Mapping out your Email Campaign Strategy
In our last blog, we discussed how timeliness, value, and relevance are important to your email campaign. Next we’re going to show you how to effectively map out your strategy.
Update your Signature
Invite people to participate with you in online forums, including everyone who interacts with your business—even vendors and service providers. You can do this automatically by changing your email signature so all of your e-correspondences invite people to link with you through your website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and blog accounts. Don’t forget your paper correspondences, too!
Get out your Calendar
Briefly map your 12-month sales history and what you’d like to accomplish in the upcoming 12 months. If widget sales were so hot last July that you got overzealous and ordered more than you could sell, run a clearance special alongside the unveiling of this year’s model. If the bulk of your business occurs in November and December, what campaign materials can you put together to promote an early-bird special in October or a blow-out sale in January?
Once you find your sweet-spot, work on expanding it a few weeks out on either side. If you can identify a lull in your business, ask yourself and your customers what would motivate them to buy during that time. After you’ve outlined your catalyst for seasonal sales, plan to design a message and an offer directly related to the buying group you’re targeting (i.e., clearance shoppers, people who have to have the latest gadgets, emergency buyers).
Send it When They’ll Receive It
We can’t speak to everyone’s e-mail viewing habits, but common sense should dictate that launching a campaign on 5:00 p.m. on a Friday or 3:00 a.m. on a Sunday is not going to garner a terrific response rate. Friday afternoon is a heavy wrap up time so people can get out the office door, and 3:00 a.m. finds most people fast asleep. Ideally, you should send your email in the early to mid part of the week in the mid-part of the day. There is always room for exceptions, especially when the call to action is related to an upcoming event.
Check out our Online Outbox feature that will let you schedule the date and time your message is sent so you don’t have to be present to send it!
Next month: Talking back to your Customers
The Do’s and Don’ts of online communication success.
Crafting your Perfect Email Campaign
Choosing how and when your business should use an email campaign can be an agonizing decision. How can you expect to effectively use email marketing for your business when you find that even you get inundated with too much email? How much is too much, and when will your target market find that your message is worth reading?
The important factors that will help you remain on the short list in people’s inbox and craft your perfect email campaign are timeliness, value, and relevance.
Timeliness
There’s a natural ebb and flow to sales and it’s imperative that you find yours. March and April are excellent months for bathing suit sales due to spring break and the onset of warm weather. Pumpkin bread and apple cider light up the shelves and are prominently featured in the autumn. When is your product hot? How can you generate interest in it all year long? Try tying your product or service to what is going on in your customers’ lives, whether it’s related to home improvement, luxury services, lifestyle enhancements, or business aids.
Value
Have you checked out Groupon online? They have really got mass-market appeal because people who opt to receive communications from Groupon have come to anticipate a tremendous value from the company. This doesn’t mean you have to give away the farm, but it may be helpful for you to throw a loss leader (product sold at or below cost but often needs accompanying items to be useful) out there to get people in your door. Find out what excites your customer base and use that to your marketing advantage.
Relevance
So you have the perfect message and you’re ready to launch your online campaign. No matter how amazing the marketing, if you are explaining the allure of your coffee to people who aren’t coffee drinkers, then your advertising is missing the mark. Find out what is important and useful to people who align with your product or service offerings and strike a chord with them.
To reach out to a qualified customer base, you need to capture them.
Capture a qualified marketing list by asking customers to provide their email address so you can send them preferred customer offers. Invite people to “Like” you on Facebook through your advertising, in your product sheets, and even on your products’ packaging. Ask existing customers to share your website or newsletter with friends who may be interested in your products or services or offer a referral bonus to clients who refer new customers. Once you have a relevant base, you’ll have a more objective measure of how your campaign is received by your target market.
Next up: We’ll teach you how to map out your email campaign.
Your Email Campaign Customers are on Alert for “Phishermen”
The importance of forging a good relationship with your customers is paramount to your business. Unfortunately, hackers have become savvy at infiltrating email lists and sending out fake emails that look like they come from reputable companies in an attempt to capture personally identifiable information or initiate identity theft. Have messages like this become all-too-familiar in recent weeks?
“…We are letting our customers know that we have been informed by Epsilon, a vendor we use to send e-mails, that an unauthorized person outside Epsilon accessed files that included e-mail addresses of some of our customers…”
You’d virtually have to be living under a rock if you haven’t done business with one of the companies that was affected. National grocery and retail stores such as Kroger, Target, and Walgreens, banking centers like US Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Citi, and Capital One, service providers like Verizon, TD Ameritrade, and Scottrade, and businesses where we spend entertainment dollars including Fry’s, Best Buy, and Disney Destinations were all exposed when Epsilon’s data system was breached.
How do you feel as a customer, knowing that your personal information could be in the hands of people with ill intent? Are you disgusted that the companies you regularly do business with didn’t take more care with your personal information?
Phishing (pronounced “fishing”) is an email that is sent with the intent of soliciting personal information from the recipient for illegitimate purposes. Phishing emails aim to professionally befriend the reader by creating a seemingly legitimate concern and then offering a solution to the problem. A phishing email may read, “We are concerned someone has tried to access your bank account without your permission. We’ve halted your financial transactions as a precautionary measure for your safety. Please logon now to change your password.” Of course they are “fishing” to see if you’ll take the bait, follow the link, and disclose your information on an elaborately built, legitimate-looking site.
Since Epsilon’s data breach, customers have been placed on high alert regarding incoming emails. As someone who sends out email campaigns, it’s important to respect the unwritten rules of good e-campaigning:
1. Create a consistent look and tone in your communications. This helps customers become familiar and comfortable with your company.
2. Educate your customers about your best practices so they can learn to spot or become suspicious of potential “phishing” emails.
3. Become “Googleable” so customers can find you using key words as an alternate to direct paths and links.
4. Guard your customer list with care. We can help you set up safeguards to protect your information assets.
5. Have someone proofread your communications. A large majority of phishing emails have misspellings, incorrect spacing, or slight grammar snafus that can tip the reader off as to their legitimacy. Make sure your correspondences don’t raise any of these red flags.