All posts in ‘E-mail Knowledge’

Monday, 14 February 2011

Welcome! Or?

A welcome email is one of the most ”open” letters of all. So what is important to think about to build a good relationship?

Well, how many times have you been wondering about what first impression you make? Or what to say? Or what to wear? Whatever the circumstances are we think a lot about what other people think about us when we first meet. And it is equally important concerning email marketing.

When people give us their email addresses it is an expression of trust. As we have mentioned before our inbox is under pressure and nowadays we are usually more restrictive about giving away our email address.

Well then, how do you act when you get a new subscriber on your email list? Does the new reader at all notice that you appreciate his trusting you? Does he/she feel welcome?

According to several American studies – among others one study from MarketingSherpa – the first mail of welcoming is the most frequently opened letter. This is in line with other transactional messages – with an opening rate of more than 70%! Consequently here you have an excellent opportunity to make a good foundation for a successful relationship in the future. This first welcoming email might very well play an important role in how loyal the subscribers on your emailing list will be later on.

An example:
My sister registered for a newsletter from a big grocery store. The cause of her sudden interest in shopping food wasn’t really because of their products or in the store itself. No, she was promised a reduction in price at her next buy … Thats’s why she accepted to register for their newsletter.

In the registration process she told that she was interested in a certain type of recipes and that she preferred organic food. So the first mail they sent her showed that they had ”listened” to her and wanted the letter to be attractive to her. It contained recipes that suited her, she was also able to read earlier newsletters accordning to her preferences and she was given a voucher check for organic vegetables.

Consequently, her first contact with the store via email was successful. Although my sister is a busy woman and seems to have several ”panic project” every day she always opens their newsletters when they land in her inbox. Though the store hasn’t managed to offer her another as fantastic content again she remembers that sweet love at first contact and she is afraid of missing a good offer again.

So what is important in order to succeed with the welcome email?

First of all: When someone has just given you his/her email address you are fresh in their memory and they will listen to what you have to say. Don’t wait too long, send a nice and welcoming email right away! It’s not very effective to let a new subscriber wait a week or so.

Use this first email to get some more information about your new subscriber – in a nice and simple way. Don’t try to have them fill in long answers to several questions; that might discourage them from answering at all. Just ask them to check off boxes and give them very few questions – if any – where they are asked to write a ”free” text. The registration as well as the personal information must be as simple as possible.

Secondly: Focus on the information in the subject line. If the very first contact – after they have given you their email address – is a ”shop more” mail, it will probably be negatively perceived. Let the subject line and the content focus on a welcoming of the new subscriber and give him/her something of value in order to form a good foundation for further communication.

Be personal. Remember that this is a letter and a lot of customers like a more personal response. Maybe your manager signs the letter or maybe the customer’s personal contact in your business does that. Michael Katz, Blue Penguin Development, feels that the language of the newsletters should be closer to the spoken language. He even suggests that you should record what you want to say in your letter and then write it down. Maybe a little stretched, but you understand the thought behind it.

Send a fine HTML-letter. The subscriber should be able to recognize the design also in the first letter of welcome. The new subscriber has probably registered to his/her newsletter on the web. But presumably they have already been in contact with you in some other way, in a shop, through advertisements a.s.o. Do your subscribers recognize your graphic design? If you send a letter with nothing but text in it, it might signal to the readers that you’re not so interested in them now that they have registered to our newsletter. If they cannot open an HTML-version of your letter, of course then you send them a text version of it.

If it’s at all possible tell your customers what your next letter will contain, how often you intend to send the letters and give them an example of how a newsletter might look like. Try to make them look forward to the following letters.

Examples of good and personal newsletters that also give added value:

• Send your customers a quick reward saying ”thank you”.
• Ask your recipients to add your email address to their address book.
• Show them some personal interest, use a few moments to think about how to do this.
• Build a link to a review where you explain your policy – tell them that you keep their personal data to yourself.
• Send a fine letter according to your graphic profile.
• Head your customers back to your web site or to pages that might be of interest for a new customer.
• Remind them about the value of being a member and what advantages that might bring.
• Mention how often you will send your newsletters and create expectations.
• Build a good foundation for further communication and awareness. Take the opportunity to make a good first impression!

