5 Best Email Management Practices

By Tracey Lawton

With all the different rules and regulations governing list management, it's getting harder and harder to not only get your emails delivered to the recipient's inbox - think all those spam filters - but to actually get your recipient to open and read your email.

Just think about your own inbox for a second... how many emails do you get bombarded with each day? How easy is it for you to get to what you really want to read through all the clutter that lands in your inbox each day?

Yes, sure, you can create rules and filters to automatically manage your email as it comes in; in fact I highly recommend that you do! But if you also follow best practices with regard to sending emails it will be much easier for your email to reach the inbox of its intended recipient.

Here are my top five tips for best email management practices:

1. Confirmation/double opt-in. If you're reading this newsletter then chances are that in order for it to reach your inbox, when you very first signed up, you would have received an email from me asking you to confirm your subscription. This is what's known as double opt-in. You opted in once when you entered your name and email address on my website; and you opted in for the second time when you clicked the link in the email to confirm your subscription. This tells my list provider that you absolutely do want to receive emails from me, and therefore by implementing this practice in my business, I am generating a high-quality list of people who are less likely to report me for spam.

2. Subject lines. Many internet marketers will tell you to get clever with your subject lines to invoke curiosity and get your recipient to open their email. The trouble with these "clever" subject lines is that they tend to be a bit hypey and can get caught in spam filters. Personally, I'm a huge fan of putting in your subject line exactly what your email is about... there's an idea! But do it in such a way that it asks a question of your reader, and invokes curiosity in that way.

3. Segmentation. Get really smart with your marketing and segment your list. Don't send people emails asking them to purchase your latest product or program if they've already bought it! Doing this only upsets your readers and they're more likely to unsubscribe.

4. When it's NOT okay to add someone to your list. Just because someone has handed you their business card at an event or other meeting, doesn't mean it's okay for you to add them to your list and start sending them your ezine and other promotions. A much better option is to personally invite them to sign up for your list and give them the link so that they have the choice of whether they sign up or not.

5. Consistency. This is really important for ensuring your recipients read your email. You want them to look forward to receiving your emails and willingly ready them, and the way to do this is to be consistent. If you say you're going to send a newsletter every week then do it. It's no good just sending emails only when you feel like it, or when you have the time. That's a sure fire way for your reader to forget about you and not even bother opening your emails.

Follow these five tips above for best email management practices, and you'll soon have a happy following of readers.

(c) 2013 Tracey Lawton

Online Business Development Strategist, Tracey Lawton, teaches solo service professionals how to create a thriving and profitable business through the implementation of simple business management strategies and online marketing systems, which leads to more clients, more profits, and more freedom. Find out if your business is on the right track with the free quiz, "Is Your Business Set Up To Fail?" athttp://bizsuccessquiz.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tracey_Lawton