# Email marketing



## KeenT (Sep 25, 2006)

Does anyone had an experience with email marketing, do you think it's possible to boost sales ethically without worries of spamming?


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

KeenT said:


> do you think it's possible to boost sales ethically without worries of spamming?


If you run an opt-in newsletter, sure.


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## KeenT (Sep 25, 2006)

Yes but when you are starting from zero may be to buy or rent a list would help.
Some company garanti that their email list are optin.


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## Twinge (Apr 26, 2005)

And some SEO companies guarantee 1st place results for any keyword  Not all promises are true. Make sure you check out a company carefully when dealing with email lists and such to see if they are legitimate.


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## Comin'OutSwingin (Oct 28, 2005)

It's not hard. Even just starting out.

I got a couple hundred people to sign up for my opt-in newsletter. The only people I told were family, friends, and those that went to my page from this forum (when I had my url in my signature).

Word spread and I have several hundred now, and have never sold 1 shirt online.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

Here's a thread about sending newsletters with some good tips:
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/showthread.php?t=6177

And another about email marketing:
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/showthread.php?t=5522


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

KeenT said:


> Yes but when you are starting from zero may be to buy or rent a list would help.
> Some company garanti that their email list are optin.


How can the customer opt-in if they've never heard of you?

Opting in to a different newsletter is hardly informed consent to be spammed by whoever the list gets sold to, no matter what the fine print might have said when they handed over their e-mail address.


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## webby (Oct 3, 2005)

I used Constant Contact when I was working for an athletic sock company last year. I would put together tradeshow reminders of what booth we were going to be at and what promos we would be running at the show.

I don't know the exact numbers on how it might have affected sales, kind of hard to track, but Constant Contact does give you numbers on what percentage of people opened your newsletter/campaign.

One thing we did through Constant Contact was a Survey through Survey Monkey and sent it our to our different lists. This was great! We received soo much useful feedback.

http://www.constantcontact.com/index.jsp

http://www.surveymonkey.com/


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## Comin'OutSwingin (Oct 28, 2005)

I second Constant Contact. That's why I use!


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## KeenT (Sep 25, 2006)

Solmu said:


> Opting in to a different newsletter is hardly informed consent to be spammed by whoever the list gets sold to, no matter what the fine print might have said when they handed over their e-mail address.


I was just looking at http://www.infousa.com 
They looks to know what they are doing, did anyone try them?

A friend of mine received an email campaign from CP to advertise their services to his business, so I guess it must be working


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## Jasonda (Aug 16, 2006)

Unless someone specifically requests to receive a newsletter from your company, it's spam. You can call it whatever you want, you can get their email address from any "reputable" company you want, but it is still spam. Spam sucks.

Just my two cents.


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

Jasonda said:


> Unless someone specifically requests to receive a newsletter from your company, it's spam. You can call it whatever you want, you can get their email address from any "reputable" company you want, but it is still spam. Spam sucks.
> 
> Just my two cents.


Personally I agree 100%


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## webby (Oct 3, 2005)

I agree as well, I can't stand spam. I would only use Constant Contact as a way to communicate with people who have signed up for our newsletter or verbally agreed it was ok to recieve such e-mails from us. They can always opt out of Constant Contact if they change their minds.


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## KeenT (Sep 25, 2006)

Ok guys thanks. It looks like I'm going to save some money by giving up on this unless one of you would like to do some cross selling.


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## Jasonda (Aug 16, 2006)

KeenT said:


> Ok guys thanks. It looks like I'm going to save some money by giving up on this unless one of you would like to do some cross selling.


I don't see why you would want to give it up. Newsletters can be an excellent marketing tool, and it doesn't have to be expensive. You just need to make sure that the people you send it to are expecting to receive it.

The best way to do that is to put a newsletter sign-up on your website so your customers can sign up as they choose, as opposed to buying a list from somewhere. It is also helpful to have a "Privacy Policy" available for people to read, which says that you won't give or sell their information to anyone.


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## KeenT (Sep 25, 2006)

Oh I'm not giving up at all on newsletter, I know it's very important to build my database and it's why I don't like any of this fulfillment company who keep the contact of shop's owner customer for themself.
I was just enquiring about renting a list of millions of people in my niche market.
But for now may be just advertising is the way.
Hub


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## marcopolo2010 (Oct 10, 2006)

I happen to specialize in crafting creative campaigns (also called viral campaigns) for non profits at GoodStorm, and we've run some very excellent merch-centered email campaigns to raise them money. Aside from the spam factor (though these non-profits were only emailing their membership lists), I've found that t-shirt campaigns worked when they were timely, topical, and interesting. 

Would you consider trying to sell shirts to raise money for an organization? Perhaps a way to get people to your site is to donate a portion of the proceeds to a charity that you care about. It may sound gimmicky, but the charity won't mind you raising money on their behalf, neither will the beneficiaries of those charities.

Regardless of tying your shirts into a greater cause - everyone loves to laugh - if you can minimize what you're selling and create an interesting email, people won't mind getting it, and maybe even pass it on. (But please - no "you must send this email to 10 friends or your hair will fall out tomorrow emails!)


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

I split a few posts from here off into a donating profits to charity thread, as I thought the idea deserved its own thread.


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## neversatisfied (Sep 30, 2006)

newsletters definetly seem to have a good response. No one likes spam! Most people have spam blockers on their email anyways. Have a newsletter that tells people about sales, new merchandise.. even try offering a discount or random coupons for your merchandise as a prompt to sign up for the newsletters.. (like suscribers recieve free discounts, etc) People love stuff for cheap or on a sale, especially when it makes them feel important like that.


