Using Email Campaigns effectively

Key points:

  • Using email to communicate is completely different to using printed mediums.
  • Using email, you have around 1 second to enage the interest of the recipient.
  • Email communications need to be short, clear and concise - one email, one message.
  • Messages need to have a purpose - they should be newsworthy, timely, special or action-oriented.
  • More and more email is being read on smartphones with small screens that often omit graphics and attachments in the first instance to reduce bandwidth usage.
  • Including your message in a third party's email newsletter is far less effective than sending a single email containing one message - your message!

Main Street Publishing Pty Ltd facilitates email communication to members of the dental community.

Email Campaigns allow you to reach your target audience with immediacy. Unlike advertising in our publications, which are read by dental professionals at a time of their choosing, emails can be a fast and effective method of communication but equally, have a very short lifespan.

Emails have the power to elicit a direct and immediate response from the recipient that can be precisely tracked and its impact analysed in depth.

To use email effectively, however, it has to be seen as a completely new way to communicate!

You only have a second!

Unlike print advertising that can keep working for long periods of time, an email message has a lifespan of a second. A combination of the Subject line and the opening text and graphics of your emailed message must have an immediate impact on the recipient - you literally have about a second before the delete key - or worse, the opt-out link - is clicked and your opportunity is lost (and opt-out is forever!).

Time-poor professionals receive dozens if not hundreds of emails a day. Most of these are unsolicited and often unwanted. Even if your email has made it into their In-Box, past the spam blocking software and other filtering mediums, there is no guarantee it will be read.

Everyone is looking for a reason NOT to read an email- we just receive too many these days - so your message must be unique and carefully crafted to solicit the attention of your audience. It should be newsworthy, time sensitive and encourage immediate action. And the message should be short, clear and concise - links to your website can deal with anyone that desires detail.

Email is increasingly read on smart phones

It is important to remember that more and more professionals are using devices like Smartphones to receive emails. These devices have small screens and email is often loaded without images and attachments in the first instance. Email communications must be carefully crafted to ensure your message is understood regardless of whether it is read on a desktop PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone or other mobile device.

Forget newsletters: Your money - your message

Email should never be confused with print media. The front page of a printed newsletter will always be seen in its entirety and even a catchy article on the bottom of the page has some hope of being read. When an email version of a newsletter arrives in your In-Box however, like any email, only the first few centimetres have any guarantee of being seen, let alone read. As a result, those first few centimetres are critcal!

And, if you're reading your email on an iPhone, your chance to connect is smaller still.

If the same repetitive graphic is used at the top of every email as happens with newsletters, then the inbuilt internal "spam filtering" of our brain is instantly motioning us toward the delete key (or worse!).

When time is short, we are looking for any excuse to move to the next message... and time these days is increasingly short.

Hence, the idea of creating more impact for your message by burying it in a third party's e-newsletter is more often than not erroneous. E-newsletters are a dime a dozen and because they are published so frequently, their content is often of limited value. Even when there is something worth reading, the recipient has already deleted the message based on past experiences and moved on.

If you only use email when you have something newsworthy, timely, special or action-oriented to say, then you don't need anyone else's message getting in the way.

At Main Street Publishing, we distribute email campaigns on behalf of our clients that are focussed on creating impactful results. And because you are paying for the email, we believe the only message it should deliver is yours!

Respecting the medium

Whilst email campaigns can be very effective when used to deliver the right message, it must also be respected as a medium. Sending a continual stream of emails that deliver the same message over and over will quickly lose their impact. Again, use email when you have something newsworthy, timely, special and action-oriented to say; the impact will be far greater and your target audience far more appreciative of your respect for their time.

Targeting your email campaign

Email Campaigns can be tailored to your specific requirements to save on cost and reduce the number of emails practitioners receive. Email Campaigns can be sent to:

  • All practices and/or practitioners with an email address in Australia and/or New Zealand.
  • All practices and/or practitioners in a certain area such as a state or territory; postcode range; specific suburbs; telephone number prefix; or based on geocode data (e.g. all dentists within 25kms of Toorak).
  • Certain types of dental practitioners (e.g. All orthodontists with an email address).
  • Only male or only female practitioners.
  • Practitioners who graduated at a certain time (e.g. between 1978 and 1988).
  • And essentially any other variable or combination oif variavbles that we can match in our database.

