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REROUTED FOR 2017
Email marketing is a powerful vehicle for delivering personalized
messages directly to your target audience. In 2017, you might think
that Instagram, Snapchat or some other new platform would steal the
spotlight, but for those of us in the marketing world, email remains king.
Email continues to be the most important channel any business can
use to continually get their name in front of past and present clients. In
fact, it should be a primary part of your marketing plan now and going
forward.
So, what is your marketing plan? As a business owner, you wear a lot of
hats. Unless you’re turning away customers, one of those hats includes
spending time and energy on a marketing strategy to grow your
business.
In this guide, we’ll cover the basics of email marketing and why it’s
one of the most cost-effective, high return-on-investment channels to
positively impact your bottom line.
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WHAT’S ON THE ROUTE?
Hitting the Road ............................................................................................................................................. 4
7 Benefits of Email Marketing .................................................................................................................... 6
SECTION ONE: BEST PRACTICES ................................................................................................................. 8
The elements of an effective email ........................................................................................................ 9
5-Step Checklist to Writing Good Content ........................................................................................... 12
Design best practices ............................................................................................................................. 13
The nitty-gritty: creating a consistent schedule and when you should send ................................ 15
How to build an email list ...................................................................................................................... 16
Why you should take advantage of email automation ...................................................................... 20
SECTION TWO: TURNS TO AVOID ............................................................................................................. 21
Don’t spam .............................................................................................................................................. 22
Words, phrases and other things to avoid .......................................................................................... 23
Why you shouldn’t send email “blasts” ............................................................................................... 25
SECTION THREE: THE NEXT LEG: BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS, IMPROVING YOUR BOTTOM LINE ... 26
How to build relationships using email marketing ............................................................................ 27
How to use email to increase customer retention ............................................................................. 28
How to use email for referrals .............................................................................................................. 29
THE DESTINATION ....................................................................................................................................... 30
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HITTING THE ROAD
1 What is email marketing?
In many ways, email marketing is an online form of direct marketing – a way of reaching many
current, past and potential customers at once. Rather than sending letters, catalogs or listings to
homes, these communications are sent to inboxes.
The primary advantage of email over direct mail is that you can track and measure your success.
You can see how many of your emails were delivered and opened, if links were clicked and if
anyone took action, such as buying or referring a friend.
2 Types of email marketing
The format and approach you take with your email marketing could vary depending on your
audience, industry and goals. Here are some of the more common types of email marketing:
PRODUCT OR CATALOG: These emails focus on specific products/services or a suite of them.
NEWSLETTERS: Sent on a consistent schedule, newsletters can cover many areas. Emails for
OutboundEngine customers follow the newsletter format, and they contain helpful, industryadjacent information. They’re meant to keep you top of mind with your customers.
CAMPAIGNS: This could include sales or time-sensitive information. Political campaigns and
nonprofits use these often for fundraising, voting and other events, like galas or industry parties,
that run for specific periods of time (even if those deadlines are self-created).
NURTURING: These are regular emails that are sent to prospects pre-sale. Typically sent more
frequently than other types of emails, they encourage a prospect to take steps to eventually
become your customer.
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TRANSACTIONAL: These are usually automated and include emails that confirm purchases,
provide reminders for renewals or ask customers to update a method of payment.
3 How is email marketing valuable?
Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective, high ROI channels you can capitalize on. Consider
the fact that 91 percent of global email users check their inbox at least daily. That’s approximately
2.4 billion people, which shows that email has a huge potential to help your bottom line. Here are a
few additional stats to show the real value of email marketing.
Email ranked as the No. 1 channel for ROI, beating out SEO, content marketing, paid search, direct
marketing and a total of eight other channels. –Econsultancy, “2016 Email Industry Marketing Census”
Email marketing averages an ROI of $38 for every $1 spent. –DMA National Client Email Report
On average, companies attribute 23 percent of their total sales to email marketing. –Econsultancy
89 percent of marketers say that email serves as their primary channel of lead generation. – Mailigen
Email is the preferred source of communication for 72 percent of consumers. – MarketingSherpa
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7 BENEFITS OF EMAIL MARKETING
What advantages does email offer compared to other forms of marketing? With just
a small budget, email marketing can help you focus on your target audience, find
new customers and retain them. You can also test messages, measure your results
and adjust as necessary -- something that is more challenging to do with other
forms of marketing.
