By Sarah Wilkes
Even though the basic intention of creating an email marketing campaign is to generate leads and push for sales conversions, it is important for every email marketer to first establish credibility in the eyes of its target audience. It is imperative that every email marketer gains the trust of its target audience by giving them due respect, offering tips and advice with insight, and sharing valuable information that will benefit them.
The First Step
When customers opt-in to an email campaign, the marketer should try and make the first interaction with the welcome letter memorable by creating a favorable first impression. While the contents should be kept as brief and precise as possible, it is necessary to use the opportunity to thank them for signing up and extend a cordial welcome to your world. They should be informed what type of information they will usually be receiving so that they understand your line of activity and also how often they will be receiving such emails.
The welcome mail should be transmitted immediately to the subscriber signing up as the customer is most likely to have a favorable interaction with your website or brand. It is important to take advantage of this top-of-the-mind brand recall to establish the visual signals that are typical of your emails so that an identity and trust is created.
Building and Exploiting Familiarity
At the very outset, every email marketer should ensure that the receiver is very clear regarding the identity of the email sender. Not only does such identification contribute to the creation of trust but also enables the marketer to leverage anyrelationship that it might be having with the subscriber due to past interaction. One good way of encouraging recognition starts even before you shoot off the first email through bulk email marketing services in Mumbaiby including screenshots of the header of the email or even links to email samples at the sign-up stage. This ensures that potential subscribers know exactly what to expect in their inboxes.
The Importance Of the From Line in Creating Trust
Typically, the ‘From” field will have a person’s name who will usually be the account manager or it may just be the name of the organization or even a combination of both. When used for brand marketing, the identity can be the name of the brand or on a functional level it could be the name of the newsletter or even the email list. The key is to avoid generic names that mean nothing to the recipient, and may even be the cause of distrust. A good way of testing out which identity of the sender works best is to send out test emails with different identities and see which one have the best click-through rate and conversions.
Incorporate Transparency and Responsibility
For email marketing campaigns to be successful in the long run, it is important that it has permission and privacy policies that are subscriber-friendly as these are strong indicators of credibility and trust. The design of the email should be such that subscribers should be able to easily locate privacy policies and important legal information that may be required by them.
Conclusion
Ensure that the email opt-in process is transparent to the extent possible so that potential subscribers understand what they are signing up to receive. Ideally, the sign-up page should display indicators of trust such as affiliation with recognized standards organization, privacy seals, etc. Including the postal address, email address and telephone numbers in each email arestrong indicatorsof transparency and credibility.
Image credits: PicServer and Formidable
Author bio: Sarah Wilkes is a senior email marketing strategist working in a leading automobile manufacturing company. Sarah’s earlier stint at GingerDomain.com, a leading email consultancy, has provided her with matchless email marketing campaign execution skills.
Author: Maralyn
Maralyn Dennis Hill, The Epicurean Explorer, is president emeritus of International Food Wine & Travel Writers Association, member of Society of American Travel Writers, and Society of Professional Journalists. She is Executive Editor of Luxe Beat Magazine and contributes to other publications. She also speaks and is a guest on many shows. The majority of Maralyn’s articles are now geared to the luxury market, spas, corporate retreats, business events, and culinary tourism, from simple to gourmet. Maralyn’s description of herself: I was born to travel and tell the tale. I’m energized by different cultures in every aspect of their lives, from food, wine, and destination, to how they conduct business. Travel represents a continual geography lesson.
