Email marketing is a direct form of marketing that has evolved in its own way over time. It is one of the least expensive forms of marketing and if not done properly,  somehow ends up in the spam folder because of the many mistakes marketers make. Today, people have the choice to opt-in and out of email subscriptions, which has helped both the people who receive these messages and the ones who send it.

There are some do’s and don’ts that you need to pay attention to. Ignoring these basic rules can actually drive away your potential customers. Many marketers make simple mistakes that end up driving their customers away. Rather than focusing on what you should not do, let’s take a closer look at what you should do.

Read on to know how you can make sure that your potential customers do not turn away from what you have to offer:

Here Is What You Should Do

1. The whole point of email marketing is to provide value to people so they can get what they need, want or desire. Therefore, you need to send emails that are based on the preferences of your audience. Do not spam everyone with an email address. Select your audience by using opt-in methods so you can nurture your audience.
2. Divide the content of your emails. Instead of creating one email with everything on it, create emails that are focused on one clear message in each email you send.
3. Create short and engaging emails and avoid going into big details. Remember your emails are ads and not blogs… I advise you to tie your emails back to pertinent and valuable blog posts. This will help drive site traffic and at the same time, will provide your “interested audience members” with the information they seek.
4. The last thing you want is your subscribers to forget you. Remember to send a welcome email once they have subscribed to your content. I would advise you to personalize the emails you send to your subscribers… the personal touch goes a long way in establishing a good relationship. 
5. Grow your subscriber list the right way, by making sure that your audience “opt-in” and want to receive valuable content-driven emails from you. What You should not do is buy email lists from unknown sources on the internet and spam a cold list. It doesn’t just give your brand a shabby appearance, but most of the times these lists contain bogus information. You do not want your content to go to people who have zero interested in what you have to offer. Instead, you need people who are actually interested in your services.
6. You need to pay attention to your customers, their demographic makeup and what their true needs are. All of your content should be centered around helping them solve their challenges. Make sure you shy away from sending robotic and generic emails.
7. Pay attention to the various standards and policies created for email marketing to make sure your emails do not end up in spam folders.
8. Make your content more dynamic by adding photos, graphs, audio, video, etc. The more you can add interest and value, the more you are perceived as the expert.
9. Consider the time zones of your subscribers. Do not ignore their active hours as that can result in your email staying unopened. The timing of your emails could play an important role in your industry. Don’t get caught-up and ignored in the morning onslaught of inbound emails.
10. Proofread your email before you deliver them and avoid sending emails with spelling and grammatical errors. 
11. Watch the frequency of your emails and do not overwhelm your subscribers with dozens of emails per week.
12. Pay attention to your email marketing reports and create your content based on those reports. 
13. Test your emails before you send them. You should not send your emails before seeing what they look like yourself.
14. Make sure you consider both computer and mobile browsers when you design your content. Avoid focusing on one of the two as you do not know where the user will read your email.
15. Craft a powerful Subject Line and make sure there are no “Spam Buzz Words” in your subject line. Let’s face it, you can’t sell them anything if they don’t have an opportunity to open your email.
16. Make sure that your content aligns with your marketing camping and that it does not move away from the general theme of your services.
17. Choose your words very carefully and avoid using ambiguous terms and phrases that will confuse your subscribers.
18. It’s a good idea to use email services such as Aweber, MailChimp, iContact, etc. This will help you manage your campaigns and keep a clean list.
19. Don’t hesitate to aggregate content from other industry related sources. You can get some very valuable content from others and add your own perspective on it to add additional value to your audience. Be sure to site the owner/author of the content.
20. Have Fun! Don’t be a stick in the mud. Remember, you are always looking to nurture strong, trusting relationships with your audience. They want to know you have a personality… you are not all business or a robot. People need to like you in order to want to do business with you.