Tips to Building Successful E-Mail Lists, Part 2 of 3

Continuing our coverage of last month's All About eMail Virtual Conference & Expo, presented by eM+C magazine (sister publication of Catalog Success), this week we look at a presentation from Reggie Brady, president of Reggie Brady Marketing Solutions, a direct and e-mail marketing consultancy (and Catalog Success columnist).

(For part 1, and a recap of the presentation by Arthur Middleton Hughes, senior strategist at the e-mail marketing firm e-Dialog, click here.)

Brady's presentation consisted of her “10 secrets to e-mail success.” Here's a look at 1-5 on her list (check back next week for part 3 of this series, when we'll reveal tips 6-10):

1. Maximize registration. Put a plan in place to collect as many e-mail addresses as possible online, and get more information than just the e-mail address at the time of registration, Brady said. Capture consumers' names so you can personalize future communications; their postal addresses — although you can make this field optional, but it proves useful if they already buy from your catalog and you can match this data up to learn more about their purchasing behaviors; and content preferences allow for better segmentation and help you speak to customers on an individual basis. Don't ask for their entire life histories, Brady cautioned. The longer the sign-up form, the fewer completed registrations.

2. Welcome with style. “Your welcome message is going to be one of the most opened and read messages you send,” Brady said, “so it's a great opportunity to start that relationship off on a good step.” Even if you're not using a double opt-in process, sending a welcome message lets you at least determine if you have a deliverable e-mail address. Tactics to further the relationship in a welcome message include embedding your most recent promotion in the e-mail, including a coupon, promoting “add me to your address book,” restating the benefits of being an e-mail subscriber and adding links to your Web site.

3. Use a preference center. This section should be used as an adjunct to your e-mail program, Brady advised. Place it at the footer of every e-mail, where customers can click through to their personalized preference centers. This section should provide customers the ability to update their e-mail addresses, contact information, content preferences and control frequency.

“If you don't give customers an easy way to update their contact information, you may lose them,” Brady warned.

4. Be careful with your design. Take the time needed to hand-code the HTML in your template, Brady advised, “otherwise you'll have major rendering problems.” Brady doled out several other e-mail design tips:

• cascading style sheets are wonderful for Web page design but not for e-mail;
• be ever-mindful of rendering issues, particularly with Hotmail, Gmail and Outlook 2007; and
• use in-line HTML with no style defined — each line of code should be defined with font faces, attributes and sizes.

HTML Pointers
Brady also provided several e-mail HTML formatting tips and warning signs:

• Use tables for position, but be careful with nested tables. And bear in mind that Outlook 2007 doesn't support background images in table cells.
• Avoid Flash or embedded media, JavaScript, DHTML, Active X, ASP, PHP and image maps.
• With regard to images, use optimized jpegs or gifts preformatted in correct size, set height and width parameters, and use ALT tags.

5. Focus on subject lines. “Subject lines are a prime determinant of whether or not someone's going to open your e-mail,” Brady noted. With that in mind, she recommended that marketers focus on the first 45 characters of a subject line, but not to panic if it goes over this threshold. Recent studies have shown that longer subject lines get higher clicks to opens, while shorter subject lines get higher open rates. Whatever the length, make them compelling by stating a benefit, making an offer, intriguing readers and stimulating curiosity.