Planning a permission-based email campaign can be a lengthy and difficult process for a number of parties involved. Although there are a broad range steps used by media planners when preparing for broadcast,

Preparation is the most important attribute a media planner can offer to any client when reaching for a successful campaign conclusion. By incorporating your own list of objectives you can potentially obtain a more productive and less stressed campaign plan for future email marketing endeavors.

Audience

Branded companies have a benefit of longevity that over time has painted a picture through profiles and past buying trends lending knowledge to their core audience. New companies, or start-ups, must start in a whole and dig their way to level ground before comprehending the correct audience.

Determining your targeted audience should always be the first step in planning any email marketing campaign. Whether you use market research through surveys or focus groups, an understanding of whom will respond best to your offering should be the goal.

Ad Copy

The ad copy is broken down into a variety of different action steps defined below. Covering these areas will assist you in ensuring that your offer's ad is completed.

Format

In today's email market there are a variety of formats that can be used including text, html, and rich media. It is always a good habit to have both a text and html creative handy before choosing a broadcast method.

Copy- Depending on which format is used the copy may vary slightly make sure to keep the offer brief. Benefits to the consumer should be pointed out and exclude stressing the product or service pricing. Simple and clear written copy works best. The header or subject line should also be geared towards enticing the reader considering there is only a couple second window to grasp their attention.

Incentive- By offering an incentive such as a free download or white paper, you open the door to presenting a form of value to the reader. Something as simple as these examples can in reality make a difference in the overall results impacting a campaign. Call

To Action- This is probably overlooked more than any other aspect when preparing an opt-in email campaign. Without actually giving the reader a direction, you run the risk of losing their attention. By adding a simple phrase such as "Click Here For More Information", "Click Now To Save", or "The First 500 Clicks Will Receive…", you can increase the response drastically. Taking for granted that a recipient will click because the offer is great is a big mistake.

Distribution

From your market research you may determine to use either direct email, newsletters (or ezines), or discussion lists for your selected form of opt-in email marketing. The source of these lists may be as follows.

In-House List

This of course is the ideal method of broadcast because the names that have opted in have already displayed interest in your product offer from a future contact. Outsourced List- This method of distribution is used for gaining new parties of interest and can be done through publishers and list brokers.

Tracking Response Before broadcasting you'll need to implement some tracking to monitor and report on the progress of your campaign. The most common is the click-through tracking options that are used by many publishers. If a publisher does not offer this you may wish to use a third-party tracking solution or even a proprietary solution. My opinion is to use a form of tracking on top of what a publisher offers.

Measuring Results Once a campaign has run it's course, you then can gage the effectiveness of your efforts. The first is the clicks. Clicks demonstrate the interest gathered from the creative used when campaigning. The more clicks you receive then you possess a better chance of conversion.

The next is the actual conversion. Converting those interested clickers into customers. If you receive 450 clicks and only 2 conversions then there is definitely a problem. This will help you determine where the problem is. The ad copy may be effective, but from the click to the site something went terribly wrong.

To determine whether the campaign was a success simply subtract the overall cost from what revenue was gained by the campaign through converting interested parties into customers.

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