Understanding Permission-Based Marketing
While putting together an email newsletter for a client, I learned some key tips on how to maximize my efforts for a bigger payoff that I wanted to share with you.
- 1. Make your database manageable
The database the client originally sent me had more than 65,000 names in it. About 48,000 didn’t have email addresses listed, so I deleted them. - 2. Know what the red flags are
That left me with about 17,000 names, which I had to upload to Constant Contact’s database in three separate files. After doing that, Constant Contact flagged the account for a review. The current newsletter would not be sent until the review was completed. Upon talking with their very helpful reps, I learned that the reason the account was flagged was because it is a permission-based marketing service. In order for the newsletter to be released, Constant Contact needed to know how the names were acquired and how far back they went. The company’s president said all the names on the list were there because they had given permission to receive email from the company. - 3. Remove role emails
The rep also said there were a lot of role email addresses. These are emails named for a specific department or group rather than a person. (e.g. Production@ABCBusiness.com) It’s impossible to verify that everyone who receives the group email gave permission, Constant Contact does not send to any of the role emails. The rep advised me to remove them from the database because why pay for something that’s not being sent? It’s pretty simple to remove them at once. Just type the first part in the contact search box followed by the @ symbol. For example, “admin@” and click search. Everything in the database with an email address that starts with “admin@” wlll be found and you can delete them at once. Constant Contact has a list of all the “role emails” they consider a problem in its resource center. - 4. Fix the errors
My database also had 282 errors. These could be ones that had typos or an extra period, but in my case, they were all ones that had multiple addresses on the same line. They need to be separated, otherwise the system doesn’t know which one to pull. Since this is a little more time consuming and I didn’t want the newsletter to be held up, I sent it out to the ones that were good. Once I fix the errors, I can re-upload the file and resend it just to the ones that didn’t get it the first time.
These are just a few of the tips that can help ensure your email marketing efforts pay off. Do you have any other tips? Feel free to let me know in the comments below. Also, please share this with your networks.
Thanks for sharing this space with me.
Robin Taney, (aka the “Get R.E.A.L Girl”) is the owner and founder of Studio 4 PR. She works with creative, independent, and “kitchen table” entrepreneurs who are highly motivated to be found by their perfect client. You can connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest, and sign up for mailing list You are welcome to use this post on your blog, provided you do not alter it in any way and include a link to this blog.
Robin is also a co-author of the bestselling book, Navigating Entrepreneurship: Secrets to Put You on an Unstoppable Course, and City Director for the Rochester digital edition of Today’s Innovative Woman magazine. Click here for a free subscription or to learn more about advertising packages.