How To Set-Up A Mass Marketing Campaign

This article is a "how-to" about developing a bulk mailing campaign using email. It outlines the important steps to be followed. It also provides a brief description of legal constraints on bulk mailing.
The initial step in creating a marketing campaign utilizing mass emails is to determine the size of the target audience and the frequency of emails. This type of campaign may not be effective for small mailings to small groups. Another factor that needs to be considered is the type of email to be used. Will it be a simple, plain text format or will special requirements such as personification be included? These features have been known to increase click through rates but they can be more challenging to compose. The inclusion of graphics and HTML code also require more work than drafting plain text documents.
The second and most crucial step is to ensure that the proposed campaign is in compliance with all federal and state laws. On January 1, 2004 the CAN-SPAM Act went into effect. This Act spelled out the requirements for companies that use commercial email and specified the penalties for violation. These penalties include extremely high fines, and in some cases, imprisonment so they need to be avoided at all costs.
The Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice are authorized to enforce the law. And the FTC maintains a website for recipients to forward unwanted emails. They also have a website that disseminates information about the CAN-SPAM Act to assist marketers in compliance (www.ftc.gov/spam).
Thirdly, it is also important that a company's mass emails are not offensive to the recipients so the rules of Netiquette need to be considered in composing the text. Capital letters may call attention to the copy, but in an email they are equivalent to shouting in face to face conversation so all caps copy should be avoided.
Attachments are not recommended either. Many people don't even open attachments as they are afraid of a virus. And those with a slow computer or slow ISP service may also delete them as they take too long to download. In either case the marketing message is lost. Marketers should always test all the links in their emails before they are sent to be certain they are working. This is particularly true for the "unsubscribe" or "opt out" link.
Finally, a choice has to be made as to how the mass emails will be sent. A business may choose to dispatch them from their regular business account. But they may also wish to opt for utilizing software designed for mass marketing or outsourcing to a third-party email service provider.