Email marketing has become an increasingly popular method for publishers to push out their CPA (cost-per-action) offers to consumers in order to supplement or replace revenue from their Web site ad space.

Because emails are sent directly to the interested consumer on an opt-in basis, permission-based email marketing campaigns can be powerful tools for generating sales and leads for your advertisers. If you’re new to email marketing or want to increase your effectiveness, you need to start with the foundation for any good email marketing campaign - a quality list of recipients.

Advantages of an In-House List

We recommend starting your own list via your Web site for several reasons. Because your Web site visitors are already interested in your site, they are most likely to respond to your emails. In general, visitors who sign up to receive emails from you via a double opt-in process are more likely to be responsive to the emails they receive than recipients who signed up with a third party and became part of an email list.

Finally, when you create your own list, you have an opportunity to create a user experience around your business from the moment they sign up. For example, when a user signs up for your email, you can immediately follow-up with them, thank them for subscribing and ensure that you will respect their privacy and only send email they have specifically requested. You can also request feedback from recipients and track their responses to customize your emails to meet their interests, developing a stronger and more rewarding relationship for the customer.

Taking the First Steps

Read the article “Understanding Email Compliance” to learn more, but you should start by selecting a vendor or software that enables you to do all of the following:

• Collect email addresses via your Web site using an opt-in process
• Manage the email list, including removing hard bounces (email addresses that are no longer valid) and opt-outs easily
• Send bulk emails to your list and include your opt-out information and link

Other options include the ability to personalize the emails with customers’ names and other information they provided to you, target specific groups within your list, manage multiple lists, and send HTML, text and multi-part (both HTML and text) formats. You should also highly consider vendors that work with Internet service providers (ISP) to ensure that the valid, opt-in email campaigns their clients send are not being filtered or treated as unsolicited commercial email (UCE), otherwise known as “spam”.

Building Your Recipient List

Once you have a vendor or software set up and tested, begin by placing your email subscription information or brief form in a prominent place on your site. Remember that gimmicks might convince a visitor to subscribe, but will not create a long-term customer that stays on the list if the email content doesn’t deliver the promised value. State the benefits of subscribing clearly for best results, and post a privacy policy.

For best results, make sure your sign-up process is simple, not requiring much time of your visitors. Consider creating a giveaway for each signup, whether it’s a product you sell or something free like valued content to help grow your email list. Another method for growing your list is to add your subscription information to your own email signature, or post it in a relevant online directory or in your interactions on bulletin boards and newsgroups.

Maintenance Tips for Long-Term Success

Once your list is established, follow these basic rules to maintain its effectiveness:

• Keep it clean. Remove opt-outs from your list within 48 hours, as well as regularly removing hard bounces.
• Never stop buildng your list so you have a constant influx of new recipients.
• Pay attention to the subject line of your messages, which should clearly introduce the email and never be misleading, and the “From” address, which should clearly represent your business name.
• Keep your content fresh, and consider adding new elements and content to keep recipients interested.

Providing value is the primary key to establishing a strong and effective email list that will enable you to increase your revenue.