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BUILDING A PERMISSIONBASED EMAIL MARKETING LISTSay “Please” Before Hitting SendInfoUSA wants email marketers to know that youhave two choices: You can either send unsolicitedThat makes it more likely that these subscriberscan be converted into buyers.email or send email to people who have requestedto hear from you. Unsolicited email is, of course,spam, and you definitely don’t want to be known asa spammer – it can harm your business reputationand brand.By taking the time to build a permission-basedImproved deliverabilityPeople who want to hear from you are more likelyto provide a legitimate email address. They’re morelikely to open and respond to your offers, and you’reless likely to wind up on a blocked-sender list.email marketing list – that is, a database of peoplewho have agreed to receive your messages – youwill build stronger, more trustworthy relationshipswith your customers and prospects.You’ll stop wasting time and money on prospectswho are not interested in your services. Andyou’ll also stay on the right side of the governmentregulations – visit www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/canspam.html for details on the federalCAN-SPAMAct for more details. While the SpamIncreased trust and brand affinityBy sending emails to subscribers who have grantedyou permission to do so, you can avoid being labeledas a spammer. And by sending only quality information,you’ll build goodwill with your readers because you’reproviding them something of value.As writer and Internet marketing pioneer Seth Godinsays, permission marketing is about “turning strangersinto friends and friends into customers.”Act merely requires you to have a “pre-existingbusiness relationship,” it’s always best to getpermission first – this also ensures that there’s arecord of the recipient’s agreement to receiveyour messages.Remember that being a successful marketer isn’tabout building the biggest list. It’s about getting thebiggest results. When you engage in permission-basedemail marketing, you will get:SO HOW DO YOU GET PERMISSION?Ask your customers and prospects to “opt-in” toreceive communications from you. There are threelevels of opt-ins:1Someone fills out a registration form, for example onyour website, and provides his or her email address.2Better response ratesPeople who sign up for your email list generallyhave a direct interest in your product or services.www.infoUSA.comBasic opt-inConfirmed opt-inAfter someone signs up to join your email list, yousend a “thank you” confirmation email with a link tounsubscribe.1

3Double opt-inIn an effort to protect consumer inboxes from spam,Someone signs up for your email list. You send aISPs enforce anything from moderate to severely strictbefore they’re added to your list. If they don’t clicklegitimate emails are often inadvertently blocked.confirmation email with a link that must be clickedthe link, they don’t get added.rules regarding unsolicited bulk email. Unfortunately,Whether you’re sending email in-house or through anRegardless of what level you choose, be sure toEmail Service Provider (ESP), every undelivered emailtheir email addresses. Why? It’s just good businessdeliverability can also inhibit the growth of your emailsurvey of consumers, more than 60% of respondents“blacklist” (a list that ISPs use to determine whichlist if they knew their information would not be sharedyour email program could suffer a significant setback.remind your customers that you won’t sell or sharetranslates into wasted time and lost revenue. Lowpractice. According to a 2008 MarketingSherpaprogram. Even worse, if you end up on an ISPsaid they would be more likely to opt-in to an emailemails should be blocked), your company’s namewith other companies.GOOD BUSINESS SENSEGetting consumers to grant their permission toREADY FOR SOME GOOD NEWS?There are many steps you can take to increasedeliverability. Here are 5 of them:receive your emails may be challenging, but the effortis well worth it. Here’s one more statistic: according to1Develop a solid reputation onlinea 2009 study released by Epsilon and ROI Research,In the world of email marketing, reputation is everything.email from companies they had registered with.For example, let’s say a customer calls your companyconsumers said it was good to know the informationpoorly, this unhappy customer could post negative84% of consumers surveyed said they liked receivingEven if they don’t always read the message, thesewith a complaint. If your company handles the issueor offer will be there when they’re ready.comments about you online. Before you know it,DELIVERABILITY - GETTING INTO THE INBOXYou spent weeks building “the perfect email” – athese comments could be circulated throughout theInternet. The next time you send out an email, somerecipients may not believe your company is reputable.They could report your domain as a spammer,compelling message, a dramatic design, and anaffecting how ISPs filter your emails.for the phone to ring and you wait and you wait.How can you avoid this cascading affect? Developirresistible offer. You send it out and wait breathlesslyWhat happened?a good reputation and address concerns beforeThere’s a good chance many of your emails neversurveys about your company – what do they like?that almost 20% of permission-based emails arefor customer feedback, you can gain insight intoIt could be a handful of reasons – email servers canness relationships. And by building positive rela-some subscribers change their email addresses,in social media sites, you can spread good newsInternet Service Providers (ISPs) also play a big role.reputation online.they go viral. Actively engage your customers inreached their intended recipients. It’s estimatedWhat can you do better? By creating opportunitiesblocked, bounced or returned to sender. Why?your company’s reputation and build strong busi-get overloaded and return them for later attempts,tionships with industry bloggers and participatingwhile others flag irrelevant messages as spam.about your company and develop a rock-solidwww.infoUSA.com2

