If you are not using email marketing for your clients and prospective clients you are missing out on a great opportunity to not only build better lines of communication with your customers, but also to continue to sell to them. When a prospective client calls your school, getting their email address is one of the things that your front desk staff needs to do. Let prospective clients know that you will be sending them information, updates and special offer.

Let’s begin with the most important information first. Here is what we feel are the 10 most important tips for anyone managing the email marketing process.

1.     Only send emails to people who have given you permission. Get your customers to give you their email address and let them know that you will be connecting with them though email. They can then white list you.

2.     Only include content relevant to the type of content the person has requested. We also love to send out special offers for other businesses that we know our clientele would appreciate receiving. These special money saving offers are a BIG hit!

3.     Be consistent with your emailing frequency. Pick a schedule, whether it is weekly, biweekly or monthly, and stick to that schedule.

4.     In most cases it is best to send business-to-business emails Tuesday through Thursday. We’ve found that the best times to send are just after the start of the day around 9:30am or just after lunch around 1:30pm. It is best to avoid sending business-to-business emails after 4pm or on weekends. Why would you send out an email to businesses in your community? To promote the idea of doing joint venture marketing! Have your staff call area businesses to see if they want to be included on your list. You could also create a monthly get together at your school so business owners can connect and share ideas.

5.     In most cases it is best to send business-to-consumer emails either between 5pm and 8pm Tuesday through Thursday or between Friday evening and Sunday afternoon.

6.     To improve deliverability, add a message at the top of your emails that says something like: 'To ensure receipt of our emails, please add somename@yourcompany.com to your Address Book.'

7.     Make the 'From' name for your messages either your company name or the name of a person at your company. Once you choose a 'From' name, keep it consistent. During the split second decision subscribers make whether to open your email, the most important factor in their decision is whether the 'From' name is familiar to them.

8.     Be sure to include both a plain text and an HTML version of your newsletter. An online marketing service like iContact will automatically detect which subscribers can view the HTML message and which can only see the plain text message. If you don’t include a plain text message, around 5% of your recipients will see a message with nothing in it.

9.     Don’t use all caps or multiple exclamation marks within your subject line or body. Doing this will trigger spam filters.

10.    Build your list at every opportunity you have. When your customers sign up for classes have this on your registration form. At shows or events, bring a paper sign-up form or have a laptop with a sign-up form set up and available for interested parties. When meeting fellow business owners ask if you can have their email address to include them on your business list. Finally, add your newsletter sign-up form to every page on your website. You can use the sign-up form generator within iContact to automatically generate the code you need.

The best part of using an online email service is that you can build different lists for clients, prospective clients and businesses. If you are interested in learning more about iContact and how it can help you build your business Click Here