NEWS

Email can be one of the most powerful and cost effective forms of marketing for small to medium businesses.

Obtaining consent: In the majority of cases recipients must consent to receive the email, or have an existing relationship with your business.

Running competitions that require contact details to enter is a common technique for building a database for future email campaigns. But it should be made clear to entrants that they may receive promotional offers.

Buying email address lists of people who have signed up to receive offers from any company is one of the fast ways to build an email marketing distribution list.

The important thing for small businesses to remember is that they must be able to prove, if necessary, that the customers have consented to receiving the email.

Provide a link to your website: This way, you’re giving potential customers a chance to contact you, and learn more. Encourage them to do this: make your link entice them a bit. Instead of a plain link, why not say, “See our newest products” or “View our discounts available only this week” as your link. Of course, you can also use the word ‘free’ to get them to contact you.

Include contact details: Your business name and contact details must be in the email. This sounds like common sense. For small businesses that have limited brand recognition this is simply good business as you want people to know how to contact you! The contact details must be valid for 30 days after the message is sent.

Use good grammar: Have you ever received an email advertisement or newsletter that was poorly done, or contained numerous grammar errors? What did you think of the firm that created it? Get it right!

Have an unsubscribe facility: Have you ever found yourself on a ‘chain mail’ marketing list with no means of escape? It’s very annoying. Commercial email messages must contain an ‘unsubscribe’ facility to allow recipients to opt out of receiving further emails from your business. Businesses must honour an unsubscribed request within five working days.

Advice provided is of a general nature and individual circumstances may vary. It is recommended you seek advice to ascertain your correct course of action.