Email communication is common these days. All other forms of communication seems to have taken a back seat with the advent of email marketing. You must have often heard people say, "Success comes at a cost". While this is true, one certainly wouldn't want to attain success with their email marketing campaign at the cost of offending someone.

There is a thin line between success and failure when it comes to email marketing. Your emails can either be helpful to the readers or a potentially turn off. A message that is able to gain respect has an increased chance of gathering sales.

One needs to stick to the email marketing rules while crafting their emails so that the users do not tune away from your messages. Let's have a look at the rules to follow with your email marketing campaign.

Rule Number One: Never Spam People

At some point or the other, you might have encountered loads of spam emails. It starts off within a few hours of setting a new email account. As such, spam emails are considered illegal in several countries. If an user acknowledges you as a spam, your emails will never have the privilege to hit the user's inbox.

More importantly, spam will ruin the marketing campaign as you will never accomplish what you want. With all the spam filters in place, getting your email bypass all the protection shield might seem like an accomplishment in itself. However, one can't stop there nor cry foul if the email is deemed spam by these spam filters. Your best bet would be to ensure that your email contains realistic information and proper customization so that you stay immune from all kinds of spam barriers.

Rule Number Two: Gather Email Address in a Responsible Manner

Not all methods of gathering emails are considered ethical. If the customer is willing to provide his email address in return for a service, then you are not playing any foul with your email marketing campaign. In fact, this approach will be appreciated by your customers, and you will not end up receiving angry responses and spam warnings. On the other hand, if you extract random email address, and send them promotional emails with no clue about their interest, then you are only adding your name in the spam list.

Rule Number Three: Supply your Contact Information

Including contact information in the email is a rule which advanced email marketers will never miss. Providing your contact information has many benefits in store. Firstly, customers will be able to get their unanswered queries resolved quickly, if the contact information is readily available. Also, in some cases the "reply" button may not send the email to your inbox, rather the email goes back to the host of server address, thus leaving the customers query unattended. Not to forget the fact, that the presence of contact information in your email assures the reader about the credibility of the sender.

Rule Number Four: Don't Bombard People with Advertisements

While you may be tempted to blast all the inbox out there with your promotional emails, it's not in your best interest to do so. Also, one is not allowed to play foul by misusing the term "FREE" with their advertisements.

Rule Number Five: Use Proper Language

One is supposed to use proper language and accurate information in all their emails. The email content would be properly drafted with good layout and polite language.

Rule Number Six: Include Information on how to opt out

While you may want to have a lifelong communication with your customers, as an email marketing rule you need to supply your recipient with the information on how to opt out of your email. Your email should include clear information on how to opt out from receiving future emails from you. As such, most business owners include an unsubscribe link at the end of their email, so that the customer is given the leverage to opt out, if he feels the need to do so. Including an unsubscribe link depicts that you are a responsible marketer, so it's always a good idea to include one.

These are some email marketing rules which you need to follow in order to conduct ethical email marketing campaign. It's expected that email marketing will outshine all other forms of direct marketing techniques out there. It's important that you stick to these rules to make the most of the opportunity in the long run.