The pandemic has left many desperate for business. These are tough economic times and lot of people around the globe are hurting.  I get it.  But the need to grow your business  doesn’t mean you can overlook best practices. In fact, doing things in a slipshod manner may even backfire.

<strong>Do I know you?</strong>

A couple weeks ago, I started receiving emails from “Debra” with no last name and no affiliation. The subject line had something to do with yoga classes. I figured it was spam from a company that knew I had signed up for a yoga event. I kept deleting these emails.

But on Monday, the subject line said something about outdoor yoga this week. I opened the email and found it was from a yoga studio in Washington, DC. I have never attended this studio. And I don’t recall signing up for its emails. I unsubscribed because it is highly unlikely I will ever go in to Washington for a yoga class.

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<strong>Email marketing best practices</strong>

<strong>1.) Introduce yourself</strong>

<strong>Bad:</strong> Adding people without permission; sending emails to a new list without introduction or buy-in.

<strong>Best practices:</strong> It's best to requiring consent, but if you are building your email marketing list, and you have new names, <em>always</em> end an introductory email explaining who you are and what you want, and then ask whether those people want to be on your list. You achieve this by segmenting your list.

<strong>2.) Use your business name</strong>

<strong>Bad</strong>:  Not having a professional/identifying sender name on your emails.

<strong>Best practice</strong>: Use your business name in the return email unless you are the business, and then you should use first and last names. Think about how emails show up in your inbox. Would you open an email from someone you don't know?

<strong>3.) Use your subject line to inform</strong>

<strong>Bad</strong>: Uninformative or vague subject lines that don't provide any specifics or needed details.

<strong>Best practice:</strong> No need to be clever, but don’t be obtuse. Be clear as to what your email contains. If I don’t know you, your subject line has to provide enough information for me to open your email.

<strong>Bottom line:</strong>

The pandemic is no excuse for forgetting your best business practices. By letting desperation for new business lead you to doing things thoughtlessly you are bound to hurt yourself more than help yourself.