Email marketing campaigns

Imagine if 10 years ago, someone had told you that, in the future, you would be able to communicate directly with your customers or potential customers, sending them any message you choose and that it would be free. No paper required, no printing, no envelopes, no brochures, and no stamps. In addition, that message, could be sent to anyone in the world. And as an added bonus, instead of having to wait 24 or 48 hours, it would arrive within seconds.

It would have sounded too good to be true?

This is exactly what happens with the internet and e-marketing.

Promoting your products or services by email can be a powerful and flexible form of direct marketing. An effective email marketing strategy, can grow your business by up to 30%.

Here are a number of simple guidelines to help you get started with an effective e-mail campaign.

• Identify your target audience. Email marketing is more successful if it focuses on people you know are interested in what you are offering. If you have a large database of customers and potential customers, it’s worth analysing what you know about them, so that you can send a more relevant message.
  
  
• Decide on the format of your email message. You may want to send a monthly newsletter containing a number of news items, articles, pictures, offers and incentives, or you may go for the basic letter format that you send on a regular basis. There is a great deal of debate at the moment about which is the best method to use. The simple answer is to be consistent with the method that you choose. If you start a good monthly newsletter that has useful tips and advice on your area of interest, you will build a great relationship with those that receive it and a good percentage of them will convert to customers. But remember to keep it up.
  
  
• Collect email addresses and look after them. They are gold dust if you use them correctly. Your website should be the main source for collecting email addresses. Every page on your site should have the opportunity for people to leave their details. However, there needs to be an incentive for people to leave their details. Give a report, article, offer or discount when they complete your form and follow it up immediately. There is software available that ‘autoresponds’ to completed forms from your website. Don’t forget to include an e-mail address option on all the marketing materials you may be using.
  
  
• Encourage people to ‘opt in’ to your email marketing. It is illegal to send unsolicited email messages. If customers have agreed to receiving information from you in the past, i.e. opt in, you can send them information on other things you think they may be interested in. However, you must always give the option to opt out of receiving any further messages from you.
  
  
• Monitor the effectiveness of your email campaigns to make sure that you’re getting value from your time investment. Keep a record of the number of responses you’ve received and from what type of customer. You can then assess which groups are more likely to respond to this sort of marketing approach in future. Response rates for email marketing are often higher than for other forms of direct marketing.

Apple Pie can give you help and advice on the best course of action to take for your business. Call 01962 732392 for an informal discussion.