There is no doubt that email marketing is one of the most powerful weapons in a company’s marketing arsenal, despite the problem of having to get it delivered through a a mountain of spam.

It is particularly good for keeping in contact with existing customers and converting them into loyal customers who return time and time again.

It is estimated that repeat customers provide 60% of revenue for most businesses, so it is vital to keep your customers loyal and coming back. Providing them with details of new products, special offers etc. has a proven track record of generating sales. That is not to say of course that attracting new customers is not important, but forgetting existing customers can be disastrous.

Opt-in Email Marketing

E-mail marketing in the UK is regulated by the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003.

These regulations place restrictions on how companies carry out direct marketing by e-mail. The part of these regulations that applies to e-mail also apply to text, picture, video, voicemail and answerphone messages. Other parts of the Regulations cover telephone marketing and fax marketing.

You can only carry out unsolicited email marketing to individuals if they have given you their consent for the time being to receive your messages. You cannot send any e-mail marketing (solicited or unsolicited) to any subscriber if you disguise or conceal your identity, or if you do not provide a valid address for the recipient to opt-out.

An unsolicited marketing message is defined as one where the subscriber has not invited the actual message, but they have indicated that they do not object for the time being to receiving such messages.

A solicited message is one that has been invited, such as a request for a quotation. The regulations accept that thai invitaion can come via a third party (e.g. third party email lists)

A valid address could be a valid e-mail address, but it is good practice to include a valid website address, PO Box address or postal address

Soft Opt-in - existing customers

The regulations allow you to send email marketing messages to an individual subscriber where:

• you have obtained the contact details of the recipient in the course of a sale or negotiations for the sale of a product or service to that recipient.
• the direct marketing material you are sending is in respect of your similar products and services only.
• the recipient has been given a simple means of opting-out at the time those details were initially collected and, where he did not opt-out, at the time of each subsequent communication.

If you satisfy these criteria, you do not need prior permission to send marketing material by e-mail to individual subscribers.

Opting-Out

When a subscriber opts out of receiving your e-mail marketing messages, it is not sufficient to just delete them from you mailing list, in fact they should not be deleted, but should be suppressed.

This way, there is a record of them and the fact that they have opted-out. If you just delete them, there is a danger that you could accidentally add them again at a later date.

Outsource your Email Campaign

The ideal way to manage your email campaign is to outsource it. Companies that specialise in email campaigns take care of all the subscription and tracking details for you, leaving you free to concentrate on your message.

VerticalResponse offers an easy-to-use web-based tool that gets you up and running with opt-in email campaigns in minutes - and gets your email delivered. With VerticalResponse, it's easy to send professionally designed, attention getting emails and then watch as the results roll in. VerticalResponse handles it all - and that includes technical support!

Email Campaigns with VerticalResponse. So easy it is SCARY!