Key Factors to Effective Email Marketing
- People do business with people. Make sure you respect, grow and maintain your relationship with your customer as a person not a name on a list.
- Consistency. Whatever standard you set, maintain it. Consistency is a one of the corner stones of persuasion. If you send out emails every month, make sure it’s every month. If you always include an offer do so. Do not pitch your customer without offering outstanding value first.
- Never insult or abuse your relationship by abusing their trust. They were kind enough to give you their address so treat it with respect. Give them what they expect.
- Maintain offline marketing. Do not stop your offline marketing in favor of just e-marketing. Use both.
Keep your messages personal like you would to a friend and not a list. The customer should always feel your message to them is a one off, personal message. - Make sure your message is topical, personal, valuable and written in WIIFM.
Never overload your clients with emails, that’s spam. - As with any marketing or advertising you need to track and analysis performance.
Check for: Are they being opened? Are people responding? Is it the word copy? The offer? The headline? Only make one change at a time to test and measure results. - When you take somebody’s business card ask for permission to add their details to your newsletter never assume. Make sure that they opt in as well. Don’t just add the customer unless you have written proof that they said yes.
- Use plain txt emails unless you are a faceless business like a supermarket.
Because you want that personal touch. You want your customer to feel like you personally sent them an email not that they’re one in thousands. - The best day statistically to send an email is Friday and the worst is Wednesday. If you have an offer for Friday, send it out on Thursday.
- Get as much data about your customer as is reasonable and you can. Think about future uses; ask for the info before you need it.
- Incorporate copyright and disclaimers in your emails if necessary.
- If you’re going to educate your customer via email make sure you show how others have achieved the results.
- Ensure your online registration form is simple and easy to fill out.
- Give your customers a selection of ways to respond to a promotion. e.g. phone, fax, email etc
- Sometimes if you copy a subject line and apply it to a different email (even though it worked before) it may not work because the previous email worked because of the combination of subject line, layout and word copy working in tandem.
- If your selling a product through that email via a payment system use secure payment icons
If you’re asking your client to follow a link, describe where they’re going.
Add the recipients’ name in the subject line for improved response. E.g. Subject: David, here’s your manual. - Should you have details that you want viewed on your website just send a small email with a link. This is also a way to avoid spam blockers not liking your text. e.g. If you want to use words like cash, income, sex etc
- If you can avoid attachments do so because people fear viruses and it takes time to download and read.
- Getting a customer to follow links and click through is not the end goal. The end goal is your desired outcome. Make sure the messages are in alignment and are not misleading. E.g. you may have an email about weight loss but when the customer follows the link it goes to a website about plastic surgery. Odds are the customer feels misled and won’t buy and eventually un-subscribe.
- Make sure you sign off on your emails. E.g. talk again soon. Regards, Rachel.
- Never ever, ever cc a list only ever bcc. The recipient will know their email is not personal, feel their privacy has been invaded, know how big your list is, may steal your list.
- Make it easy for people to do business with you, learn about your products and services, contact you etc
- Get your customers to “white list” your email. I.e. get them to add your email to their address box so the spam filter allows your email through.
- If you’re going to do surveys use survey software like survey monkey.
- Offer inducements (reward) to get subscribers like free eBook or Tshirt, coupon like a discount on their first or second haircut when they book online.
- To get customers to click on links, use unfinished sentences or incomplete messages that will cause the reader to want to learn more, so they will follow the link.
E.g. “Hi David, It’s our birthday but we’re giving away the present. So on Friday May 22nd we’re giving away a brand new motorcycle plus we’re having a party to celebrate and you’re invited. I bet you could see yourself on a free new bike, motor thundering it’d feel great wouldn’t it? You could end up owning… follow this link to read more (link)
The more intrigue you create the more likely the click through.
Why Use Email Marketing?
- No postage
- No stationery
- Ability to deliver high volume of messages
- Quick delivery
- Less administration Instant results
- Excellent tracking
- Cost effective compared to traditional direct marketing methods
- Ability to create links to other messages and websites
The only real downside of email marketing is that people expect instant response, at least the same day.
Reasons to Email Your Customers
- Events
- Press releases
- Receipts and invoices
- Contests
- New web pages
- New staff
- Programmes, seminars and discounts
- Awards
- Anniversary and birthdays
- Changes in laws, regulations etc
- New products and services
- Survey
- Confirming attendance to meetings and appointments
- News
Marketing Ideas
- To track effectiveness of emails add coupons or mention in the text that they must mention this email or a specific code to redeem their discount or special offer.
- Cut costs by having printable PDF online catalogues, so customer prints it, not you.
- Back up your list so that is another party breaks down you don’t loose all your customers’ details.
- Test the likely possibility of people wanting your product or service by offering an early bird price and check response take their CC details but don’t charge the card until it’s produced and delivered.
Email Best Practise
- Use frequent short paragraphs.
- Avoid too many images and moving pictures.
- Write so it’s easy to scan.
- Use bullet points.
- Each paragraph should have the reader want to read the next.
- Avoid hype people get turned off e.g. don’t use urgent unless it really is very urgent. Never mislead your customer.
- Avoid using jargon and technical words, you may think you’re clever but it just annoys others.
- Add your personality to your messages.
- Create vivid word pictures.
- Never rely on spell checker e.g. beer and bear.
- Get someone to review your grammar.
- Don’t use all caps it’s like screaming at someone and very hard to read.
- Avoid using exclamation marks.
- To create effect use white space, bold text, underline.
- Convey emotion.
- Choose the objective of your email and write it up first, mull it over, sleep on it before sending it out.
- When making offers only give the recipient a few choices one is best so they don’t have to way it up or think it over.
- Ideally don’t sell on the email. Send them to your website where you then sell them.
- Personalise your email use the customers name and your own.
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