We all have to start somewhere and for most this is at the bottom. If your email list is in the hundreds then you might think that all these articles, with talk of sophisticated email marketing software, is not for you. Such a belief would mean that you would miss an opportunity.
Let us accept that in email marketing the target is to increase the size of your email list. This should be a priority. There are, however, distinct advantages to a small, bespoke email list.
If you have a few hundred subscribers then you can get to know them in a way that bigger businesses never can. Your messages could be personal. You could even phone them to discuss their needs and ask for their comments. If you speak with them regularly it will make ticking that unsubscribe box that much more difficult.
Why not make being a subscriber to you embryonic challenge of world domination more of a club. Make it friendly. Discuss things with them, pointing out what you think might help them.
Bigger companies struggle to generate customer feedback, hence the need for email marketing software. You, on the other hand, could find out what 1% of your subscribers felt about your product in one morning just by phoning them.
Quite apart from the excellent customer relations, this could generate ideas for your next email marketing campaign. Care has to be exercised as the numbers would not be statistically significant but this is where email marketing software comes into its own. The effect of any changes will be easy to quantify even with around five hundred subscribers.
Further, you will gain experience of working with statistical returns, interpreting them and their effective use, at a time when risks of losing subscribers can be quite low.
It is essential that you act professionally right from the start. The returns will start your database. The skills you develop will be indispensable later on. In a year or so you will look back on your early days and see how your skills have developed and the lessons you have learned. If you start with a professional attitude you will probably look back with a degree of nostalgia as well.
