• by Cynthia Edwards , June 2, 2008

When customers or supporters subscribe to your email program, they are entering what they trust will be a mutually beneficial relationship. They are not sharing their personal information with you in the expectation that you will use it solely for your own pecuniary benefit. All relationships involve give and take, and this includes the most commercial of email programs. To build loyalty, engagement and trust, you must take the initiative to cement the relationship in every email. Here are some ideas for wooing and winning your subscribers.

Be sensitive to their needs. A preference page offered at the point of email registration is the best way to start the relationship off on the right foot. Tell them what you have to offer in your email program, and allow them to select the number and kind of communications they want. This respects their boundaries, and provides you with instant segmentation data, so you can send information about just the categories they are interested in.

Don't ramble. Confusing emails that are hard to navigate and jammed with offers will frustrate or bore most subscribers. Most emails - even long ones - can be made a pleasure to read and respond to if written and designed with great care.

Listen. Do you have feedback mechanisms for your subscribers? Insert a link to a customer ratings Web page or directly to customer service. Then subscribers can tell you when they have a question or problem, want to express a wish, or even send you kudos. Before you know it, you will be engaged!

Flowers or candy? The age-old question of incentives should be tailored to the preferences of your subscribers. You can find out what they like best by testing promotions and incentives to see which ones are more effective. Free shipping, discounts, and buy-one-get-one offers are popular (and nonfattening) ways to treat your customers.

Don't be a pest. What is the right amount of email to send? It depends. A friend received 34 emails in one month from an airline rewards program. Now that smells of desperation. Coming on too strong or stalking the inbox is a real turn-off. Test how much email your market will bear lest you find yourself being marked as spam.

Say you're sorry. "Love means never having to say you're sorry," sighed the characters in "Love Story." Notwithstanding the movie, sometimes love does mean saying, "Sorry." Did you have a technical breakdown and accidentally spam your subscribers with 12 copies of the same email? Did you send an out-of-date offer? Did you miss several cycles of email updates because of an internal crisis? Do own up to your error and say you are sorry. (Maybe wait a day if you are apologizing for accidental spam.) Be humble and gracious and make it up to them with the promise of paying more attention to your processes. This is a good time for flowers and candy, too (see above) to reward their understanding.

Make love, not war. How would you respond to a suitor who described you as a "target" and waged a never-ending campaign to lighten your wallet? Now you know how consumers view aggressive email streams that inundate them with urgent exhortations to buy. Treat your email subscribers like friends and family, adding value to their lives with useful information and genuine reasons to try your offerings. They will reward you generously.

Spread the love (responsibly). What better way to build your list than to have your subscribers do it for you? When they love you, they will tell their friends, especially if you make it easy for them. Include "forward to a friend" functionality n every email, and make it possible for your subscribers to enter a personal note on the forwarded emails. Don't forget to make it easy for the new friends to subscribe directly.

Tie the knot. As long as all is going well, you can take the relationship to the next level and ask your subscribers to join a program with special benefits reserved for loyal supporters. Offer them an attractive two-way commitment, and shower them with rewards when they meet their obligations. After all, you want that special guy or gal to stick around forever.