NB: Unless specifically requested, we do not send your email to members of the dental industry as this can lessen the impact of your campaign if it contains, for example, special offers on products or an exclusive promotion.

Organising an email campaign

The process to send an email campaign involves the following steps:

  • Establish an account with Main Street Publishing Pty Ltd if you are a new customer.
  • Define where you would like the Email Campaign sent.
  • Detail when you would like the Email Campaign sent.
  • Specify an email address to receive a test message prior to the main broadcast.
  • Supply an electronic copy of the email you would like sent based on the specifications listed on the right under "Preparing your email" or brief us on your requirements.
  • Once received, your email will be checked for any technical errors.
  • Prior to the scheduled time and date of your Email Campaign, you will be sent a test email to approve.
  • Once approved, your Email Campaign will subsequently be broadcast as specified.

Tracking and Reporting

Upon completion of your campaign, a tracking report will be provided indicating the number of:

  • Emails delivered;
  • Emails opened;
  • Click thrus on all tracked hyperlinks (see Preparing your email); and
  • Opt outs.

Additional information

  • Main Street Publishing Pty Ltd transmits Email Campaigns on a limited basis to ensure dental practitioners are not inundated with material. Too many emails reduces the impact of this medium significantly. You will be advised if your Email Campaign will be delayed for this reason.
  • Practitioners can choose to opt-out of receiving future emails from any organisation.
  • Main Street Publishing Pty Ltd reserves the right to refuse to disseminate any material via its Email Campaign service that it deems as offensive, inappropriate or otherwise unsuitable.

For more information on utilising our Email Campaign service, please email eblasts@dentist.com.au

 

Using Email Campaigns...

Email Campaigns are ideal to communicate:

  • Information on upcoming courses or events, particularly when a key deadline is approaching such as the expiry of an earlybird registration date.
  • Special offers or promotions that require an urgent response.
  • Distribution of press releases announcing news, new products or new services.
  • The location of surveys, competitions and other interactive web-based applications.

Email is but an entree
to the world wide web...

The real power of email communication is its ability to connect recipients with your broader presence on the world wide web.

Again, email must never be confused with print media. Printed brochures need to be comprehensive as they necessarily must stand alone as a method of communication. When you read a brochure, you expect it to contain all the information you need about the product or service it promotes.

Conversely, emails must grab your attention and fast... remember, only a second stands between you and the Trash. Emails are not brochures... rather they are the spruiker who stands outside the dollar shop and yells hey, look at me.

In one single second, your email must communicate with the recipient in an incredibly efficient manner why they should not hit the delete key and move on. It should be eye catching and to the point.

Once you've bought yourself a little more time, then a key response you should want from your email is to encourage the recipient to click a link or links that transfers them to your website, which is absolutely the place to store all the information you would normally put in a brochure. Once the receipient of your email has clicked across onto your website, you know you have captured their interest and can then look to service it. Of course, your website can do more than just provide information, it can sell your product including taking payment, it can accept registrations for your upcoming event and it can provide you with interactive and intuitive feedback.

Email campaigns are thus an ideal way to attract visitors to your website for a specific event or promotion.

Emails are also ideal to promote new features on your website when they are introduced, particularly if they are in demand. In these instances, it is important to include a link specifically to the page or area you are promoting. Too often, emails are sent with links to the home page and when recipients click through, it is often difficult to locate the information or section they have come to find.

Using technology is all about increasing our efficiency and whilst we ideally would like visitors to our website to look through every page as often they do with a brochure or catalogue, this is most often not the case. If you make your website easy to use with information arranged in a logical and easily locatable manner, then visitors to your site will often continue to return over and over.

Preparing your email...

As mentioned, emails are not brochures. When an email is broadcast, it is sent as a text file that can include HTML code. When this HTML code is read by your email program, it formats the email to look the way you have specified including loading images from the internet in a similar manner to when you open a webpage. This allows the size of the email to remain very small when it is transmitted as all the graphics are brought in after it is opened.

Whereas you can send attachments with an email, it is again best to store the attachment online and then include a link to download it from within the email. This both keeps the email small and also alleviates problems that can occur with spam filtering of emails with attachments.

Another unique advantage of using email campaigns is the ability to track the recipients interaction with the email. Not only do we track that emails have been delivered, opened and forwarded on, we can also see which links have been clicked on.

As well as delivering your email campaign, we can also assist with its design and preparation if required.