Do you have special offers, upcoming events, or company information you want to quickly share with customers or prospects? By sending an email blast, you can reach thousands of people at once and get a faster response than you would through most other marketing campaigns.

With an email blast, you can customize your message to multiple groups as part of the same mailing. For example, this lets you send a different message to prospects than you do to existing customers. It also allows you to test different subject lines and promotional offers to determine which is the most effective.

Email blast best practices
The biggest challenge for email marketers remains spam. Even the savviest of email users have trouble distinguishing between harmful junk mail that appears authentic and legitimate email offers from trustworthy sources. By following a series of best practices for your email blast, you can ensure your messages stand out amidst the sea of spam.

Start by purchasing a quality email list. Mailing list brokers offer lists of people who expressed interest in certain products and services and allowed companies like yours to contact them. You can also build your own list by getting permission from customers to send them information about company news or special deals.

However, even people who opted to receive offers can change their minds. You must provide a clear method for customers to opt out if they want to be removed from your list. It’s your responsibility to remove them from your list as soon as possible to avoid violating the CAN-SPAM Act.

Avoid buzzwords like “free” or “act now” in your email subject line. While they may pique customer interest, these terms often trigger email spam filters and prevent your message from ever reaching the customer.

Always include a clear call to action in your message, like a link to your web site or a “request more information” button.  Also, the URL you link to should match the domain of the email address you’re sending from. Since many “phishing” emails redirect unsuspecting users to malicious sites, readers need to trust where the information is coming from.

Finally, don’t overwhelm your audience with lengthy messages. You only have a limited window to grab their attention, so keep content short and to the point. Also, limit the number of links to avoid confusing readers.

Tracking email blasts
The best way to gauge the performance of your email blast is to track the results. An email marketing service can provide special software to measure every aspect of your campaign including how many total emails were sent, how many recipients opened the messages, which links they clicked on, and the number of orders placed. Use these results to figure out what worked and what needs improvement in future campaigns.