Effective E‐mail Marketing: The Complete Guide to Creating Successful Campaigns

Citation

Clarke, I. (2003), "Effective E‐mail Marketing: The Complete Guide to Creating Successful Campaigns", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 20 No. 5, pp. 488-489. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363760310489733

Electronic campaigns have become so inexpensive, far reaching, and easy to implement that nearly every business seems to be attempting to contact its target customers though e‐mail marketing. Each day, buyers are being barraged with a bevy of competing marketing messages that merely provide clutter in an already competitive world. This amassment of usage of e‐mail messages only appears to be escalating as some researchers estimate that by the year 2005 there will be as many as 35 billion commercial e‐mails sent every day. So how can your company create an e‐mail campaign that remains visible and competitive?

Herschell Gordon Lewis is able to answer this question by giving the reader specific strategies, examples, and useful tips on mounting a successful e‐mail initiative. The book is not derived from esoteric theories and an excess of technical jargon. Instead, by drawing on years of experience in direct marketing, testing alternatives, and providing case histories, Lewis delivers a “how‐to” book of explicit, clear‐cut tactics that any e‐mail marketer could use immediately. The book demonstrates which words, phrases, and message‐content will, and will not, create a positive response from customers.

The strength of the book lies in the 120 clearly marked and easily worded “Tips” that are disseminated throughout. Since these tips are combined with numerous examples of effective e‐mails, any marketer can take this book and directly improve the content of his or her current campaign. At first, it might appear that some of these suggestions (on color, grammar, salutations, subject lines, typefaces, etc.) would be insignificant in a major marketing campaign. However, it quickly becomes apparent to the reader that “the details” can “make‐or‐break” an e‐mail marketing campaign. This is where the book excels! Hundreds of clear suggestions are provided that can be used to avoid the problems which can leave any e‐mail marketing campaign lost in the clutter. Each is easy to implement and functional in nature.

The book provides very practical coverage of topics such as:

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  adapting your message to this medium;

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  how to get opt‐ins;

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  how to reduce opt‐outs;

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  avoiding the “spam” accusation;

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  personalization and relevance;

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  building rapport;

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  developing a subject line;

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  structuring sentences and paragraphs to persuade; and

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  how often and when to e‐mail.

Each chapter is rich with company stories, and examples of testing that are used to provide an explanation for each of the “tips”. Sample e‐mails, both good and bad, are provided. Readers are afforded a reasonable knowledge of why these suggestions are likely to be effective, thereby allowing them to pick‐and‐choose the tactics that are most applicable to their particular campaign.

At the end of the book there is an appealing appendix entitled “A pot pourri of tips”. This section of 63 serviceable suggestions provides quick‐hitting lessons for anyone involved in e‐mail marketing. For example, Lewis suggests that “the shorter the message, the less likely it is that anyone will regard it as spam” (p. 267) or “text tends to outpull HTML when your message suggests urgency. HTML tends to outpull text when your message suggests artistry” (p. 267). The breadth of prepositions provided effectively illustrates the range of considerations for an e‐mail marketer. The listing is likely to provide insight into areas not considered before.

The primary weakness of this book lies in its limited useful lifespan. Given marketers’ inducement to overuse of successful techniques, the tactics that work today are not likely to remain equally effective far in the future. This only denotes that Effective E‐mail Marketing should become a “must read” today, as one way to maintain pace with the dynamic electronic marketing world. E‐mail glut has created a world where recipients are more selective and now delete in excess of 77 percent of commercial e‐mails without reading the message. As e‐mail marketing becomes hyper competitive, the marketer needs to make it ever clearer “who sent this and why”. Every e‐mail that arrives makes this task more and more difficult. Therefore, e‐mail marketers must get it right the first time. The suggestions provided in this book might provide the key to increasing response and revenue from your e‐mail marketing campaign. At $24.95, this practice‐oriented book is well worth the price and should be placed next to the PC as a reference, for those engaged in e‐mail marketing.