Building your client base is often the most challenging part of running a business. You’ve got everything set up, but now you just need customers. Think back. When was the last time a new person joined your team? Is your customer base growing? How can you get the word out about what service or product you offer or recruit more team members? Perhaps all you need to do is to launch an email marketing campaign. With that in mind, let’s look at these tips to see how your campaign will drive the results you need.
Create a Campaign
Whether you already have marketing messages in place or you plan to write them now, be sure these emails are short and sweet. Keep them simple with one or two fonts, some highlighting of various words, and an enticing subject line. More importantly, make sure that you have a call to action (CTA) for your potential customers. Have them do something – for example, sign up for a newsletter, join your Facebook group, or seek out more information about your service or product. If these folks just come and go, your campaign has not been successful.
In each message, focus on one aspect of your product or service. In the first message, welcome them warmly with praise, thanking them for their interest. Perhaps mention the most popular feature and give them a chance to sample it with a downloadable document or a testimony from a happy customer.
Schedule Your Messages
No one wants to be hammered by a sales campaign. When that happens, we may read the first message, but once we see half a dozen more, we unsubscribe. Schedule your messages through your Internet Service Provider so that those who are receiving them get one every couple of days.
Once your campaign has run its course, take a look at your mailing list. Clean it up by removing those who never opened any of your messages. That way these disinterested recipients don’t affect your open rate. Throughout your email marketing campaigns, create a workflow to move those who are not as interested to a list which does not send out as many messages. For instance, be proactive by using a system that moves subscribers who have not opened an email in two weeks to a weekly email list. Those who have not opened four consecutive messages can be removed from the original list and added to a monthly email list. That way your mailing list is cleaned up and retains only those who are interested in your content.
Check the Details
Subject Line. These few words are more important than most people realize. The subject line is the door to your message. Make it brief and clever. Get their attention right away, or the click may be just to move your email to the trash bin. Include value so that your readers are curious and want to see what’s in it for them. Give them a hint of what your product or service is, making it intriguing enough for them to take the time to read more.
Personalize the Message. Customize the email by embedding the receiver’s first name into either the subject line or the first sentence. Use your name or company in the email address. Remember that using a “No-Reply” email address goes against the FCC’s CAN-SPAM rules. Also, create a signature block that provides your first and last name, your title (if applicable), and contact information. Include a photo and your logo.
Check for Length and Typos. Read your email message aloud to hear how it sounds. If it takes more than a minute or two to read it, it’s too long. Save some of those details for the next message or for your website. As for typos, English professors will tell you to read your message backwards to catch any stray errors since our brains tend to correct mistakes along the way.
Call to Action. The CTA retains your client base. Make your offer in the preview portion of your email so that readers see it at first glance. That way they can quickly read what it’s all about. Avoid using worn-out words in your CTA. How often do we read “Download now” and have learned to ignore it. Link any images you may use in your message to your landing page or to one of your recent blogs. Add your call to action to your signature, with your email address as a hot link and your phone number. Make it easy for people to contact you to learn more.
Gluing It All Together
Once you have built up your client base through email marketing, you might discover that there’s so much more to manage. We’ve got an easy way of keeping track of those details with your own mobile and web app with Business Glu. So, contact us for a demo, and we’ll gladly show you how to stay connected to your client base or team. In summary, what began with an email marketing campaign can be turned into a thriving business with a touch of glue – Business Glu.
