Originally Posted by JacksonAO
|
I'm thinking about running an e-mail opt in program.
Right now I do not have an option on my form or a disclaimer that states anyone giving me they're e-mail address is adding themselves to my internal list. So I have a couple questions.
1.) What type of wording should I put on my site that allows me to gather names for future promotions or an e-mail list? I don't have a regular newsletter at this point.
2.) I want to run a temporary promotion, "if you sign up today, you'll be entered into a drawing to receive _____ free service". The reason I'm thinking about doing this, is because the free service is something I want practice with, and this would be a good way for me to get practice, and get my name out there. How could I best use the names/numbers and e-mail addresses that I gather as a result of the promotion?
Any ideas?
|
Hi Sarah!
It's interesting that you posted this question now. I just posted a blog about email newsletters. You can read it
here if you're interested.
As far as the wording goes, I would just be up front and honest (plus it's the law) and say that when people give you their email address, they agree to receive future marketing emails from you. A good practice is to use a double opt in, where people sign up on your website, then they get an email from you where they have to confirm their subscription by clicking the link.
You should read through the
CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 that gives you a list of how your marketing emails need to be set up and what needs to be included. Make sure you understand everything that needs to be included. If you get reported as "spamming" you can get blacklisted by your ISP and be fined up to $11,000 for each violation.
While you are building your list, make sure you are sending things out to the people who have already subscribed right from the beginning. You want the people on your list to get used to receiving emails from you. If you wait for 6 months till you have a lot of people on your list to send something, the people who signed up first could forget that they requested information from you and may report it as a spam. Also, make sure your emails are branded the same way and look the same each time. The should look similar to your website so people recognize who the emails are coming from.
There are services out there that will manage your list for you and provide templates for you to use.
Mail Chimp is a great service and offers alot of flexibility. You can make your emails look exactly like your website, if you have a little knowledge of html.
Constant Contact is another service you can use, but it's not as flexible in terms of design, but it is very user friendly. Both of these services were offering free trials. Mail Chimp in particular is great because you can do a month to month subscription, or only pay for the emails you send instead of being stuck in a monthly subscription. The major benefit to using these services is that they manage your email list (you can read more about the benefits of this in my blog).
To answer your other question, when you start sending out these email newsletters, offer tips and suggestions for their businesses, but don't give away all your information. What you want to do is get people interested, see what you have to offer and how you can help them.
If you need anything else, please let me know. I have years of experience with email newsletters and managing databases for the lists. Hope this helps!
Yvone
E-mail Opt-In Promotion with Drawing - Questions
Linear Mode