1
Reach the Right Audience
The biggest advantage of email marketing may be that it allows you to communicate
with your target audience right in their homes. People are liable to ignore billboards,
throw away direct mail and turn the page without even glancing at newspaper ads.
(And does anyone do anything other than recycle Yellow Pages?) These same people
are more likely to pay attention to a creative and effective email and eventually to
end up becoming customers.
2
Tracking the Success Metrics
As a business owner, it’s helpful to know what you’re doing right and what you’re
doing wrong. By tracking metrics, you can make the necessary adjustments to
improve your products and services. With email marketing software, it becomes
easy to gather such data by tracking open and click-through rates and conversions.
It’s much harder, and often impossible, to track a direct mail piece.
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Word of Mouth
Word of mouth remains one the most powerfully effective marketing tools, and
email marketing puts that tool at your disposal. Recipients can forward emails to
their friends and families, especially when it’s worth their while and strong calls to
action are used.
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A Low-Cost Effort
Email marketing is one of the most affordable marketing tools and also often takes
less time than printed pieces. (No mailing time!)
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Personalization
Most print marketing requires a one-size-fits-all approach. Depending on the
service you use, email marketing may allow you to personalize all communications
-- not only with name but in some cases with purchasing or behavior history as
well (whether someone took a quiz, answered a survey or took some other form of
action).
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Impulse Shopping (and Forwarding)
Email marketing is incredibly useful for taking advantage of impulse shoppers. With
a compelling call to action incorporated into the emails, you can encourage impulse
sales and contact. It’s easy for recipients to respond to your message. They don’t
even have to leave their couch!
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Drives Organic Traffic
Your emails will remind readers about your blog or website. When you send
emails, your readers will go to your site to read more. And people who have
signed up to receive your emails are more engaged with you, so they are more
likely to “like” social posts or forward your emails. The more social shares your
content has, the higher you will rank and the more organic traffic you’ll receive.
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SECTION ONE
BEST PRACTICES
I N T H I S S EC T I O N , W E ’ L L TA L K A B O U T T H E PR AC T I C E S YO U S H O U L D
FOLLOW IN YOUR EMAIL MARKETING, INCLUDING:
1 The elements of an effective email
2 Design best practices
3 The nitty-gritty
4 How to build an email list
5 Why you should take advantage of email automation
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THE ELEMENTS OF AN
EFFECTIVE EMAIL
Making your email stand out in an inbox is both a science and an art. To motivate people to open,
read and act on your emails, you need to master three email elements: subject lines, content and
calls to action (CTAs).
SUBJECT LINES
You have three to four seconds to grab someone’s attention. That’s how long it takes for them to
decide whether or not they’ll open your email. One of the major factors in that decision is your
subject line. Here are a few guidelines to help you write effective ones:
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Be informative and brief so your audience can easily scan their inbox.
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Convey something important, valuable or timely to prompt your audience to open the email.
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Build trust by making sure the content matches the subject line.
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When it comes to length, fifty characters is generally a good rule of thumb to follow. However,
once you have have a baseline, experiment on occasion.
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Other tactics that work well include asking questions, indicating a numbered list and
personalization.
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The best email subject lines tend to be specific, short and compelling. Set expectations up front
and let the email content do the rest.
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Avoid using spam trigger words but feel free to experiment (with caution).
BAD SUBJECT LINE EXAMPLE
AMAZING DEALS! Don’t Miss Out On This CRAZY Sale $$$!!! What Are You Waiting For? Click Now!
GOOD SUBJECT LINE EXAMPLE
Huge Savings on Holiday Overstock
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As technology continues to change, so should your strategy when writing subject lines, since what
works one year might not perform as well the next year. Some research says subject line length is
important, while other insists it doesn’t matter. Some say you should avoid spam trigger words, but
others say you can use them cautiously if you already have a good email reputation.
It’s good to understand the rules. However, since there’s no clear consensus, testing something out
of the norm on occasion might surprise you with a great open rate.
CONTENT
If you’re not writing something that your audience cares about, you won’t get their attention. Email
content should be directly tied to the subject line and written in a short, consistent way that makes
your message easy to digest.
Good content should focus on your customers. Find out what problems they have and write about
them. Learn about their habits and hobbies and pair your expertise with content that will strike a
chord with them. Make sure what you write is serving their interests, not your own agenda. Here
are a few content tips:
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Share information that’s not specifically about your business, but topically adjacent. For
instance, a real estate agent could send emails about updates that add value to a home. A loan
officer could share resources on preventing identity theft or maintaining good credit.
