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Email Marketing Made Easy #12 - The Importance of Opt-In

Guest post by: Gary Baker

Article Overview: As you know, using responsible email marketing to grow your business can help you save loads of time, fatten your bank account and give you an astonishing return on investment. Instead of using spam, think about starting a legitimate opt-in list of targeted prospects, and then turn them into life-long customers by consistently keeping in touch with them.

Email Marketing Made Easy #12 - The Importance of Opt-In

Why "Opt-in" and Not Spam? As you know, using responsible email marketing to grow your business can help you save loads of time, fatten your bank account and give you an astonishing return on investment. Instead of using spam, think about starting a legitimate opt-in list of targeted prospects, and then turn them into life-long customers by consistently keeping in touch with them.

Spammers usually don't care if the people who receive the message are really interested or "not" in their offer. That's why they tend to send an inordinate amount of emails all with the hope that they get a few "bites." Look at it this way if you shoot a gun in the air (or in the dark), you will seldom hit a target. That's why you have no choice but to keep shooting and shooting until you finally do hit it (if ever).

With an opt-in list, however, look at it as your target... It's right there, before you, easy to hit (and hard to miss). Your chances of hitting your target are drastically higher. Right? The absolute best way to protect yourself from complaints and disgruntled email recipients is to build an opt-in email list sending email to only those people who asked for it.

Spammers are often enticed to carry out their unethical (and illegal in some places) practices because email is free and fast. But if you remember, it lacks the third "F:" Focus.

If You Lack Focus, Be Prepared...

Spammers with such an attitude find out the hard way that it's really very costly, even dangerous. In fact, some of the recipients can make the spammer's life quite miserable! From complaining to your ISP or web host, to sending mail bombs, nasty viruses and even significant threats - from hacking into your computer to causing physical harm!

Plus, nowadays many recipients are members of a variety of anti-spam groups that arm members with tools for tracking, reporting, filtering and even stopping spammers' attempts!

Finally, keep in mind that email software (and "add-ons") are making it more and more difficult for spam to reach its final destination, from sophisticated filters to complaint reporters. Less than a half-percent of people will get your spam!

Save Time, Effort and Money!

Building an opt-in list has a number of advantages. Sure, you can build trust with and sell a lot easier to a list of targeted people. But in addition, responsible email allows you to:

Send email offers to a group of people who know you, expect your emails and want to do business with you.

Achieve greater sales, even from a small list, since it is targeted (and will get through most email filters since your newsletter is added to the recipients' "white lists").

Not upset anyone since they have given you their permission to email them, as well as not get in trouble with service providers since no one is complaining.

Not waste time, money and energy on buying and setting up email cloakers, spam-friendly servers, fake email accounts and useless bulk email software.

Above all, not waste time constantly looking for a new ISP (and moving your website from host to host) because your last one closed your account! But don't forget that you should also follow a few rules, even with your opt-in list.

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Article Tags: email, email marketing, lifelong customers, optin, optin list, prospects, return on investment



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