Make Every Word Count
Many of us have experienced some form of email marketing – a customer loyalty programme update, a favourite retailer alerting you to an in-store promotion or perhaps a hobby group notifying you of a new workshop. With more than 98 percent of global online users using email (a recent study from eMarketer), it’s no wonder that businesses are captilalising on this vast mountain of opportunity with email marketing initiatives.
While email marketing isn’t new, it has gone through quite a transformation since the early ‘batch and blast’ days. The level of interaction and speed of email sets it apart from other marketing media.
However, email marketing can be a double-edged sword. On one side, it allows you to create a precise marketing campaign to cost-effectively promote your business. And when done correctly, it can be an extremely powerful and effective technique. It can attract interest, build demand and generate sales – nicely complementing your traditional marketing efforts. It’s one of the most cost-effective ways to contact potential customers, far cheaper than traditional direct mail.
When done incorrectly, however, email marketing can be damaging and turn happy customer into annoyed ‘unsubscribers’. We all have emails we seek out on a weekly basis and look forward to receiving and there are others that we might not enjoy as much and as a result have unsubscribed to a request. Unsolicited email or spam tends to be irrelevant, unexpected and rarely valuable, not to mention illegal. Sending bulk spam could run the risk of tarnishing your business’ reputation. So how does one effectively make use of email marketing as part of their overall strategy?
An interesting message that offers value to your reader is critical to the success of any email campaign. The websites you regularly visit provide content that you value, the same holds true for email marketing. As long as customers find value in it, they will be willing to receive it.
Providing value – such as content on a relevant topic, a discount or a promotion on a product or service – will allow you to continue to engage with your customers. Put yourself in your readers’ shoes and consider what makes you open some emails and delete others. People respond best to messages that are written in a conversational tone rather than corporate speak. Email marketing campaigns sent from real people to real people encourage relationships based on value and trust.
