Launch An E-mail Campaign

The Internet has changed a lot of things. The most dramatic among them is how we communicate with each other. Although the Internet is used for research, gaming, and a wide variety of other purposes, the leading Internet activity for both personal and business users is sending and receiving e-mail.

Done right, e-mail marketing can be a highly effective way to get new business. Done poorly, you can quickly alienate an existing customer base, discourage new prospects from ever calling you, or even end up in very expensive lawsuit!

Like any direct marketing approach, e-mail marketing depends upon three fundamental components: the list of recipients, the promotional text (known as “copy”), and the offer. Of these, the most important aspect by far is the list. A bad offer to a good list will always draw more response than a good offer to a bad list.

A mailing list that you compile for your own business’s use is referred to as a “house” list. Because the names on your house list are familiar with your business, house lists are more likely to contain good prospects than rented lists.

One issue of e-mail marketing that you must address is SPAM. In the pyramid of permission marketing, the pinnacle is double opt-in. This is the level to which all professional marketers should strive.

Building a house list through double opt-in permission e-mail marketing consists of the following steps:

• Potential respondents are offered an opportunity to join your list, and voluntarily elect to join (opt-in)


• Respondents receive an e-mail confirmation stating that they or someone else have requested that they be added to the mailing list (confirmed opt-in)


• The confirmation e-mail also asked respondents to reply to the e-mail to confirm their intent to join the list (double opt-in)