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Show restraint in your desire to sell or pitch to your email lists. Rather, showcase your expertise
on interesting topics and brand yourself professionally.
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Maintain a regular cadence of emails. Sending six a week is a bad approach and will burn you
out, too. Sending an email four times a year isn’t enough. We send emails twice per month and
find this to be the ideal schedule for delivering the best results for our customers.
CALLS TO ACTION
The emails you send to your customers have two goals: the first is to keep you top of mind with
engaging content, and the second is to help you get more business. Calls to action can be as simple
and clear as “Get a Demo,” “Sign Up” or “Schedule a Call”.
Calls to action are how you will encourage readers to become customers. As you’re writing your
content, always think about what you want your reader to do. Each email should have a goal. For
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instance, your email might include the first paragraph or two of something you’ve written, and
the CTA encourages people to “read the entire article” on your site. If you’re running a contest,
your CTA may tell people to “visit my Facebook page to enter.” Whatever your goal, make sure your
readers can take an action to help you achieve it.
Emails are not typically about making an immediate sale. At OutboundEngine, our customers’ email
newsletters include calls to action like “Refer a friend,” “Get in touch” and “Share this email” so that
those who are ready to call upon you for your services have an easy way to do so.
We include CTAs in an unobtrusive way by having them blend into the design. It’s important to
note that these CTAs are not the point of each email. They’re an element that is always there so
recipients always know how to get in touch when they’re ready.
When creating your CTA, decide:
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What do you want the email recipient to do?
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Are you making your call to action clear enough that a person quickly scanning your email will
understand what action they’re supposed to take?
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What’s in it for them?
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5-STEP CHECKLIST TO WRITING GOOD CONTENT
1
Define Strategy
Give your newsletters a purpose. Define your strengths and use them to your advantage.
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Make a list of things that you’re an expert in, professionally and personally.
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Ask yourself what you want your subscribers to know you for.
2
Build Personas
Figure out what characteristics make up your subscriber base and create content for them.
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Estimate your subscriber demographics.
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Make a list of things that get them excited (including posts or newsletters that have been
successful in the past).
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Compile a list of your customers’ activities and hobbies.
3
Identify Problems
They know you for your profession; give them a reason to stay in touch with you for your expertise
and advice.
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Make a list of questions that you’re asked most often (they may or may not relate directly to
your profession).
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From those questions, make a list of answers.
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Take their problems and break up the answers into different newsletter ideas.
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Organize these ideas in a calendar so you have newsletters for the whole year.
4
Create Solutions
Use your expertise and your customers’ problems to create newsletters that hit the sweet spot. Be
their go-to resource.
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Start answering those questions and problems in short email newsletters.
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Make them readable, understandable, actionable and shareable.
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Assess Content
Before sending, double-check your work.
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Is the email all about you or your business? (It shouldn’t be.)
• Does it help solve a problem or entertain your customers?
• Is this what you want to be known for?
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DESIGN BEST PRACTICES
Your content may be great, but if the design fails to draw the audience in or makes it too difficult for
them to act on the CTA, no one will respond the way you want them to. Email clients have different
requirements than web browsers, so HTML emails need to be designed and coded according to
different standards. Here are a few best practices to ensure that your campaign looks great for
each and every one of your recipients.
M A K E I T M O B I L E FR I E N D LY
There are three different strategies for mobile design: scalable, fluid and responsive.
Scalable design works well on both desktop and mobile without relying on code to make
adjustments. This is usually the easiest strategy to implement. It includes large, touch-friendly
calls to action, text that’s readable on all screen sizes and a simple layout that works on all devices
(usually a single column).
Fluid design uses sizes based on percentages to make tables and images adjust to the viewer’s
screen size. This approach works better for text-heavy emails.
Responsive design uses CSS media queries to adjust the size of images, text and buttons. In some
cases, it will provide different content depending on whether the viewer is reading on desktop or
mobile. This approach provides the most flexibility but also requires the most technical knowledge.
I N C LU D E A T E X T- O N LY V E R S I O N
Your email service provider should provide the functionality to include a separate text-only version,
which will be automatically sent to recipients who can’t view HTML emails. Also, many email
clients will block images, so if your text is embedded within, your recipients may not see the words
without a text-only version. You can also give your recipients the option to see your email in a web
browser in case they can’t or don’t want to view your message in their email client.
