by Audrey Kerwood, eComIncubator.com
We can all agree that social media bonds your customer to your business, building a brand that commands premium prices. Emails can be the most personal social media communication, Â because the customer gives you permission to market to them.
Marketing by interrupting people isn’t cost-effective anymore. You can’t afford to seek out people and send them unwanted marketing messages, in large groups, and hope that some will send you money.
~Seth Godin, author of 12 books about ideas and marketing
Those who give you permission to market to them want to know about your product. They want to spend money to buy your product.
Sounds pretty good.
But once you decide to promote your product or service through email, where do you start?
1. Create a way to get opt-in participants from your website. Start with a sign-up box on your website. Your website software might include an opt-in option, or you can use a third party program.
2. Develop an instant offer for opting-in. Just saying “Sign up for our specials†isn’t enough; you need to offer your visitor a good and fair incentive to give you their email address and the right to market to them. I’ve had great success by offering a percentage discount coupon that is sent to the customer instantly. The point is to make whatever you’re offering easy and fast for the customer. Don’t make them have to think or wait for something – you’ll lose both ways.
3. Start publishing an e-newsletter regularly. Putting out a newsletter four times a year at holidays is a start. Holidays are pretty easy – New Years Sale, Fourth of July Sale, Fathers Day Sale – but what about all those other days of the year? What do you say? How do you justify sending out these emails? Easy – give them something!
4. Ensure success by giving customers something for free: Here are some email ideas that have worked very well for me in the past:
Offer a discount coupon. This can be for specific products or a blanket storewide discount. You can set a threshold price for storewide sales so you’re not losing money on your lower profit items, i.e. 10% off orders over $50.
Offer free stuff: Buy one get one free, Buy one get one ½ off, Buy one get a free xxxx. An example of this that I use is: Buy any tapestry over $200 and get a free hanging rod. The rods cost me about $11 apiece and I charge $22 in the store so this promotion is a great way to get my customers to buy the next tapestry size up so they save the $22. It works very well for anything that can be accessorized; it’s one of my favorite promotions.
Have a Featured Product of The Week (Month, Day, Hour). Offers with a time limit capture a lot of interest. When doing a featured product mailing I describe the item in great detail and provide more than one picture if possible. You really want to feature this product, so talk it up. List all the virtues of the product and try to make the customer feel what it would be like to own it. A single product offer is different from any of the others I’ve mentioned because the benefits have to be much more specific.
5. Study Your Metrics. As your list grows, begin to study the open rates, click throughs and sales, and the slew of other available metrics. The bigger the list, the more value in parsing your numbers. Adjust your emails based on what seems to be getting better results.
Permission marketing can be extremely profitable. Managing your email campaign from concept to execution with the customer in mind can be a cost-effective, lucrative adventure.
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Audrey Kerwood is an owner of a network of online stores in select niche markets, and offers a comprehensive, value-packed eCommerce training program at http://ecomincubator.com.
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