Believe me, email marketing is one of the most powerful marketing tools that you can use. According to the Direct Marketing Association the Return on Investment (ROI) of e-mail marketing is .52 for every dollar spent. Shop.org has shown that email marketing has an average cost per order of just compared to .89 for banner ads, .75 for paid search ads and .47 for affiliate programs. I’m sure you agree that these stats mean that e-mail marketing can be a cornerstone of your marketing strategy.

Unfortunately for the naysayers, e-mail marketing is here to stay. However, let’s get one thing straight from the start, e-mail marketing must not be SPAM. It must be anticipated, useful and double opted in. It must be anticipated for people to read it. It must be useful for people to keep reading your emails each time you send them, and it must be double opted in to be CAN-SPAM compliant.

The great news is that e-mail marketing is quite easy.

There are many systems that can manage your e-mail campaigns. These are relatively cheap and surprisingly easy to use. They ensure that your e-mail campaigns are legal and they also actively work on keeping deliverability rates as high as possible.

You don’t need to be a web developer to use them. So, they are ideal for small business owners. You should use a system like this and not pay a web developer a fee per mail shot. I am amazed at how many businesses still do this when there are easier and cheaper methods of e-mail marketing available.

When looking to implement an e-mail marketing strategy you should review your sales funnel. Where do you see your e-mail marketing sign ups on your sales funnel? You also, must test and measure conversion rates from visitor to sign up to e-mail confirmation to purchase.

This is easier than it sounds because most of the tracking is automated.

Ultimately, if you understand your customers and take the time to look at the issues from their perspective you should be able to construct a solid e-mail marketing campaign. However, there are also some tried and tested methods that will improve your mail shots, and as a result, increase your profits. Be sure to find out more on how you can increase your profits by using e-mail marketing.