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Five Steps to Better Email Campaigns for Wineries |
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Wednesday, 21 January 2009 |
By Mitch Tarr
 Email marketing is often a bit of mystery on how to get it done well. I thought it would help if I wrote some guiding principles to help you step back from your email campaigns and try to make some improvements.
Generally email marketing is part art and part science. The art part is the thinking that goes into planning your mailing and you should spend some time doing this planning step before you ever send your emails out.
You'll find that this planning will get you better overall results when you look at your statistics and order rates and keep these five principles in mind.
1. Make the reader's decision to open your email easy. When you consider your reader and think about making it easy for them to decide to open your email you get more people reading. Your reader may be on their iPhone or at their desk or at home with a refreshment. Don't make them guess who the email is from what what it is about.
2. Be clear
in your content. Often I see emails which are 5 pages long with so much information in it that your reader may not know what to do with it. If it is too much information, your reader may read for awhile and just lose interest. At that point, you've lost them. They'll just move on to another email. Give them something they can read and understand--and do it quick! They're busy too.
3. Be clear in your format. If your email is too fancy, and relies too heavily on design you may actually lose your reader. Simple and clean is the best format. If you like images, use them sparingly. If you have a designer, let them know that you want the design to support the message you are trying to get across. Often a single column is best.
4. Ask for a specific action. If you want them to order some wine, ask. If you want them to RSVP to an event, ask. If you want them to visit you site, ask. If you want them to read your blog, ask. It also is way better if you only ask for one thing--don't ask for six and expect them to choose something.
5. Make it personable. Email has been one of the best marketing mediums over the years simply because it IS personal. From me to you. Everything you do that makes the email less personable minimizes the effect.
If you do these five simple things, you'll discover that your emails get opened more often, your links get clicked on more often, and your brand is enhanced. And it does make a difference. I've seen a single email sell a single case of wine and done properly sell six cases of wine. That's as good a reason as any to do this well.
Mitch Tarr is an email marketing guru and CEO of ZinMarketing Inc. Learn how to use email to cement winery-client relationships and create a buzz that sells wine and supports winery brands. For information and free reports visit Mitch's exclusive website www.ZinMarketing.com - Email marketing resources.
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