If you are like me, you get a ton of emails every day that you simply delete without ever opening. You wish they never made it past your spam filter if you're honest. I get about five emails a day from folks who are offering to redesign my website for me, make my website show up on page one of Google, or provide email marketing consultant services. Thanks, but I’ve got that taken care of! It is clear that they have never bothered to look at who we are and what we do, so their credibility is shot from the beginning with me. Delete.
As an email marketing consultant I want to suggest that there are a few simple rules for preparing and executing an email campaign that will get you results.
Have a strategy in place for gathering customer email addresses
As an email marketing consultant the biggest obstacle we have with clients is that they don’t have a process in place to gather email addresses from their prospects and customers. In today’s world of internet marketing it is especially critical to make sure you are getting the email addresses of anyone who becomes a customer. You have already worked to earn their business and if you have provided good service to them then they are prime candidates to use your company again. Check out this infographic created by flowtown.com where you can see the math! If you don’t have a process in place to gather email addresses for new customers, you need to create one. Every business works a little differently, but think carefully about how best to gather email addresses so you have this information to work with.
Use your website to gather email addresses
For anyone visiting your website, you should have offers in place that can be downloaded. To download an offer a prospective customer gives you their email address. As long as you are offering valuable information, people are willing to trade their email address for that information. Once you have it, you can continue to use it to nurture them from being just a lead to becoming a customer. The key in all this is that you continue to provide useful content to them in the area of your expertise so that they begin to see you as a leader in your industry. You can use email marketing to invite them to sign up for your blog, or remind them to think about taking action on a possible purchase.
Send emails to people who want them
I know it sounds obvious, but if your customers or even your website visitors have willingly given you their email address, then you will have a much better chance of reaching them and having them open your email and read/respond to what you are providing. It is important that you provide an opt-out in your email marketing, but if someone has already indicated a willingness to interact with your company via email, then your chances of it being opened are better. Whether they stay engaged will depend on how you handle #4.
Provide valuable information
The best email marketing campaigns are designed to provide people something that they might need or want in a simple, fast way. There are more than two types of email campaigns, but for purposes of this blog, let’s just look at two:
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Offers
Email marketing campaigns are a great place to provide your customers or prospects with special offers that are time sensitive. If you are running a special on window cleaning you want everyone to know! If you are running a 2 week special you can send several emails leading up to the deadline that provide a sense of increased urgency along the way.
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Education
Email marketing is also a great way to increase the value you provide to your existing and potential customer database. If you are willing to educate them in your area of expertise on a regular basis, they are more likely to think of you when they are ready to make a purchase.
Catch interest immediately
A critical piece of your email marketing campaign is your subject line. Avoid being generic or you will be deleted. Remember the look of your own inbox and how easy it is to delete anything that does not catch your interest. First lines and first paragraphs matter a ton so take the time to craft them carefully.
Include a call to action
A call to action is the next step you want your customer or prospective customer to take. In an offer that is pretty straightforward, but it matters even in the educational process. Invite them to view something else you have written, or download your latest ebook, or subscribe to your blog. Always give a next step that allows for continued interaction with your company. Adding links into your email copy that launch them out to see more information on your website is a great way to do this. I just got an email this morning and loved how the email copy enticed me to dig further. The topic was not defending yourself when a client goes out to bid on a project and wants to look at other agencies. While they suggested not defending, this sentence caught my eye and made me want to click on the link to find out more. “The odds of an incumbent winning are super-low and the effect of losing kills agency moral. But, if defend you must, try this.” The simple underlined link that moves me out to their website is an effective way to increase engagement.
Email marketing is a great way to re-engage prospective customers and to also ensure that your existing customers keep you top of mind. If you aren’t using email marketing as part of your strategy, maybe it’s time to talk with an email marketing consultant. We’d love to help you! Your next step? Give us a call!
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