Every email campaign starts with a clean database of customers, and there should be a definite plan to keep increasing the names on that database. Today's technology allows for mass customisation, allowing you to personalise each one of your customers.

Elements of a good email

The salutation

If you have a database which caters for readers' names, you can personalise your email greeting. For instance "Hi Annie" is far better than "Dear frustrated internet marketer", and will get a much better response.

The body

Obviously this is where you put your main content. Try not to use images, as these will increase the size of the email. It may slow down the loading time, and email readers are notoriously impatient. Your information should be relevant and be something that readers will value. It should address their needs and desires, provide a solution to their problems.

The footer

If you have a standard footer, it establishes familiarity, and is the obvious place to put your company details, name and contact details etc. It can also include your privacy policy.

One useful way to grow your email list is put a "forward to a friend" link in the footer.

Make sure you have a prominent unsubscribe button in your footer, they are mandatory for commercial emails and highly recommended for all others.

You should send your emails out in a lightweight HTML format which will allow the email to be opened quickly before the reader loses interest.

Your email should look inviting to read, with proper paragraphs and spacing to let readers quickly scan and navigate the email easily. Keep paragraphs relatively short, use bold characters, bullet points and different colors to maintain interest and create visual appeal.

Emails should be delivered on a regular basis, but use testing techniques to find the best time and frequency. Try to avoid including words like "free", "discount" or "buy now" as your email could be picked up by your customers spam filter and go straight to their junk bin.

Becoming an successful email marketer requires constant monitoring of your customer list. People may have to change their email provider because the one they use has gone out of business, and will probably not think to advise you. This shrinkage could be as much as 30% each year due to subscribers changing their email addresses. You must maintain a current opt-in list to achieve the maximum rate of successful delivery, so keep your database clean. A large but outdated database is of far less use than a well maintained, but smaller database.

An email white list is a list of email senders that the customer is happy to receive emails from, and you should make sure that your address is on that white list. You may need to educate your customers about white lists, as they may not be familiar with the term and what it means.

You should personally respond to complaints and unsubscribe requests - if someone requests to be unsubscribed, make sure it happens.

The most crucial part of an email campaign is to make sure that you have express permission to send the emails to those customers by means of the double opt-in system. If you try to circumvent this necessity by dubious means it will seriously damage your reputation. People will only have to Google your name to find out if you are a respectable internet marketer or not.