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Today I had the pleasure of interviewing Dan Ogdon, Director of Marketing for Swiftpage. Swiftpage has a tremendous email marketing product that integrates with ACT, Sales Logix, Outlook and Excel. I encourage you to check them out.

Here were a few of the key points be talked about during the show...

1. Tailor your marketing message. According to Dan this is the first critical element to creating a successful email marketing campaign. You might have some luck with a "throw it on the wall and hope it sticks approach", but that's going to be rare. In order to tailor your message that means you must have a solid database that allows you to make this happen.

2. Analyze your results. Programs like Swiftpage has a robust back end engine allowing you to analyze the results of your campaigns. You certainly want to find out who clicked through on your messages...that way you can follow up with those people directly. In those cases, a phone call is a very effective way to drive that lead to a sale. You also need to know who is NOT reading your emails. This will help you to figure out what messages are working or not.

3. Test, test, test! Dan says that this aspect can't be overstated. It's important to test different messages to determine which ones are really landing with your email marketing. He also recommends setting up accounts with Yahoo, Google, Hotmail and the like to test the look of your email campaigns.

4. ROI. Email marketing still has a much higher rate of return than traditional direct mail marketing. In fact, Dan shared the statistic that an email can generate an average sale of $54 versus just $9 for direct marketing. And hey...the email costs are much lower too!

5. Securing email lists. In order to be totally in compliance with the CAN-SPAM act you MUST ensure that your email list contains names of peole who want to receive your messages. In other words...they must have opted in. This is especially true if you decide to purchase a list of email addresses. Just because you purchased the list that doesn't mean that you can start sending emails. Dan recommends that you "call" each person to ask for their permission before mailing to them.

6. Best time of week to send email. The research shows that 3am on Tuesday is the best time to send your email. That means that people are opening that email on Wednesday morning first thing. Monday's are out, as are Friday's. Dan also suggests that you experiment a bit to see if Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday works best for you and your list. But remember that your message has a greater likelihood of being read on Wednesday morning.

7. Difference between HTML and text. Text messages will always have a better chance of not being dumped in the junk mail folder than HTML. Lots of technie reasons for that. Still, HTML delivers the better monetary return on investment than text. Again in keeping with Dan's earlier suggestions...be sure to test and see what works for your list. HTML allows you to make your message pretty and to personalize them in ways that you can't with text.

8. How to try out Swiftpage. Visit the Swiftpage site and take advantage of their 30-day free trial. Dan also mentioned that on Tuesday's and Thursday's, Swiftpage holds open classes for people to learn more about email marketing and using the Swiftpage tool. Visit them on the web at www.swiftpage.com

It was a great show with lots of cool information and tips. I encourage you to listen in on what Dan has to say. It was a super interview. I encourage you to visit Swiftpage to learn more!

Join me next month when we chat about the importance of planning for your business and your career. Monday, March 10 @ 10 EST. My guest is Laura Howard West of Joyful Business.

Until next time!

Barb Giamanco

WMN Radio Show Host
www.womensmentornetwork.com