Email marketing is a minefield for many marketers. Many factors need to be considered from data and design to content and call-to-action. It’s all important stuff and will impact the success of your campaigns but don’t forget to go back to basics and remember the essentials – the email marketing RRP.

No, we are not talking Recommended Retail Price, we are referring to Recognition, Respect and Permission.

Recognition

The recipients of your emails must know who you are and be able to recognise you from a glance of their inbox. Sounds simple, but failure to ensure your name, email and physical address are clearly displayed will lead to customers and prospects uncertain as to where the email is coming from. And if they don’t know who you are, they aren’t going to open the email. Extra points are awarded if you also include a phone number and the website where they signed up to the email.

Respect

Unfortunately, not everyone will want to hear what you have got to say (yes, really). They may have lost interest in your product or simply already know enough. Don’t be offended by this, respect goes both ways, if you respect their feelings they will respect your brand. You must ensure that people can unsubscribe quickly and easily. The simpler the process is, the less likely it is to be flagged as spam – and that’s something you don’t want happening.

Permission

Yes, that’s right – permission as in consent or authorisation. The amount of emails still being sent without proper permission is astounding, and the damage it is doing to those brands is immeasurable.

Never buy, steal, rent or borrow a list. Ever. People won’t engage with you if you’re emailing them without consent, they’re also more likely to flag you as spam. You’re wasting your time, their time and damaging your credibility which will impact the effectiveness of future email marketing. Stick to those who welcome you with open arms and actually want to receive your emails. It’s also important to ensure your data is current and is no more than 2 years old. Data older than this should be reconfirmed before further communication is sent.

These three established best practices will ensure your emails go direct to the inbox and will deliver £££’s in return for pennies spent on email marketing. They are also requirements for compliance to the Canadian anti-spam legislation which is likely to set the tone for international spam laws in the coming years. The responsibility of knowing these laws falls on the sender – yes, that would be you, and ignorance or ‘my dog ate the proof of consent’ will no longer be sufficient excuses.