The Internet is practically the largest free and open market in existence, and it offers us a glimpse of a future of total connectivity and personalized information. The problem lies in the fact that since anyone can put almost anything online, the market quickly becomes saturated and potential customers end up drowning in an avalanche of products and services, not knowing which one to choose.

Of course, one can place banner ads and the like, but there is no guarantee that potential customers will see them. Worse yet, shoppers who trust your company may not find out about new products when they come out. Email marketing is the way to go here.

Email marketing is the activity of promoting a company’s products or services through electronic messages or emails sent to prospective buyers or brand loyal customers. It’s not an uncommon practice, but there are many pitfalls that you should be aware of as a seller. These pitfalls can be avoided by understanding a few things about how users would like to receive advertising messages in their email inboxes.

no spam please

The first mistake one can make is sending unsolicited messages. This is called spam and is the bane of many Internet users and email marketers. Basically it is the massive sending of advertising emails to people who have not requested to be informed in this way. This clutters inboxes, causes massive loads on mail servers, and worse, serves as a vehicle for computer viruses and malware for unscrupulous or careless marketers. This will seriously reduce the popularity of your product or service. Although there may be some who will take you up on the offer, most will simply delete the message without even looking at the topic. Avoid spam at all costs.

A trickle, not a flood

Next, email marketing should not be annoying or too pushy in terms of selling a product. People tend to have trust issues towards marketing through electronic media, since they have no real guarantee that what they see is what they will get. So, avoid promoting products or services too much, or they may think it’s too good to be true and end up not buying at all. Also, this applies to the frequency of email updates to subscribers of your marketing service. Once a day is excessive, but once a month would not be very helpful in increasing the profit line. As a general rule of thumb, once a week or once every two weeks should be fine, except if you have a special message about limited offers. Remember not to flood the inboxes, and you’re good as gold.

trust options

Finally, users should be able to unsubscribe from your email marketing service. This is often overlooked by vendors and scares off the most savvy internet users. The fact that they can opt out of receiving your informational messages is a good foundation for trust, as they will feel that you are simply offering a service with no strings attached. Building trust in the informational phase will translate into more purchases and, of course, better profits later on, so take note.