It’s free. It reaches masses of potential customers as easily and it can be targeted to the smallest subset of clients.

At first, e-mail marketing looked like a pile of gold for marketers, particularly those with smaller marketing budgets. However, it can easily can become a curse for small businesses if not utilized properly.

Carelessly used, e-mail marketing can turn off and even anger the very customers you want to reach. The following tips can help you maximize the power of e-mail marketing while avoiding the pitfalls.

Ideas to Avoid

• Don’t send “spam.”
  Sending spam, or unsolicited e-mail, is the fastest, surest way to generate bad will. Almost anyone with an e-mail address has experienced the displeasure of receiving an unsolicited promotion or ad from an unfamiliar address. You don’t want your business to be on the receiving end of that anger.

Not only are response rates to spam incredibly low, but sending spam will damage your credibility with potential customers, who in turn may be very vocal about their annoyance with your company. In extreme cases, complaints from “spammed” customers may get you removed from your Internet service provider or even your Web hosting provider.

The American Marketing Association offers a free tool to evaluate whether your e-mail marketing efforts will be blocked as spam. Go to http://www.marketingpower.com/spamchecker to see how your e-mails rate.

• Use extreme care with rented e-mail lists
  This is a corollary to the above but still an important one to point out. Renting e-mail lists –no matter how reputable the source—virtually ensures you will be sending e-mail to people without their prior consent. Just because people are open to receiving e-mail from Company A does not mean they want to receive any from that company’s associate, Corporation B.

Keep your own e-mail lists confidential and private unless your customers have indicated they are willing to receive e-mail from your business associates. Even then, be very careful what companies you allow to use your e-mail lists.

• Don’t make your messages too technically complex
  Technology today makes it easier than ever to create sophisticated HTML files that can be sent instantly to thousands of people via e-mail. The only problem is, not everyone has e-mail that can handle such files.

When you create e-mail marketing communications, make sure they can be opened by earlier versions of Internet browsers and e-mail software. Otherwise your customers may dread receiving electronic correspondence from you, knowing any messages you send will freeze up their computers.

Another issue is that an e-mail with more complex HTML structure will be more likely to blocked as SPAM by corporate or private spam-blocking software.

... simple rule of thumb: "Keep it Simple."

If you want to maximize the available technology without compromising download times, you can create a simple text message for the body of the e-mail with a quick web link to the more sophisticated version of your communication.

Ideas to Follow

• Give your customers the opportunity to “opt in” to your mailing list.
  Make sure you’ve gotten your e-mail addresses directly from customers, or at least have received their permission to keep sending them e-mail communications. You can collect e-mail addresses through your company’s Web site, or any other interaction with customers, whether it be face-to-face or in print. In all situations, ask visitors for their e-mail addresses and give them a box to check (or uncheck) confirming they are willing to receive e-mail communications from your company.

On the flip side, give an easy way to “opt out” of your mailing list on every e-mail communication you send out. Then, be sure to follow up and actually remove the addresses of those who are no longer willing to receive e-mail from your company.

It may sound like a small detail, but your customers’ perception of your credibility is easily influenced by how quickly or slowly you respond to a their wishes in this area.

• Communicate with your customers regularly, but not too often
  Once you have a good list of e-mail addresses, use it.

You can send your customers regular notices for sales, newsletters with important industry news, or announcements for new products. Try to establish some consistency to your communications while making sure not to send e-mail for the sake of sending e-mail.

Far better to communicate only when you have something to say, otherwise customers will become used to ignoring half of what you send (and they may be ignoring the wrong half). If you can, let e-mail subscribers know in advance how often you will send messages and what type of content they can expect.

• Target your e-mail communications appropriately
  One of the great benefits of electronic communications is how easy it is to segment your mailing list and communications. For example, the e-mail you send to your most regular, loyal customers should be very different from the one you send to those who only purchase your products once a year.

Making your message as relevant as possible to your target audience makes them more willing to hear your message. For example, you may provide a special code in the e-mail to primary clients to qualify them for a discount on their next purchase, or you may give them first notice of sales for limited quantity items. Find out more about your customers in the least intrusive way possible and communicate with them more personally. 

• Make sure your e-mail is consistent with your corporate image
  Electronic communications are a different medium from your print collateral, but make sure anything you send out is consistent with the rest of your marketing efforts. Don't have one company image in your ads and a different one in your e-mail communications. Keep them similar through language, tone, or judicious use of images. If you are offering something only to your e-mail customers, highlight the fact in the e-mail itself.

Also, make sure to send your e-mail from an address with your company name in it. Sending e-mail from a generic ISP or an alternate e-mail address can cause confusion and make your business look unprofessional. For a minimal annual fee, you can register an e-mail address tailored specifically for your business.

• Stay on top of e-mail correspondence
  While many businesses use e-mail to connect with their clients and customers, a surprising number of them do not give their customers any easy ways to follow up on the initial e-mail. Always, always, always provide a link to your Web site so customers can get more information.

Also, be sure to include an e-mail address where customers can respond to you and ask questions, and make sure to respond to any e-mail from your customers promptly. The rule of thumb for response time is 24 hours. If your answer will require more time for research, then make sure you tell the customer within 24 hours when to expect an answer.

Much more than any other marketing media, e-mail is truly a two-way communications vehicle. Recognizing this fact and communicating with your clients accordingly will help you maximize this powerful tool to build customer relationships.

• Track your progress and success
  As with any other aspect of your marketing strategy, monitoring and measuring the success of your e-mail marketing efforts is critical. Be sure to track the response rates from each e-mail you send out to see what works and what doesn’t.

You may find that one segment of customers is especially responsive to e-mail, in which case you may be able to do away with expensive print communications to that segment altogether. On the other hand, you may find that no one responds to your e-mail, in which case it may be time to reformat your message or consider devoting your limited time and resources to more effective tools.

By tracking what works and what doesn’t, you can better harness the power of this flexible, cost-effective marketing tool.

Utilized properly, e-mail marketing is one of the best techniques for staying in contact with your customer base and getting maximum results for minimum marketing dollars.