1. Respect people’s privacy. When someone gives you their email address, they trust you won’t spam it out to everyone. Privacy is a real issue in today’s world and you could get more than a slap on the hand by inadvertently sharing around the address. Sure, some organisations sell email addresses to other organisations. Don’t be one of them.
So how do you hide email addresses when sending out a mass mailing? By placing all the addresses in the ‘bcc’ field—not the ‘to’ field or the ‘cc’ field. It’s as simple as that.
2. Personalise the email. We all like to feel important enough that someone took the time to write a personalised email to us. If it's personalised then we'll be more open to what the email has to say.
3. Don’t waste the recipient’s time. Keep business emails brief and to the point. Leave the rambling to the personal emails.
4. Include links. If you want the recipient to go to a link or leave a review, then make it easy for them by providing that link rather than making them look it up. This might sound obvious, but I’m amazed how many people don’t do this. If you are worried the links might get caught by spam filters, you don’t have to make the links live. The point is to make it easy.
5. Include a signature. I don’t mean an image of your scrawl. I mean your full name and other links to find you. For example, I sign off my emails with something like this:
Lyn
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Lynda R. Young
http://lyndaryoung.blogspot.com
@LyndaRYoung
It’s a great marketing tool because it’s subtle, but it works. Also, we shouldn’t always assume the recipient will know who we are. However, try to keep your signature short and, if you must add an image banner, then make sure the image file size is tiny.
6. Never send huge files without permission first. I have an older family member who recently discovered the joys of emails. Unfortunately, in his enthusiasm he sends me 2-8 megabyte files. This clogs up my email and slows everything down.
7. Give the recipient the ability to respond. For example, if you are using email to respond to blog comments, make sure you don’t use a no-reply address. The whole point of social media is to make ourselves accessible.
Can you think of other tips for using emails?
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Thanks: A huge and massive thank you to Nate Wilson. He ran a haiku contest recently and I won a $25 Amazon Gift Card. I’d not written Haiku before, so thanks, Nate, for pushing me out of my comfort zone.
Thank you also to Trisha from Word & Stuff for the Great Comments Award.
Please visit these great writers and say hi from me.
Photo: This is another photo I took on the Isle of Pines during my recent cruise. The weather in Sydney is getting colder as we draw near to winter, so I’m yearning to return to somewhere tropical.
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