 Newsletter: Marketing E-Learning Inside Organizations
• May 2001 Newsletter: Sales & Marketing Tips for Tough Times
• March 2001 Newsletter: Search Engine Visibility Tips
• February 2001 Newsletter: Trade Show Tips
  
• January 2001 Newsletter: Marketing Tips

1. Keep the subject line short and to-the-point -- remember that many folks may only see the first few words of the subject line in their email program. If you are renting a list, some list owners might include a code or their own name at the beginning of the subject, further curtailing the space you have for a subject line.
   
   
2. Set up a separate web page (at a unique URL) for each email campaign. Why?
   
   -- Because the URL is only be available to recipients of the campaign your are tracking, tracking the number of unique visitors to that web page will give you an accurate reflection of the campaign's response rate.
   
   -- The ability to quickly and accurately track response rates means it's easier to test different messages and offers. Response data may show that one offer pulls more than another - you can use this information to fine-tune your message for future campaigns.
   
   -- Email campaigns that point only to the sender's home page often end up "stranding" recipients... leaving prospective customers on their own to find information relevant to them or to the offer. This drastically reduces your chances of capturing vital lead contact information. Setting up a web page specifically for recipients of your email campaign allows you provide a more personalized experience for people who respond. The page will contain information specific to the product and offer and ideally will immediately begin the process of collecting the lead's contact information.
   
   
3. Make sure the URL is in the first or second paragraph -- the goal is to let the recipients see and click on the URL for the web page you are directing them to without having to scroll down to find it.
   
   
4. Be cautious when using HTML-enhanced emails. Using HTML to create vivid, eye-catching messages can have a downside: while most of your prospective customers might very well have email programs capable of viewing HTML emails, some will not.
   
   -- Some email broadcasting services and software packages give you the opportunity to send a text-only version along with the styled, HTML-enhanced email, thus reducing the chances that a recipient will open up your email to nothing but a jumble of code. Take advantage of this option when offered.
   
   -- If you are purchasing/renting a list to broadcast to, you may not have the opportunity to use HTML, since many list owners will broadcast text-only (ASCII) messages. Take great care in preparing text-only messages so you know EXACTLY what they will look like in the recipient's mail box. If you prepare the copy in Word, for example, save the file as a "text only" document, close the document, then re-open it to see if anything changes or is lost. Many characters available to you in a word processing document cannot be sent as ASCII text.
   
   
5. Be sure your website has a privacy policy. Include a link to your privacy policy anywhere you ask visitors to submit personal or contact information. When renting or purchasing a list for email marketing, some list owners require that your site have a privacy policy posted.
   
   
6. And last, but not least, a few tips you probably HAVE seen elsewhere, but we think are worth repeating:
   
   -- When purchasing/renting a list, be sure to use "opt-in" lists only - a list of recipients who have chosen to receive offers of this nature.
   
   -- Be sure that every email message contains "opt out" or "unsubscribe" instructions.