Creating a Connection with Email Marketing
The Internet certainly can be an anonymous place to do business. Breaking that barrier and making a real connection with customers is one of the biggest issues Internet business owners face. But there's a right way and a wrong way to reach out and touch your email list using email marketing services and email advertising techniques. Let's compare how some of those ways might look, from the customer's perspective.
Create Connection, Not Aggravation
While every email marketing guru will tell you it's better to personalize your email messages, there is such a thing as overkill. For example, using the person's first name constantly can be downright annoying! Personalize your message, but don't be overly familiar if you'd like them to keep reading.
If you're not sure about the difference, read these sentences:
First: Dear {Your Name}, You've got to see this great new product. In fact, {Your name}, you need to buy it now! Come to our website now, {Your Name}.
Second: Dear {Your Name}, our products have been helping people like you reach their financial goals for twenty five years. If you're hoping to retire soon but don't have a nest egg saved, come to our website to see how we can help.
Another big mistake email advertisers make is focusing solely on sales. There are plenty of ways to communicate with your list besides constantly making a sales pitch. Taking a hard sell approach, without trying to build a relationship with the prospect, doesn't usually result in higher sales.
Here's how that might look from the customer's point of view:
"Who is this person and why are they sending me five email messages a day? Every message is the same, "sell, sell, sell!" And if they don't stop calling me "Sheila" I'm going to scream. Why did I start getting email marketing campaigns from them, anyway?"
Wouldn't you rather have your potential customers respond in this way?
"Hmm, there's the announcement for BigBoutique's shoe sale. I'm glad they told me in their newsletter to watch for this message. And the article they sent last month about "shoe shopping addiction" was hilarious! I'm logging on the minute that sale starts so I don't miss out."
What did the second company do that the first obviously didn't? Number one, they worked at building a connection. The first time you send someone an email advertising message in your email marketing campaign, you're hoping to form a bond and build a relationship. The fact they didn't opt out doesn't mean, however, that they want to be friends. Email advertising has a definite strategy and technique for success.
Sending too many messages won't make that connection any stronger, in fact, it may cause them to complain. Spread your messages out, and be creative about how you're connecting and communicating with your email marketing list.
In the second example, the business owner wisely chose to communicate several different ways with its email prospects. They created a newsletter with useful content that also happened to include announcements of upcoming sales. That is one good email marketing strategy.
They took the time to find articles of interest to their client base and send them independently of their newsletter. This can be done in a targeted manner, so that the articles that are emailed are customized by products purchased, geographic location or even the age of the customer.
Taking a diverse approach to customer contact helps keep people on your email list happy to open your messages. Think of it this way: which would you be more likely to open, the fifth hard sell message this week, or interesting articles, newsletters and promotions intended to keep you engaged? Planning coordinated email marketing campaigns with many forms of customer contact is always a safe bet.
Avoid One Size Fits All
Speaking of diversity, smart email marketing specialists are customizing their sales messages, too. Segmenting your list and creating targeted email marketing campaigns and promotions based on common traits is one way to do that. It makes much more sense to break down your email list into demographics than to keep sending a one size fits all message to everyone.
Take the time to learn about the likes, dislikes and buying habits of each segment of your list. A good online email marketing consultant can help with market research, or you can do your own by testing differently worded messages with small test groups. Keep track of how many messages are opened, how many people click through to your website and which of those click-throughs result in sales.
This kind of research and refining takes time, but it result in more income for your business. Anytime you can deepen the connection between you and your client base by learning what type of communication they prefer, you've differentiated yourself from most of your competition.
Through the use of diverse communication, targeted email marketing campaigns and careful market research, your online email advertising results can be significantly improved. Make a real connection with those on your list and they'll thank you by becoming customers.