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                 ** DEMC ** Volume IX No. 2 **
        The Truth About Legitimate Email Marketing!
          Serving the Internet Since November 1995

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         - Norman Vincent Peale
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What's In This Issue - Features

1) Editor's Note: "10 Ways To Get Your Email Read"
2) Email Marketing Insights: "For Email That Sells Get Inside Your Customer's Head"
3) Feature Article: "Email Marketing Systems to Help Boost Affiliate Exposure and Profits"
4) SOHO Help Desk: "Customer Satisfaction Is Your Business"
5) DEMC's - Advertising Information

======================

1.

Editor's Note:

"10 Ways To Get Your Email Read"

Are you a legitimate email marketer?

Well, I certainly hope you answered yes to this question. But the more critical point to consider is do the requestors of your email messages view you as a legitimate email marketer?

Why is legitimacy important? Consider these recent survey findings.

A nationwide survey sponsored by Digital Impact in November found that 70 percent of respondents have requested legitimate email marketing messages be sent to them.

Therefore if visitors to your site or readers of your material view you as legitimate the majority of them will sign-up to receive more information from you. This statistic should help you put aside your fears that prospects are unwilling to give out their email address. Because the truth of the matter is that 70% of Internet users have submitted their email address in order to receive information on topics of interest, discounts or special offers; receive reminders of a special event; for the chance to win something; or to establish a closer relationship to a company.

What's more the Digital Impact survey found that 77% of the respondents had a neutral-to-positive impression of legitimate email marketing. Wow! After all the negatives we've heard about commercial email, it is finally nice to see results which shows legitimate commercial email is not aggravating.

The problem with email marketing is the unsolicited non- legitimate email bombarding peoples' in-boxes. Surveys taken by Harris Interactive during 2003 found that 93% of people are annoyed by spam.

The key to success with your email campaigns depends upon your prospects perception of you as legitimate. The Digital Impact survey found that only half of those surveyed, 51%, were able to distinguish legitimate email from spam.

If this is the case, that means roughly half of your list members do not recognize, remember or recall signing up to receive your email. Your email, although permission based, in their opinion is not legitimate. In essence, they see your email as spam!

Yikes.

Just imagine, with every emailing you're sending you are aggravating and annoying roughly half you list. If you are going to improve your email marketing results the best place to start is to ensure your email is viewed as a legitimate message by your subscribers.

How can you make this goal a reality in 2004. Here are my top 10 strategies to make sure your email marketing is legitimate.

1) Practice full disclosure.

Make it very clear that people are subscribing to your list and that you will be following-up. Your subscription process should be up front and memorable. Let people know when they request your report, ecourse, ebook or ezine that they will be subscribed to a list if you plan on doing so. Realize that adding people to a list after they've just requested a report from you is likely to cause problems. People will probably view additional emails from you as spam.

A better strategy, if you are offering just a report, ecourse or ebook is to make your list subscription a separate second request. Thus once people request your report they'll have to send in a second request to actually be added to your in-house list.

2) Use double confirmation tactics.

Instead of delivering your information by email immediately or subscribing people to your list upon their initial request, ask for verification. Send people a confirmation email upon their first request and make them reply back to you in order to verify their interest.

Using this strategy solidifies the sign-up process, making it more memorable for your subscribers. They'll then remember having had to take an extra step to receive your email thus legitimizing future email messages you send.

3) Have a Privacy Policy.

State on your sign-up form that you do not share or sell addresses. Prospects who think you might give out their information without permission will not sign-up for you list. And should subscribers ever suspect you are failing to protect their privacy, they'll turn against you and discard your emails as spam. Be up front about your practices, protect your subscribers' privacy and do not break your policies.

4) Personalize your messages.

Your email messages should always be addressed to each recipients email address in the "To" field. Avoid sending carbon copies and blind carbon copies.

Whenever possible acquire the name of your subscribers. And then place each subscriber's name in the body of your email communication, not in the subject line. An email message which is politely addressed to a subscriber in the body of the message, solidifies your relationship with your subscriber and legitimizes your email.

5) Avoid unnecessary emails.

Excessive frequency of email messages causes many subscribers to unsubscribe from lists. Too much email becomes overwhelming. It quickly is seen as unnecessary and thus not legitimate.

Similarly unscheduled announcements, are often suspect by subscribers. A predictable, consistent mailing schedule, subscribers can expect, is the best practice for securing legitimacy in your subscribers' minds.

6) Deliver targeted valuable content.

Send relevant information to your subscribers. Your emails have to deliver interesting material on a subject matter about which your subscribers are interested. If your subscribers sign-up for updates on horses it's best to send actual horse information. If your subscribers sign-up for updates on wine, you should send real wine information.