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## monkeylantern (Oct 16, 2005)

Jasonda said:


> Unless someone specifically requests to receive a newsletter from your company, it's spam. You can call it whatever you want, you can get their email address from any "reputable" company you want, but it is still spam. Spam sucks.
> 
> Just my two cents.



Exactly.

If you buy an email list, Solmu and I will come around your house and put our feet on your furniture.


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## KeenT (Sep 25, 2006)

monkeylantern said:


> Exactly.
> 
> If you buy an email list, Solmu and I will come around your house and put our feet on your furniture.[/quote
> 
> ...


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## esentuals (Sep 4, 2007)

I agree that the newsletter would be the way to go. Here is a link to the Direct Marketing association. They have a privacy policy generator. Its sort of a cookie cutter template.

Privacy Policy Generator

I would suggest to stay away from buying email lists. Its sorta of a grey area and could easily get you on the black lists.

If you do buy lists make sure that the company that you buy the list from have enrolled with white list services. 

My last comment is I agree with using constant content in my opinon. Its free for the first 200 I believe. Just make sure that your email news letters or anouncements have an opt out.


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## TshirtGuru (Jul 9, 2008)

Is it possible to build your own email newsletter template? Or is there a website that you can design your own newsletter and it converts it to html to insert into your email?

I'm not looking to mass email everyone from a bought list, i just want to send my current customers our monthly specials etc.


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## EnMartian (Feb 14, 2008)

We built our lists from trade show attendance and from opt in newsletter sign up. 

We use Group Mail for our newsletter, which goes out bi-weekly. There are templates that come with the program, although I don't think they're all that great. 

Two things to keep in mind, photo heavy e-mails or e-mails that are all one big image will get caught in a lot of spam filters and may not even get to the intended recipient. You're better off having one good image and some text and keeping the e-mail short. You'll get a much better open rate. 

Also, always provide a mechanism where people can opt out from receiving further e-mails and make sure you opt them out right away if they request it. That will save you a lot of headaches.


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## PleaseDressMe (Sep 5, 2008)

Some great points here. How effective are the trade shows? Are they worth the trip and expenses?


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

PleaseDressMe said:


> Some great points here. How effective are the trade shows? Are they worth the trip and expenses?


I think it really depends on your product and your goals (and which tradeshows).


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## PleaseDressMe (Sep 5, 2008)

Rodney said:


> I think it really depends on your product and your goals (and which tradeshows).


Suggestions for which shows are the best to attend?

Thanks a bunch! - AJ


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

PleaseDressMe said:


> Suggestions for which shows are the best to attend?
> 
> Thanks a bunch! - AJ


What type of tradeshows are you talking about? What type of product are you trying to market or research?

There are "fashion" type tradeshows where the people exhibiting are trying to get brick and mortar retail stores to pick them up. There are "industry" type tradeshows where you can learn about the latest printing techniques, blank garments, etc. This probably isn't the thread for it since this topic is about email marketing, but we have a whole section of the forum about tradeshows here:

Offline Retail and Tradeshows - T-Shirt Forums

More info here: tradeshow related topics at T-Shirt Forums

And here: tradeshows related topics at T-Shirt Forums


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## andrew45678 (9 mo ago)

Of course, it's possible if you know how to set up the right email marketing campaign and avoid "spammy" words and phrases. Also, you can try using the dedicated email marketing applications, like in this article [Link Removed] I worked with all of them and it really helped me in its days.


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

andrew45678 said:


> Of course, it's possible if you know how to set up the right email marketing campaign and avoid "spammy" words and phrases. Also, you can try using the dedicated email marketing applications, like in this article [Link Removed] I worked with all of them and it really helped me in its days.


When new members join and immediately start dropping links, we get suspicious. You were asked to create your first post in Member Introduction so we could get to know you better. This way, we can better tell if your links are legit or just spam.


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## ColorsAndBrushStore (9 mo ago)

KeenT said:


> Does anyone had an experience with email marketing, do you think it's possible to boost sales ethically without worries of spamming?





marcopolo2010 said:


> I happen to specialize in crafting creative campaigns (also called viral campaigns) for non profits at GoodStorm, and we've run some very excellent merch-centered email campaigns to raise them money. Aside from the spam factor (though these non-profits were only emailing their membership lists), I've found that t-shirt campaigns worked when they were timely, topical, and interesting.
> 
> Would you consider trying to sell shirts to raise money for an organization? Perhaps a way to get people to your site is to donate a portion of the proceeds to a charity that you care about. It may sound gimmicky, but the charity won't mind you raising money on their behalf, neither will the beneficiaries of those charities.
> 
> Regardless of tying your shirts into a greater cause - everyone loves to laugh - if you can minimize what you're selling and create an interesting email, people won't mind getting it, and maybe even pass it on. (But please - no "you must send this email to 10 friends or your hair will fall out tomorrow emails!)


Hi: I will be interested in knowing selling T-shirts and donate a portion of the proceeds to a charity. However, I do not know how to and where to start.


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## ColorsAndBrushStore (9 mo ago)

Email marketing strategy is one of the best marketing tool and most of the time it works in generating and bringing traffic to your website. However, if it converts into a sale is dependent on so many factors such as price, product appeal and other factors. But I do not think there is any unethical about it as people do this all the time without worrying about the ethics. As long as it adheres to the terms and conditions and follow the rules I guess it should be fine.


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