Email Marketing, What You Need to Know

For many new email marketers, there's a bit of a learning curve on what is acceptable mail and unacceptable mail. Understanding the basics of the Can Spam Act is crucial to being successful in the email marketing realm. There are two basic "permissions" that email marketers need to know. Understanding the difference is a key element on how quickly and effectively you will be able to begin building a solid, and reliable contact list and customer base.

First, is explicit permission to mail. This is a direct agreement between customer and business to receive email correspondence. The word "explicit" means they signed up to receive emails from you. This can be done in a variety of ways.

1) Using a sign up box on your website.
2) Having a sign up sheet at your front desk area.
3) Collecting business cards at a trade show.

Second is implicit permission. This relates to previous customers who have purchased products or services from you in the past. There is an implied agreement they want to continue to do business with you. It is always a good idea to reconfirm your implicit customers through an opt in process. This can be redirecting them to your website, where they can sign up using your sign up form. Or, contacting them directly for a reconfirmation.

Segmenting your list is also another key factor when considering your implicit and explicit customers. Often times, if you are using an email marketing company, you will be asked to verify how you obtained your contacts. Keeping those lists separate allows you to respond accordingly with minimum impact to your overall database.

Purchased lists, though tempting, are not allowed with most email marketing companies. The reason being is that they are not explicit, nor implicit permission based contacts. These "prospects" do not know they are getting email from your company, often times do not even know who or what your company does, and will often times flag you for spam jeopardizing your relationship with your email marketing company and your business IP address.

It is always a best practice to get your list setup and organized prior to actually joining an email marketing company. Re-affirming your implied contacts, and building up an explicit list will give you more success, and less red tape with the marketing companies. Understanding how to use your contacts and what contacts will be allowed using an email company is just as important as sending email itself. You want your contacts to know who you are, your brand, and what to expect from you regarding email correspondence.

Now that you know what to categorize your contacts into, its important to also begin setting up your tracking system to identify when your contacts were added. This is also considered "aging". By aging your list, you will also be consistent with the "recommended frequency" ration of how often and how long its been since you've emailed your customers. It is suggested by experts that if your contact has not contacted you, purchased from you, or received email correspondence from you for over 6 months, reconfirm their interest and get an explicit permission renewal.