The following is a sample e-mail marketing plan for a Web site focusing on wine recipes. The site was just starting out, so this plan works off the idea that it has virtually no e-mail list. I hope it is useful. This is the first post of a complete marketing plan I have done for a Web site. I am posting it in sections as blog entries. Having a plan to market a Web site is paramount as simply having a Web site just isn't enough. Proper marketing and SEO are essential to get people to find your site. This is one step on the way. I happen to be posting an example e-mail plan, but that does not mean that this should be the first marketing for your site. Always assess what form of marketing will give you the best return on investment and launch that first. The topics to follow are: advertising, SEO, social online networking, and a summary of ROI.

E-mail Marketing

The first goal of my e-mail marketing plan will be to leverage existing e-mail lists to convert my Web site goals and build my own list of targeted users.

Part 1: Building an e-mail following

Utilize newsgroups, Yahoo! Groups and Google Groups to build list of e-mails of people who are interested in wine making.

This collection of e-mail addresses will be especially useful because it reaches an extremely targeted audience that has opted to receive these e-mails. Anyone who has bothered to opt in is clearly very interested in the topic and more likely than any other group to visit the site and convert my goals. There are 1,168 members of one wine making group on Yahoo! alone, so this is solid number of messages to send out.

As these people have all opted in, there are not any spamming issues to worry about from a legal standpoint. Most groups, however, do have a moderator so it will be important not to run afoul of the etiquette of the group, as not to alienate myself from my list.

Example from Yahoo! Groups: Groups to target: makingwine (573 members), enologists (1,168), wildwines (273 members), Homemade-Wine (250 members), homewinemakers (464). TOTAL: 2,728 e-mails.

I will also try to leverage existing newsgroups that are available on my ISP by sending out a pitch to all wine-centric groups via e-mail. There are potentially thousands of people to reach this way, and new members joining who opt to receive all the previous e-mails in the group will also receive the message.

Again, this will be a very targeted audience that is opting to receive these messages.

I will plan to blast a couple of times a month at most so people don't feel like I'm a bother and lose interest in my site or find the messages annoying. I will plan these messages for the weekend, which is likely a more active time for this hobby.

The content of these e-mails will try to persuade people to visit my site and register, and will also offer some content from the site, such as a wine recipe and maybe a background story or an experience making that particular wine. As I will try putting these messages out there a number of times, I will try different subject line – some promoting that the site exists, and some promoting the content of the e-mail. Ultimately, the key will be to leverage this group of active online wine enthusiasts into my own e-mail list as they register for the site.

Part 2: Converting e-mail list into successes

Third-party e-mail tool: I will use MailChimp to send my bulk e-mail to the users who register on my site, with an eye toward getting them to convert my second goal (have them submit content and build my collection of wine recipes.) I will explain that they will periodically receive messages, but that they can unsubscribe and that their information will not be shared.

MailChimp is the best choice for me because I can use a list of up to 100 and send six times per month for free. As I expect to start out using a small list of less than 100 and my site has no budget, this is the perfect fit. The site also offers numerous other benefits such as tracking and reports, and a tool to build proper html e-mails. The reason for using a service is to avoid problems such as black listing, to stay within legal boundaries, and not tax my server, etc.

E-mail content, design and header

Design: Using a custom e-mail template will help ensure a professional look that will translate well to different e-mail clients without breaking down. This will help ensure the e-mail renders properly and shows the best information in the preview pane of most e-mail clients. The e-mail should look professional so people do not dismiss them as junk.

Subject line and sender: As my e-mail will compete with others to be read by the recipients, I will personalize the messages. This will be possible because my registration form asks for a name. People won't be as likely to answer an e-mail if it is addressed to johnsmith@hotmail.com instead of “John.” This personalization can help build a relationship with the people who use my site.

Whom the e-mail comes from is also important. I will make these correspondences from James at Brew It Yourself. This attaches a name and includes the site the message comes from. This helps build a relationship with the user by adding a personal touch.

I will focus the subject line on the benefit the recipient will get from opening the e-mail. For example: “Rhubarb wine recipe from Brew It Yourself” or “Have you ever tried Rhubarb Wine?” The subject lines will always be truthful and accurate. I will also be sure to avoid things that might get my e-mail filtered out of people's inboxes, such as: Capital letters, the word “free,” dollar signs, misspellings, exclamation points or other strange punctuation, off-color words, etc. With the nature of my site, just being truthful and sticking to the topic should avoid most pitfalls.

Content: The content will be different from the e-mails sent to the newsgroups, because we have an existing relationship and the first goal has already been converted on these people.

A typical correspondence will contain content such as tips and wine recipes, probably along with a story behind the recipe, or my or another user's experience. I will also appeal for my registered users to submit content to keep the site an active place. There will be a link directly to a landing page (like one that would be used in Adwords) that focuses on trying to covert the second goal and funnels users in that direction. Some content provided will be a “teaser” that begins a story, blog or recipe, then has a link that sends them to the site to read the entire article. In that case, the right column will contain the goal-conversion module.

Frequency: I think it's important to find the right frequency to keep recipients engaged, but not bombarded. I am going to shoot for sending a message once per week. I will target Saturday mornings as I think most hobbyist are more likely to convert a goal while they have time on the weekend. I would track the data of who is reading the e-mail and if my goal-performance improves after sending a blast and adjust to different times or days and increasing or decreasing the frequency to see what gets the best performance.

Terms of Service: I will be sure to offer an opt-out message at the beginning of the e-mail to be compliant with the CAN-SPAM Act. The areas of liability I will address in the terms of service are complying with CAN-SPAM, maintaining a copyright on the content of my e-mails and easing people's concerns about what I will use their e-mail address for. ⁴

So here it is: You are receiving this e-mail because you signed up at Brew it Yourself. To stop receiving these e-mails please click on the link to unsubscribe. Be sure to include the word unsubscribe in the subject line and your e-mail address. Your e-mail address or personal information will not be shared with third-party marketers. Brew It yourself, PO Box 662, Rutland Vt. 05702. Copyright 2009 Brew It Yourself.

Looking Ahead: Monitoring the best performing e-mails, sender name, subject lines, days and times sent, and other variations is critical to having the most successful e-mail campaign possible. Setting up split testing on all these variations would be key to pinpoint the most effective of these variations. Over time, I would try to nail down the best performing combination of these variations, then use the best performer for the weekly correspondence.

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