Hire and Rental News - May 2012

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BUSINESS IN FOCUS
70 | HIREANDRENTALNEWS | MAY 2012
Before conducting an email marketing
campaign it’s essential you’re up-to-date
on email marketing protocols and privacy
regulations, have selected the right email
solution for your needs and budget, and
have a firm grasp on ways to get your
message read.
1. Protocols for email marketing
In Australia, there are strict privacy
and anti-spamming laws governing the
collection and use of an individual’s
personal details. Businesses who ignore
these may face significant financial
penalties. For full details, visit the Australian
Direct Marketing Association
(www.adma.com.au) and Privacy
Commission (www.privacy.gov.au) websites.
It’s also a good idea to abide by certain
email etiquettes if you want to build
customer relationships and loyalty.
Seven quick rules of thumb for email
marketing:
1.Always have permission. The best way is
to ask permission at the time of collecting
the email address. Include an opt-in tick
box on data collection forms or ask when
speaking to people if it’s okay to send
marketing material.
2.When buying/obtaining mailing lists
don’t assume the inclusion of an email
address gives you permission to market
electronically. Always check with the
list supplier what the recipients on the
list have agreed to receive. You’ll lose
credibility if you’re perceived to be
spamming people and could end up
breaching the Privacy Act.
3. Protect your customers’
privacy. If you’re using
a standard email
program to send your
email, always use
the BCC (blind copy)
feature. This will stop
your recipients from
getting the email
addresses of all the other recipients.
4. Protect your computers with anti-virus
software and keep it updated. If you send
someone a virus, you’ll lose credibility.
5. Include an unsubscribe link and privacy
policy. Make sure your email contains
easy to find ‘unsubscribe’ and ‘our privacy
policy’ links, and protocols are in place to
action responses / unsubscribes promptly.
Email marketing tips
The NSW Business Chamber is an independent, non-government business support organisation working with over
22,000 businesses to provide information, advice and support to help businesses maximise their potential. Here the
Chmaber shares its tips for successful email marketing. For more go to: www.nswbc.com.au
6. Remember: Just because you’re losing a
mailing list member, doesn’t mean you’re
losing a customer, yet. But make it hard
for people to change their subscription
options and they’ll take their business
elsewhere.
7. Limit the amount of campaigns you send.
Your customers won’t appreciate being
bombarded by emails. It’s a sure fire way
to have your emails ignored or worse lose
a subscriber and customer.
2. Choosing the right email marketing
solution
When it comes to email marketing,
there are infinite possibilities (Google says
there are 598,000 solutions for Australia
alone). And while email marketing is one
of the more cost effective marketing tools,
there are still costs involved, especially if
campaign distribution and management is
outsourced.
Ideally you want a solution that is
reasonably priced, easy to use and track,
and, from your recipient’s point of view,
easy to read and navigate.
Working with what you’ve got
One of the cheapest solutions is to use
your standard email program. This is a good
option if you have next to no budget, but
you’ll be very limited in tracking capabilities
(receipt and bounce notifications at best),
what you can do to make your
message visually appealing, and how
many recipients you can send an email
to at one time.
For small budgets with big ideas
There are a number of affordable,
web-based email marketing solutions
that will make you look good to
customers and your accountant. These
include email templates and tracking
and reporting tools. Rates are normally
billed on a monthly basis and are calculated
according to the number of subscribers you
have. Take a look at Mail Chimp
(www.mailchimp.com - they offer free plans
as well) and Vision6 (www.vision6.com.
au - an Australian company) as some viable
examples.
There are a number of affordable,
web-based email marketing solutions that
will make you look good to customers and
your accountant.
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