The Latest Email Marketing Tips

Keep it SHORT! Put two or three items in each newsletter, at most. Set a monthly schedule and stick to it. Keep your subject line to between five and eight words and 30 to 50 characters. And never forget the three-second rule.

Those are some of the latest tips I gleaned from a great, free, email marketing seminar offered by Stu Carty of Constant Contact, one of the biggest and most recognizable names in email marketing. Stu works the circuit in Northern California and gives these seminars every month. If you've got any interest in email marketing -- most business professionals ought to, no matter what their current job title -- you should sign up for one of these quick two-hour seminars. I happen to be a Constant Contact client, but anyone can attend.

To elaborate more on these tips:

• Keep it short: need I say more?


• Two or three items: People aren't going to read 8-10 items. They're not. So save those items for the next newsletter. If they are time sensitive, consider increasing your frequency.


• Set a schedule: sending out your newsletter sporadically dramatically reduces your impact. The keys are frequency and repetition.


• Subject line: keep it short!


• The three-second rule: that's all you've got before people either delete your email or move on. In those three seconds they will a) see who it is from, b) scan the subject line and c) look at the beginning of the email in the preview pane to see if they want to invest any more time in it. If you haven't captured them by then, you're toast.

BTW, these tips aren't just generic best practices. Constant Contact says they have conducted focus groups with email users to watch how they react to email messages.