With all the spam and all the spam control out there, even though you can still mass email yourself, Don’t Do It! (this is the don’t!) People won’t open an attachment, they probably won’t see the picture and won’t click on a link if it is caught in their spam account.

For the small cost in purchasing a professional e-mail program, it will be well worth the investment. There are many available. My favorite is Constant Contact, (try it free for 60 days and get $30 credit if you sign up with me, kane@marketinsights.us) there is Campaigner, Sudden Values and many more! They start at only $15 for up to 500 emails.

Do make sure your email is….
• Permission based! Don’t blindly send an email to people you’ve met years ago. Ask for e-mails at Point of Sale or Check Out. Ask for e-mails along with a contest clearly stating you will not sell, spam or share their email.
• Easy to read. You can insert photos and if they can’t see them because of firewalls, they can now view them on-line with these programs.
• Professional. Many of these programs have professional templates you can make your own or easily insert a graphically designed flyer. (most take a jpeg or picture format)
• Reporting! You can clean out emails that don’t exist, see who opened your email, see you went to your web site or blog or article. This is the best feature of email programs and shows your success rate for people who are opening your mail. By the way a 30% open rate is pretty good for most campaigns.
• Video Friendly. If you send a video link, make sure it is easily downloadable (Like You Tube, Talk Fusion or on your web site) people will not click or take time to download a large video file!
• Keeping Up On The Latest Techniques. The rules are always changing, even my emails are not always perfect, make sure to correct as you go.

My Best,
Kathy Kane
Market Insights, LLC