In order to ensure your campaigns are as successful as possible, here are a few 'best practice' tips to get you started:

1. Capture your subscribers

• Understand the concept of permission
  By far the most important aspect of email marketing is the concept of permission. It's the only thing separating you and your clients from the spammers of this world, but for many it remains a grey area. First of all, let's clarify what spam is, and then what kind of permission you will need to use SDAconnect.
  
  Spam is any email you send to someone who hasn't given you their direct permission to contact them on the topic of the email.
  
  Check out the document that explains our criteria for customer permission. You can download it and distribute to any of your colleagues involved in working with your email marketing lists.
• Add any existing contacts/subscribers
  Work out which of your current contacts comply with our permission requirements and import them into your account. If you're connected with ClubCentric, we will set this up for you and get any existing subscribers connected.
• Add a subscribe form to your site and set up WebAccess for ClubCentric or LeisurePoint
  You should add an email subscribe form on your web site in a prominent position to capture new subscribers. You might also want to consider adding an opt-in checkbox to any existing forms. You can also specify custom landing pages so the subscriber can be redirected back to a confirmation page on your web site. Finally, make sure your subscribe forms set expectations about what you will be contacting them about and how often. If you have WebAccess for ClubCentric or LeisurePoint you can set up a permissions page for the member to subscribe or (unsubscribe).

2. Design your email template

• Tell the recipient who you are and how you got their details
  It's so important to convey how you got someone's email address when you're contacting them. Add a note at the top of every template you design that clearly explains who you are and how you obtained their email address. Also, to ensure compliancy with the US CAN-SPAM laws, you need to include your street address in every template you create.
• Make it easy for them to unsubscribe
  All SDAconnect templates require an unsubscribe link, but it's very important not to hide the link in small text at the bottom of your email. A prominent unsubscribe link conveys trust to all recipients and shows you're serious about maintaining permission.
• Link to a web version
  If your recipient is using an older email client that has problems displaying your email, they should always be provided with a web-based version they can view in their browser. Our templates allow you to add this link automatically with a simple tag.
• Ask to be added to their contact list
  Add a note to your template asking your recipients to add your sending email address to their address book. Many ISP's allow your recipients to filter emails from unknown senders. Plus, images are displayed by default if you're in the address book for many popular email clients.
• Avoid excessive use of images
  Many of today's popular email clients block images by default. Make sure any important content like headlines, titles and calls to action are text based instead of image based.
• Test, test and test again
  Testing your email before you start sending is absolutely crucial. Almost every email environment will render your email differently. We recommend testing in most if not all of the following:
  Web - Hotmail , Yahoo! Mail and Gmail
  PC - Outlook, AOL 9, Thunderbird and Lotus Notes
  Mac - Mac Mail, Entourage and Eudora
• Don't forget, we can help
  If you need some help editing an existing template or need us to do something unique please get in touch. We would be happy to help.

3. Be smart when sending

• Use a consistent from name, email address and subject
  SDAconnect remembers the last 'from' name and email address you used, but make sure you use the same details for every campaign you send. Legally, this needs to be a valid email address and should contain your domain if you have one. Keeping it consistent ties in with our address book recommendations above.
• Set up a small test list
  On top of your main lists, you should also add a small test list possibly consisting of the names and email addresses of yourself and a few friendly people. You also want to receive what your recipient's are receiving to ensure you know about any problems that may arise.

4. Measure the results

• Check out your opens, clicks and unsubscribes
  Measure and compare results over subsequent campaigns. Test different subject lines and calls to action between campaigns. Spend time understanding what works and doesn't work for your particular subscribers. If it does work - keep doing it!
• Tweak the template design and copy based on the results
  Collate your findings and make real changes to your template design or content. If one particular topic is by far the most popular in the link activity report, considering leading your campaign with that topic for each email.
  
  Finally, if we can help you in any way, please get in touch - info@sdasolutions.com