Here’s Part II of this 5-part series covering the 5 most common consumer spam-complaint-triggers and how to avoid accidentally pulling them. To see all the articles in the series to date, go to the archive page.
Trigger #2: Irrelevant Content
Consumers expect their email subscriptions to deliver value, but one subscriber’s junk is another subscriber’s treasure. According to eMarketer, 46% of Internet users say the commercial emails they receive are not targeted to their needs. Since your email list is likely to include people with a variety of interests, take your audience’s interests into account before you send.
- Offer a choice of lists on your signup form. For example, some consumers don’t want to receive promotions and others only care about your products when they are on sale. Offering a “discount club” list and an “informative newsletter” list helps identify these potentially opposing interests so you can target future emails.
- Use click data to target future messages. When people click on your links they are telling you what they are interested in. Use your tracking report to help you create different interest lists. You can keep your interest lists private or add them to your signup form so future subscribers can select them.
- Send surveys and polls to test the water. Instead of making assumptions about what to send, ask your audience. You can send a formal survey before starting a major email campaign or use ongoing polls to get small bits of information over time and adjust your strategy as you go.
John Arnold is the author of Email Marketing for Dummies and the Director of Constant Contact’s Local Expert Program.
