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13 ways to make your company
an email address gathering machine
(Plus what to do once you have them)
E-marketing
is part of every company’s marketing planning. Maybe it’s as simple as
making certain that your website is linked appropriately throughout the
web. Or, perhaps you’re at the other end of the spectrum – buying online
advertising, actively pursuing an e-commerce website, using the web for
reporting purposes to your sales teams, etc. No matter where you are on
this spectrum you need to take a close look at email marketing. I’m not
talking about the SPAM variety. Rather, the targeted, make a difference
to your marketing effectiveness, type.
Effective use
of email is a tactic that will improve customer loyalty, reduce
expenses, and support your business, in ways both on-and-off-line.
13
ways to obtain more email addresses: In no particular order – they are
all important touch points
1) Ask every new customer for their email address. (Don’t pass up this
most simple and practical opportunity.)
2) Request an email address as part of your “visitor sign-in” or “guest”
books.
3) Make a request for an email address a standard component of customer
service interactions.
4) Make all of your forms email friendly. (Invoices, statements, policy
sheets, return forms, etc.)
5) Include email requests on all of your brochures and other printed
marketing materials.
6) Add email messaging to your on-hold scripts. (Plant a seed with
callers. Ask them to be ready to give you their email address.)
7) If you’re advertising, make sure your listening/viewing audience
knows how and why to give you their email address.
8) Create a business card drop box for use at every one of your
tradeshows or events.
9) Use co-operative email gathering. (Look to your business partners for
email lists. Then, cross or joint promote your combined products and
services.)
10) Add an email sign-up form to your website. (Don't bury it! And be
sure to make it short.)
11) Add an email list sign-up link to your personal email signature.
12) Look into data “append” services. (Service providers that marry your
customer lists with a matching email address.)
13) NEVER EVER buy an email address list. It’s like pouring money down
the drain.
OK.
So you’re building an arsenal of email addresses. Now what?
§ At
its simplest form email should be used to make customers and prospects
aware of special promotions, sales and events. Send your message as
basic text messages or as a slightly savvier html message. Just send it!
§ Answers
to FAQ’s and useful tips are perfect for email marketing. Industry links
and other resources, or simple news on what's happening at your
business, makes great email ammo.
§ You
can even use email to create a little competition among your customers.
Let them know what makes your top performers tick. Feature a
top-performer each month or quarterly in a newsletter/bulletin. Everyone
wants to see their name in lights.
§ When
your marketing calendar is complete, send out an announcement telling
people where to find you in 2004– at trade events, on TV, on the radio,
etc.
§ Promoting
event participation using email has worked well for my clients who host
gatherings (usually meetings and seminars). The result has been an
increase in attendance by targeted partners and customers. In addition
to higher attendance rates, the effort and cost of promoting events via
email is significantly lower than using traditional methods.
§ Email-based
event promotions work well for all of the following:
§
Seminars, conferences and trade events
§
Product introductions
§
Meetings and conference calls
§
Dinners and other social events
§ Getting
a little more creative: Use incentives, sweepstakes, drawings, or the
like. Let’s face it, people like to save and they like “taking chances.”
But make certain your offer/incentive is sensible and matches your
products or services. After all, you want your audience to be interested
in you, not something that distracts them from your marketing message.
Remember,
you’re e-mailing with hopes of getting customers or prospects
to pay attention to you. Snagging that few seconds of undivided
attention is valuable and worth every penny.
PS -
Email is measurable and “measurability” is, after all, marketing’s Holy
Grail.
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Delivery rates – how many of your messages reached their destination
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Open rate – The percentage of people who opened the email
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Read rate – The percentage of people who read the email.
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Click through rate – The percentage of people who clicked on one or
more links in your html email.
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Conversion rate – The percentage of people who complete a transaction.
(e.g. meeting registrations, an rsvp, purchases, etc.).
James Britt,
gBritt P.R. & Marketing, jim@gbritt.com,
www.gbritt.com
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