Nothing will get your email classified as illegitimate faster than advertising your list distributes quality information on a topic but in reality ends up being just sales pitch after sales pitch.

Boring or valueless content will also get your email trashed. I cannot overstate the importance of good content. The time you invest to deliver quality content will be rewarded.

7) Have a consistent layout

Both your subject line and the body of your messages should be consistent. A consistent layout adds legitimacy to your emails and improves the brand recognition of your company. It identifies you as the sender and reminds the subscriber of his or her sign-up request.

You'll find every issue of DEMC E-Magazine has the same look. Each issues' subject line begins with [DEMC E-Magazine] and then the start of the issue contains the volume and number. The point of consistency is to be obvious. You want your readers to know and remember who is sending the message.

8) Avoid the spammy look.

Yes, there is such a thing as "spammy" looking email. You know what I mean because you probably delete them from your mail box without a second glance every day. Emails that offer porn, body-part extension, herbal extracts, or the chance for big money fall into this category. Nothing will get your message filtered or ignored faster than outrageous or offensive offers.

Emails with a poor design also are going to be suspect. Avoid including lots of words in all Capitalized letters or having bold, bright colors or using excessive exclamation points and questions marks in your copy.

Keep your design conservative, your offers reasonable and watch your language and punctuation. Effective email does not need to have you on top of a soap box screaming ridiculously to try and get attention. Remember it is legitimate email that is appreciated and read so don't let your email be mistaken as spam because it looks like spam.

9) Always send from the same "From" address and name.

Your From address and name in addition to remaining the same for every mailing, should be recognizable as being from your company. For example just having the address - joe183@yahoo.com in your from line is not very distinctive and easily forgotten. Instead use a "From" name that is your business name and a "From" address which contains your business' name. When possible try to have your business name in your address both before and after the @ sign so it can be seen by the recipient in a wide variety of email programs.

The Double Click 2003 consumer email survey found the number one reason an individual opens an email is because they recognize who the message is "From". Therefore, making sure your subscribers know your "From" address and "From" name will dramatically improve the legitimacy of your email messages.

10) Use a descriptive Subject line.

After your "From" address and name your Subject line is the most critical element of legitimizing your email message. Use your subject line to again remind recipients that the email is from a legitimate source they requested.

You might follow the tactic that DEMC uses which is to include your business name in the subject. You also could consider focusing the subject on the topic of your emails. For instance with DEMC we could use, Email Marketing, in the subject rather than our name. As your subscribers requested information on this topic, it should serve as a reminder that they requested the information. You should choose a format for your subject lines and then stick to it. Be consistent!

A good subject line will provide information about the enclosed information succinctly. It should avoid hype and focus on the benefits your email contains for your readers.

Most importantly, make certain your subject lines avoids any and every possible spam trigger. (Putting your subscriber's name in the subject line does trigger filters.)

I saw a recent press release from AOL which highlighted the 'Top 10 Spam Email Subject Lines' of 2003. As much as I'd like to include them in this message, as you can imagine they trigger all sorts of filters! So I've posted them to our DEMC web site for your review.

Go to: http://www.demc.com/newsletters/topspamlines.htm

Be sure to take a look and then make sure your emails' subjects never use this language. Otherwise your message is likely to go straight to the trash bin without a second look.

11) Follow the CAN-Spam Guidelines.

I know I said 10, but I felt I should mention this final point as CAN-Spam is now the law. Your emails MUST contain a clear and conspicuous email or web link your subscribers can use to opt out and stop further mailings. They also should include a valid physical postal address.

The success of your email campaigns depend upon your prospects perception of your email as legitimate. Follow the strategies outlined to help your subscribers remember who you are. When your email is recognized as legitimate your readership will increase and your results will improve!

Abbie Drew
DEMC Editor
mail@demc2.com

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2.

Email Marketing Insights:

* Exclusive *

"For Email That Sells, Get Inside Your Customer's Head"
By: Kevin Nunley

The email message that sells best is the one that looks just like something the customer would have written.

HUH?

Let me explain. People like sales letters and web pages that agree with them. Whatever the customer thinks is a problem, or fun, or interesting, is what they want to see in your email...whether they know it or not.

Most people have no interest in reading a sales letter that disagrees with them. If your prospect already has a strong opinion that is opposite of yours, there is little chance you are going to change their mind.

The best sales copy shows a customer that your idea is so close to an idea they already have, that there is almost no difference between your idea and theirs.

