Is Email Marketing As Dead As A Doornail?

Is Internet marketing as dead as a doornail? According to some people, you would think that it is. Every single day I hear the horror stories…

My delivery rates are down the tubes.

My open rates are abysmal.

My CTR is almost non existent.

And on top of all that, you keep hearing about how Internet marketers are having their autoresponder accounts closed because of spam complaints.

Yeah, it’s a real mess out there.

In spite of all this, and contrary to what a lot of people believe, email marketing is NOT dead. In fact, it’s not even close to being dead.

Personally, I make the bulk of my sales emailing my personal list. So obviously, either email marketing is alive and well or I walk on water.

I’ll go with the former.

However, having said all that, if you don’t properly run your email campaigns, you’re not going to get results. And to that end, there is a lot involved…a lot.

Let’s start with the actual autoresponder service that you’re using. I realize that money is tight and you’re trying to get the biggest bang for the buck, but going with a no name autoresponder service is throwing your money away…no matter how cheap it is.

The reason should be obvious, but maybe it’s not. Many cheap AR services simply have poor delivery rates, most likely because they’re on every blacklist in existence. I had this problem back in my early days of email marketing when I went with a no name company. My delivery rates were awful. Then I went with Aweber and my results changed dramatically…almost overnight.

But a reputable AR service is just the start of the solution. And before you even send ONE email to your list, another HUGE problem is targeting.

If the list you’re putting together is NOT properly targeted, you’re simply not going to get any response from it.

For example, let’s say you have a product that’s in a sub niche of the health niche. Let’s say it’s an acne product. Building a list of people who are into general health issues may bring you SOME people into acne, but wouldn’t it be better if you simply targeted your list building efforts to people JUST interested in curing their acne?

Sure, your list may not be as big (in this business size only matters if it’s relevant) but the people you DO have on your list will be a lot more responsive than a list built targeting a general population.

Believe me, I’ve done both and the one just doesn’t bring substantial results because the interests are too broad.

Okay, so after you’ve made sure that your list is as targeted as possible, NOW we come to the actual sending of the emails.

This is where most email marketers drop the ball.

In fact, there are so many things that can go wrong with an email. it’s a wonder that anybody gets this part right without a lot of trial and error.

And make no mistake about it…email marketing DOES require a lot of testing to determine what works best for the niche YOU’RE targeting.

So, in my next article, what I’m going to do is start dissecting emails to see where we can identify possible flaws and pitfalls.

See you soon with more.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of not getting your emails delivered, read or opened? Sick of not making any sales from your email marketing efforts? Visit my site at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/emailmarketing/index.html and get your hands on 5 years of my personal experience with email marketing…experience that has earned me tens of thousands of dollars yearly.