Just like your relationships with your customers,and unsubscribe requests immediately. Anotherrelationships with ISPs (or work with an ESP that hasemail files, as well as missing characters in theit’s equally important to develop and maintain gooda good relationship with the ISPs). ISPs look at manycriteria when determining your reputation, includinguser complaints; the volume of emails sent; the lengthof time your domain has been active; the numberimportant step: Identify and correct typos in yourdomain name and extension. If your file is full ofoutdated email addresses, contact your customersand update their information.of bounces; whether you’re on any blacklists, etc.Another far less time-consuming option is to calladdress their concerns, you can build a solidrun your list against a national database of emailBy working with ISPs to understand their criteria andrelationship and gain direct access to these gate-keepers should big issues arise (for example, an ISPwants to shut you off because of a spam complaint.)2Minimize spam complaintsYour emails can be flagged as spam for many reasons,including irrelevant messages; unrecognizable ormisleading from and/or subject lines; frequency (toomany, too often); missing or broken unsubscribelinks; spammy-looking content (think back to thespam you’ve received and don’t allow you emailsto look or read like that).One of the major reasons for your emails gettingflagged as spam is failing to ask recipients to “optin”. The first step to minimizing spam complaintsis to build a permission-based email-marketing list– a database of people who have agreed to receiveyour messages.Also, clearly identify your company in the from line;use a clear subject line; send only well-designedand relevant communications; and set expectationsearly about what you will send and how often.Good email marketers always work to offer value,while making an effort to not annoy their recipients.“The Golden Rule” also happens to be an excellentemail marketing strategy.3Clean your lists regularlyA “dirty” email list hurts your deliverability becauseISPs will block senders who email repeatedly tobad or closed email addresses.To ensure you havea “clean” email list, remove all bounced accountswww.infoUSA.comus and use our email list cleaning service. We canaddressesknown to be undeliverable or part of a“do not send” list – if the recipient is aggressiveabout flagging email as spam, it is best to avoidemail marketing to them altogether. Our cleaningservice will also correct any misspellings of addressesin your list. The service typically pays for itself andthen some in the form of better deliverability anda stronger reputation for your company with ISPs.List cleaning before each email deployment is alsoconsidered to be an industry best practice.Test your emails via seeding your listSending proof of your email to yourself, co-workersor others will help uncover typos, broken links,formatting issues or other potential blocking or filterproblems. Be sure to send your email to a varietyof email clients (these include AOL, Outlook, Gmail,etc.). HTML emails can look and behave very dif-ferently on different platforms, clients and devices.InfoUSA also provides a service that can test youremail against dozens of browsers, email clients andmobile devices—just call and ask for our “emailpre-flight service.”WANT TO KNOW MORE?The Email Experience Council, the emailmarketing arm of the Direct Marketing Association(DMA), offers a plethora of free tools, advice andinsight on deliverability. Visit them online atwww.emailexperience.org. Also feel free to call one ofour email-marketing experts with any of your questions.As the nation’s largest provider of email marketingservices, whatever you may need, from design to3

CALL US TODAY888.297.0899delivery, we can most likely handle—or we’ll pointyou in the right direction.BASIC LEVELS OF OPT-INANATOMY OF A GOOD EMAILHere are a few basic elements that every goodemail contains:AFrom line:Using your business name and valid emailaddress will encourage recipients to “white list”your address, better ensuring your email will passthrough spam filters.’’BSubject line:cPreheaderHere you’ll find a link to an HTML Web version ofyour message as well as white listing and addressbook instructions. Some companies also includea call to action, an unsubscribe link or mobile textinstructions in their preheaders. The purpose of thepreheader is to make the email actionable even ifthe main content or images cannot be viewed.DMessageJust like the “from” line, the content of a “subject”You have less than three seconds to hook yourignore it, file it or report it as spam. Keep it shortthat clearly offers value in the form of compellingline will drive prospects to open an email, delete it,and be sure it accurately reflects the content ofthe message.www.infoUSA.comreader – do it with a simple, powerful messageinformation, entertainment, discounts, free gifts orother innovative content. If you want to create a4