Friday, 17 December 2010

Marketing, This Is Sales… Sales, This Is Marketing

Marketing is something that helps companies to grow in the long run. But sales is different, it’s about business happening today, and now. It is wholly possible to use email in both marketing, and sales – but… only as long as the two concepts aren’t mixed up. Here are some immensely helpful ideas about how to use email to create the long term results that we want. Here we go.

In many companies the marketing department is more or less responsible for finding potential customers for the sales department. This is tremendously important, here’s why: all companies need new customers to grow. But there’s a risk. A risk of losing the broader responsibility and goals for the marketing, and focusing too much on the immediate here and now sales. This is especially prevalent in email marketing.

One example is with emails where its sole purpose is to sell. There’s nothing wrong with emails or newsletters like this. But, if the only newsletter you send is saying: ”Buy From Us!” then you’re not dealing with email marketing. This is email sales.

What’s the alternative?

Make your email marketing excellent, it will strengthen your brand, it will build good relationships, and your contacts will care about you. It doesn’t just create sales and profit for today, but it will make it easier for you to reach your goals in the future. A long term email campaign is great in order to do the following:

• Position yourself as a company that understands its customers and their needs
• Share your what you know and everything you’ve learned to create something valuable for your customers
• Keep your brand fresh in your customers memory, so when they’re ready to shop, they think of you

Is it possible to do this by using a snail-mail advertisement? Or a telephone campaign? Mmm… Possibly. But it would cost a Kings fortune. Email is a cheap way of reaching an enormous amount of people – and with a honed message.

So a good question would be; Why don’t more companies use long term email marketing? Well, the truth is, quite a few companies have invested time and money in real email marketing and are now reaping the rewards of their sweet labor. But there are as many – if not more – that don’t. Why?

One reason is that their focus is on short term sales. Or short term profit. In an organization, it’s difficult to plant the idea of spending more time and money on developing newsletters with a mixture of editorial (non-profitable) and selling content. Why hike up the expenses when you can just throw together another “Buy this from us” newsletter?

If we were to exercise our 20/100 nearsighted business vision, then a “Buy from us” newsletter would be best. But if we look at it with our “medium-term” glasses, the logic shifts. There’s a point where the response starts to drop off. So let’s say you send a profitable newsletter to your subscribers once a month, and that letter generates 100 sales – that does not mean that a similar letter once a week will create 400 sales in a month. And it’s really insane to think that a daily newsletter to same subscribers would generate 3,000 sales in one month.

Sales letters attract a limited group of humans: ones with cash in hand ready to buy now, or looking to buy soon. Relationship building, brand strengthening, or other types of newsletters that are not strictly focused on selling or to make a profit, appeal to a larger group of customers. And this gives you the chance to tailor the discussion. Success stories, will entice your readers to learn more about the solutions or products you provide. And very possibly, they didn’t even know they had a particular problem – which they now are able to solve, because of you, and with your product. Interviews with experts within the areas of interest for your subscribers will make them think of you as someone who truly understands their business; This will always attract new business partners. And sending out frequent suggestions and tips for your products, will more and likely produce a phone call to your sales folks one day.

The key to success is the quality of the content. To create a newsletter that’s not just trying to sell, demands a lot more effort than to create a newsletter where its sole purpose is to sell. Plenty of companies have a newsletter, but they don’t see it filling up their wallet or helping them reach any other goals. They send letters all the time, but they’re rarely opened, read, or clicked around in. Why? Quality. An absence of quality.

This is where the infinite number of attempts to do email marketing fail. Companies go through changes, but they either don’t have the resources, or they don’t have the knowledge to create an excellent, engaging newsletter; one that helps you reach those coveted goals.

A ton of people today are flooded with newsletters. And everyone is probably just as busy as you are. It’s not enough to just send a newsletter – you have to make sure that the content is convincing, compelling, and enthusing. Give your readers something back – you know, they did take some of their precious time to read your newsletter!

When you start putting some care into it, email marketing that’s not directly trying to sell, can pull in more sales, and a lot more profit than any newsletter that’s solely trying to sell. Email providers, like Apsis for instance, can see that companies that put some elbow grease into delivering something interesting to their customers, have a lot more hustle and bustle on their web sites. And remember: we are talking about value that doesn’t have to do with sales.

Work hard, put some care into it. Build trust in your company. Build long term customer relationships. Show your recipients that it’s never a waste of time to read what you have to say!