Internet Marketing
Email Marketing
Xansoft provides email marketing services designed to meet our clients’ requirements. We see email as an integral part of managing customer relationships established through your website.
Spam and Your Professional Approach
Firstly, Xansoft cannot offer you legal advice about email marketing. If you require advice then please contact a legal professional.
This article comprises our own views and reflects our intention to comply with the legislation and best business practices. Email management requires a professional approach to following the rules as set out in the Spam Act 2003 and other (overseas) legislation where applicable. However this doesn’t mean abandoning a key marketing tool as the Act does allow marketing campaigns to be successfully implemented provided the rules are followed. See links below for further information on legislation in various countries and The Direct Marketing Code of Practice issued by adma – Australian Direct Marketing Association.
Who Do I Send Email To?
The following comments apply to business to business marketing. Business to consumer emails require a different approach for both legal and marketing reasons.
If you already have a customer base it’s a good place to start. If you haven’t used email with a customer before it is a good idea to send a preliminary email reminding him or her who you are, explaining the content you intend to provide and how often, and giving an opportunity to unsubscribe then and there. It may not give you the result you hoped for but it will point to customers who need additional non email attention.
For startup businesses email addresses can be collected from prospective clients who visit your website. A free offer given on the condition that an email address is provided is the best way. The free offer is generally information, possibly about one of your products and either the offered document or a link to where it can be downloaded is sent by email.
Failing that, how many business cards have you collected lately? Provided your email has a business relevance to the business card owner you can send an email. Trade shows are a good place for this, also local business associations that have networking events.
Using the Information on the Business Card
Be up front about what you intend to do with the information on the business card. You will have more friends this way. Remember email marketing is unpopular with many people, however there are many others, including myself, who read it as a source of marketing and industry information as well as general knowledge. Mind you this doesn’t make me a good prospect by any means!
Unsubscribing
Remember that you must have a clear and easy way for the recipient to unsubscribe, so your introductory email needs a good offer to encourage your prospect or customer not to opt out. Obviously the style and content also have to be attractive.
Qualify Your Prospect
Know who you want to do business with. If you can’t qualify the first contact, then your ongoing email campaign must give you feedback that you have a qualified prospect. It’s possible your valuable emails are being transferred to ‘Junk Email’ and never read. Free offers available from your website and advertised by email are a good pointer to who’s reading your emails. Use of landing pages and services such as Google Analytics are useful.
Third Party Email Addresses and Lists
Don’t ask for people to forward to you email addresses belonging to other parties. Using these email addresses may be regarded as Spam.
Purchasing email address lists and sending emails from them is not allowed under the Act. It is also bad marketing. Who knows where the list came from originally, how many times it has been used and whether it contains business or personal addresses?
Email Conversion Rates
As with all electronic advertising the conversion rates are low, so it could take some time to build up a receptive clientele. The goal is to establish a well thought out interaction that will lead to a personal contact or a sale depending on your style of business.
Email Service Levels Provided by Xansoft
- Basic
Access to email marketing software on our server provided as part of our ISP service. The client manages his own email database and marketing campaigns and is responsible for administration of responsibilities under the Spam Act 2003. Backup and recovery of the database is the client’s responsibility. - Medium
Provision of data management services and operation of the email marketing system. The client provides the email templates and other marketing material and required timing and triggers for the campaign. Xansoft manages the mechanical aspects of the campaign, provides backup and recovery services for the database and is responsible for administration of responsibilities under the Spam Act 2003. - Advanced
Provision of a complete email marketing service including campaign design, email templates, timing and triggers and ongoing management of the campaign and administration of the database and software. At the advanced level, Xansoft will administer your responsibilities under the Spam Act 2003.
Email Best Practices
Where Xansoft provides services involving management of email addresses, the service will be carried out in accordance with the Spam Act 2003. All opt-outs will be honoured and the email address will not be used again, unless there is a new registration by the user. All registrations are positively validated by email. Registrations from domains known for the generation of spam are rejected.
Each customer’s email address list is managed separately. We do not provide email lists and do not merge your list with our other customers’.
We do not sell or give away your email addresses.
If evidence comes to hand that email lists provided by customers have not been properly obtained, Xansoft will cease to use the list or in the case of the basic service cease to supply the service. This may include high opt out rates beyond what we regard as normal and will include any level of reasonable complaint from recipients about use of email addresses.
Email Marketing Software
Xansoft uses Interspire Email Marketing software. Interspire is an Australian company based in Sydney with offices in the USA.
Links to External Information
Australian Direct Marketing Association
Australian Communications and Media Authority