If you've ever thought it was a good idea to try and teach your customers something new, your best bet is to stop in your tracks. A surprising majority of people are under a lot of stress these days. Researchers have long known that anyone under stress isn't very interested in learning new things.

So if your email message won't work teaching people new things and it won't succeed changing minds, what's left to talk about? Your customers!

Let your copy be a mirror image of the customer.

Get inside your customer's head. Find out what they are thinking, what they are craving, and what irritates them. Then have your sales copy talk about those things and little else. Use the same words and phrases your customer would use if she was writing the copy herself.

If your customer tends to be short on words, make your sales copy short. If your business's prospects like to talk and talk about your product or service to get every detail they can before buying, make your copy longer and more detail oriented.

Start the process by making a list of adjectives that describe how your customer sees the world. Use words he or she might use to describe you, your product, themselves, and their problem.

Write a half page story about a customer. Tell the story from the view of the customer--"I got here by doing this. Now I don't like that. I'm looking for something that will do this. I won't buy it unless it's like this."

These are simple exercises writers and actors use to create fictional characters that seem real. You can use these same exercises to start creating sales copy that seems real to your customers.

Customers love to feel like your focus is on them. They want to know you understand where they're coming from and what they want. They want to feel like they're buying from someone who's just like them. When your sales copy mirrors your customers, that's just how they'll feel, and it will pay off for you.

When your sales pitch or argument sounds a lot like something the customer would say, using their style of talking, using the words they use, and talking about the problems they struggle with-your chance of making the sale jump tenfold.

###
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3.

Feature Article:

* Exclusive *

"Email Marketing Systems to Help Boost Affiliate Exposure and Profits ... Back to the Basics"
By: Denise Ryder

Ok, 2003 is long gone and 2004 is here...so tell me, are you ready to roll up your sleeves and get dirty?

You are? Excellent!

Here's the deal, in 2003 through DEMC we focused on some pretty cool things with respect to email marketing...of course it stands to reason that we just pick up where we left off, right? You betcha! However, we are going to change things up a bit this year. Instead of focusing on the theory side of email marketing tactics, we are going to concentrate on some specific tactics that you can put to work for your own eBusiness. So, stick with DEMC eZine and over the next 12 months you will have 12 different email marketing strategies in place that will help you boost exposure and profits.

Right then...let's move out ;o)

In order to start with a rock solid foundation, we need to step back a bit to the basics and the one basic tactic that I want you to zero in on is your advertising process. I say this because through the advertising I see posted in various newsletters and ezines I subscribe to, there are a huge number of people who are making a very costly mistake.

The costly mistake is that they are sending prospects to their "sales" or "affiliate" page, instead of sending them to a place where they can download, a f'ree report or ecourse pertaining to the focus of the affiliate program.

If you send a prospect to your affiliate sales page and they don't buy, you have lost them. You HAVEN'T made a sale therefore you are not able to track their name through that process...and of course nine times out of ten affiliate programs don't have a way for you to capture an email address of a prospect... so you lose out. Missing this HUGE benefit puts you in a position of ALWAYS having to drive traffic to your affiliate site hoping someone will buy. I'm not sure about you, but ALWAYS having to drive traffic to my affiliate site "hoping" someone will buy, would leave me feeling pretty stressed out and eventually burned out.

Don't do this to yourself and DON'T do this to your marketing. Instead work smarter not harder.

Look at your advertisements and instead of driving a prospect to yours sales page, send them to a report/ecourse that shares the same focus as your affiliate program.

Let me give you an example:

I belong to the ProfitsVaultMonthly affiliate program. Through this program I am provided with an information product each month that I own the reprint rights to. What I do is write up a f'ree report that discusses marketing information products, how the market is with respect to demand and perhaps a few little pointers on what to look for in information products. The free report gives prospect some really good rock, solid information. Through the free report I build trust and rapport with my prospect. Over time as I follow up with these prospects, I hope they will become affiliates of the ProfitsVaultMonthly affiliate program.

Ok, that is the first part of the process here. Create a good f'ree report that is information based that leads logically to the affiliate program. From there I need to advertise. I DON'T write an advertisement that sends a prospect to my PVM sales page. Instead, I write an advertisement for my free report (How to start an information product business using other people's info). My desired response from my prospects is that of course they will go and download my f'ree report. In order to the obtain the report they need to provide me with the "holy grail" their email address. From there, I can follow up with my prospect and send them more information on a regular basis about how the info product selling market is and other tips.

I do this until they do one of two things...

1. Sign up as my affiliate and when that happens they go into my other system.

2. Ask to no longer receive my mailings and of course I honor the request.

This way of doing things is much easier, don't you think?? It's also certainly less stressful as well AND you always have a warm body to market to.

