Permission based email marketing has proven to be one of the most effective marketing strategies for small and medium-sized businesses. Recent studies and polls have shown that most merchants who conduct email marketing campaigns consider this method of reaching prospects and customers highly-profitable.
Businesses are increasingly using permission based email marketing as their preferred method for building customer relationships while keeping their reputation intact. While everyone with a website should use email newsletters and promotions to bring their subscribers back to their site, businesses that are not online, can also benefit from email marketing. Businesses without websites can easily send newsletters, promotions, announcements and invitations by email and generate an email reply, a telephone call, an appointment or a personal visit.
Most people agree to receive email only after considering what they have to gain (or lose) from giving their email address away. As a business owner, merchant, or affiliate marketer, you should focus on building a relationship with those who give you permission to contact them through email. Those who "opt-in" want to like you. They want to trust you. Trust is only gained by treating them like real personalities rather than merely a list of email addresses.
Many email marketers make this critical mistake. They send email after email to their subscribers without stopping to think of the people behind the email addresses. As a result, their email marketing campaigns often seem lifeless and dull.
Research and practice has proved that the output coming from the permission based email list is comparatively much higher than any other direct marketing tool. It has a magnetic effect on the traffic flow. No sooner does the email fire, that the click report, automatically generates a higher hit ratio.
Every permission based email marketing campaign should allow the subscriber (i.e. the person who has give you permission to contact them via email) to "opt-out" of your email list. That is, always provide the subscriber the option of ending the relationship.
Though doing so may sound counterproductive to building a large email list, it instill a level of confidence within your subscriber that they are not trapped on your list. They know they can easily terminate the relationship whenever they feel the need. This level of confidence increases their trust in you. Ironically, giving your subscriber a way out is often a critical element in gaining their long-term loyalty.
The disadvantage to the Confirmed Opt-In process is that some prospective subscribers submit the opt-in form with good intentions, then forget they have done it when the second confirmation request arrives and do not follow through. However, in my opinion and experience, losing a few potential subscribers this way is better than gaining a list of so-so subscribers who are not truly interested, or did not want to be on your list in the first place.
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