This is a guest post from Jane Brocklebank
Email marketing is a great way of keeping in touch with customers. It’s cost effective, easy and quick compared to direct mail or other methods of sales promotion.
Better still, you can keep track of how many people open your emails and click on links, gauging their interest on the content of your email. You can then tweak the content in future so that it includes more of what they like.
You can even divide up your database depending on which type of customer they are. For example a hotel might have different types of guests (weekend breaks, business travellers, training and conferences).
This means that you can send news, promotions and offers that are relevant to them, which means they are more likely to open and act upon your email campaigns.
So how often should you do it, and what should you say?
The answer depends on who you are talking to, and why! Be clear about the purpose of your communications. What are you trying to achieve? Maybe you want to build your reputation, establish your expertise, or make customers aware of the extent of your products and services.
Nobody likes to be sold to, so steer clear of blatantly promotional material. It’s better to provide value and build up a trusting relationship before you start selling.
Think about what your readers will find interesting – it doesn’t have to be about your business. It could be a related topic, or a helpful guide about something relevant. For instance, I saw an email newsletter from a credit controller with a really useful article about setting up good practices for protecting your cash flow. Of course the subtle message within that guide was that if you need help, they are experts that can help you.
Another idea is to run a series of emails e.g. a 3 part guide, or 5 step process. This helps build up the expectation for the follow up emails. These can work well in a short space of time e.g. a 5 step process delivered each day of a working week.
There are a couple of ways you can find out how often. One is to take an educated guess – it should probably be at least once a month in order to create a regular presence in your customers’ inbox. It could even be once a week if you think you have enough interesting and relevant material and you work in a fast paced industry.
You will soon notice if people start unsubscribing.
The other option is to ask! Many email marketing providers will give you the option to add a sign up box so that customers can choose which emails they want to receive, and how often. If this isn’t an option, you could ask within the newsletter how often they would like to receive it.
Measure the responses, the open rates and the articles that get clicked on so that you can refine your campaigns and keep improving them.
You can follow Jane on Twitter: www.twitter.com/janebrocklebank
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