Let's face it...you can't market to a ghost ;o)

So, there you have it...one email marketing strategy, that although may seem a bit basic to some of you, certainly is effective to say the least. If you are already using this process in your email marketing strategy to help boost your affiliate exposure and profits, EXCELLENT! Give yourself a reward. If you aren't, ok, now you know so do something about it and implement this right away!

Remember by the time you are finished 2004 you will have 12 email marketing strategies...so stick with us!

###
Denise Ryder is a Marketing Coach writing from her home office in Northern Ontario (Canada). She is publisher of ProfitSpace Newsletter and eCoach for The Marketing Brief a newsletter service that helps people build their own list http://www.profitspace.com/brief/index.html. Download her free report "How to Turn a Simple Sign Up Process Into An...Unstoppable Income Stream!" http://www.profitspace.com/book.html

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~/~ SOHO Help Desk ~\~
http://www.demc.com

"Customer Satisfaction Is Your Business"

Today's SOHO Help Desk discuss tactics on how to satisfy your customers in order to grow your business.

If you have a valuable tip, promotional idea, question or answer you would like included in an upcoming issue of DEMC, all you have to do is submit it by email to - mailto:helpdesk@demc2.com

To start us off today, we have a DEMC reader who would like your recommendations. Please take a minute to review this week's question and send your response to - mailto:helpdesk@demc2.com .


=== Help Request ===


From: Keith

As far as publishing and ezine are there any books, reports, or ebooks written on this subject that you can recommend. My main problem is finding subscribers.

Thank you and have a good 2004,

Keith


Send your answer to: mailto:helpdesk@demc2.com


=== Customer Satisfaction Tips ===


From: Bob Leduc

Customer Satisfaction Is Your Business

Regardless of what business you are in - you are really in the business of satisfying customers. The degree of customer satisfaction you deliver determines the level of long-term success you will achieve in business.

Make Customer Satisfaction Your Top Priority

Don't just make sales. Create customers - satisfied customers. In addition to the immediate profit they provide on the first sale, satisfied customers help you build your business in 2 other important ways:

1. They become a reservoir of repeat buyers. For some businesses that means repeat buyers for more of the same product or service. For every business, it means buyers for additional products and services.

2. They automatically refer more business to you from their friends and business contacts. This is highly profitable business for you because it doesn't cost you any time or money to get it.

Never Promise More Than You Deliver

Never make any promises you can't (or won't) keep. Nothing alienates customers faster than getting something less than they expect from a business transaction. They won't do business with you again. And they will tell everybody they know about their unhappy experience - causing you to lose future customers.

Tip: Handle customer complaints quickly and with a positive attitude. Strive to preserve your relationship with the complaining customer instead of your immediate profit from them. They will reward you later with more sales and referrals.

Always Give Customers More Than They Expect

"Over deliver" on quality and service. Always exceed your customers' expectations. You will win their long term loyalty. It also makes it difficult for competitors to steal customers from you - even if they have lower prices. Customers will not risk an uncertain experience with a competitor when they know they will get more than they expect from you.

Tip: Surprise your customers with unexpected value. If you sell products, include an "unadvertised bonus" with every order. If you sell services, get into the habit of doing something extra for every customer or client without charging for it.

Let Customers Know How Much You Value Them

Let your customers know you are always thinking about them. Communicate with them regularly. For example, create some special deals just for your existing customers. And announce new products or services to them before you announce them to the general market.

Tip: Convert your customers into publicity agents. Develop an incentive for them to tell associates and friends about the value of your products or services. An endorsement from them is more effective than any amount of advertising - and it is much cheaper.

For example, reward them each time they refer someone who becomes a customer. Your reward can be as simple as a credit toward their next order from you.

You are in the business of satisfying customers regardless of what products or services you provide. The satisfied customers you create will help you build your business by becoming repeat buyers and by referring new business to you from their friends and associates.

###
Bob Leduc spent 20 years helping businesses like yours find new customers and increase sales. He just released a New Edition of his manual, How To Build Your Small Business Fast With Simple Postcards ...and launched *BizTips from Bob*, a newsletter to help small businesses grow and prosper. You'll find his low-cost marketing methods at: http://BobLeduc.com or call: 702-658-1707 After 10 AM Pacific Time/Las Vegas, NV

===

If you have a valuable tip, promotional idea, question or answer you would like included in an upcoming issue of DEMC, all you have to do is submit it by email to - mailto:helpdesk@demc2.com

Be sure to include your SIG and contact URL with your post as we'll be sharing any viable ideas/information in an upcoming issue of DEMC E-Magazine.

======================

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