Email newsletters 'must not oversell'

Email marketing should not bombard consumers with sales messages if they have signed up for a newsletter, an expert has remarked.

Karen Skidmore, writing for the How To Do Email Newsletters blog, warned marketers that emails can be hugely powerful but also have the potential to turn customers off a product, firm or service.

Businesses which send their lists sales information and nothing of value to them will soon find their messages are dismissed as spam, she warned.

That is not to say an email newsletter cannot drive sales, Ms Skidmore continued.

"I always recommend that you give more value than your readers perceive they will receive. Exceed your promises, give extra value and your readers will reward you with more sales than you could possibly expect," she urged.

Responding to her comments, Nick Stamoulis of Brick Marketing warned that a company which promises to deliver quality information to consumers but which just sends advertising will soon find its subscribers dropping off.