FAVOR A CLEAN, SIMPLE DESIGN
Single columns help with content hierarchy, or what the reader should look at in what order. It also
works for viewers who may be reading on a smaller screen.
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MAKE IT FUNCTIONAL
Don’t go beyond 600 pixels wide, and stick to web-safe fonts. Stay away from JavaScript,
attachments and background images.
ALWAYS SPECIF Y
Font families, image sizes, table and cell sizes and colors (including background colors) all need to
be specified.
MAKE IT EFFECTIVE
When you use images, make sure to find ones that are relevant and attractive. Keep your branding
front and center, and make sure your main point – your headline – is “above the fold,” meaning
recipients don’t have to scroll down to see it.
TE S T, THEN TE S T AG A IN
Try out your email in as many email clients, browsers and operating systems as possible, including
mobile. This means opening links and combing for errors many times over. You can also purchase a
subscription to a service such as Litmus that will do much of this work for you.
PUT A BUTTON ON IT
Buttons are a great way to highlight important information, particularly calls to action. Use vibrant
colors to create contrast so your button and CTA stand out. One caveat: Since many email clients
block images, if your CTA is only available embedded in an image, your recipients may not see
it. Make sure your CTA is visible to everyone. See this free calls-to-action generator for only one
possible source of buttons for your site.
it’s hard to overstate how critical mobile is.
The numbers vary, but most stats show that more than
half of all emails are opened on a mobile device. And this
percentage is only expected to grow. Make sure you’re
ready for a mobile world since most people will read your
messages on one of these devices.
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THE NITTY GRITTY:
WHEN TO SCHEDULE AND SEND
BE CONSISTENT
First of all, you need a consistent schedule. Evaluate your priorities and obligations to determine
what you can reasonably commit to. The optimal frequency to contact your customers is one to
four times a month. (OutboundEngine clients see great results with a twice-a-month schedule.)
Essentially, you can keep increasing your send frequency as much as you want, but be conscious of
your open and unsubscribe rates. When your engagement starts to decline, you know you’ve taken it
too far.
Whatever frequency you decide, be consistent so your customers know what to expect.
EFFEC TIVE SEND TIMES AND DAYS
When should I send my emails? This is one of the most frequently asked questions and one of the
most debated. Ask ten people what the most effective send times and dates are, and you’ll get ten
different answers. Even trusted sources have differing opinions on the topic based on their data
sets:
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Kissmetrics says early mornings and weekends, but the company points out that those days
and times are also the most likely to get you unsubscribes and bounces.
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Experian’s benchmark study says that 8 p.m. to midnight is optimal.
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Wordstream thinks that Thursday from 8 to 9 a.m. is best.
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MailChimp says that Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays between 2 and 5 p.m. are the
surefire winners.
Needless to say, there are many right answers to this question. If you’re looking for a fairly safe
bet, try Wednesday afternoons around 2 p.m. However, every person, recipient and email list is
different. Try different days and times to find what works best for your audience.
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HOW TO BUILD AN EMAIL LIST
Before you can market to someone with email, you have to have a list of contacts. Building an email
list can seem challenging at first, but don’t let the task intimidate you. It gets easier until it becomes
second nature. Here are a few tips to get you started (or improve your current efforts).
SEND TO PEOPLE WHO HAVE OPTED IN
You should send emails only to people who have opted in to receive communication from you,
meaning they’ve signed up deliberately and know what they’re agreeing to. We do not recommend
buying lists or using lead generation services due to the CAN-SPAM Act (more on this later).
PAST AND PROSPECTIVE CUSTOMERS
If you already have a contact database, great! That’s your starting point. If not, compile the emails
of your past customers, prospects and anyone else you would regularly communicate with, like
friends, family and professional contacts. Make sure they agree to being on your list!
YOUR WEBSITE
This is low-hanging fruit. Make sure you’re using high-visibility and high-traffic pages to ask people to
opt in for your emails. Forms should be straightforward so people know what they’re signing up for.
Limit sidebars and avoid long scrolls and text-heavy distractions to draw attention to your form.
Experiment with calls to action to see which increase your conversion rate. Also make sure, no
matter what form you use, that a visitor can still navigate your site easily.
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POPUPS
Mentioning popups and popovers is usually met with skepticism, groans and eye rolls, but they can
be effective. There are plenty of examples out there showing impressive email list growth results
from popups.
The key to popup success is that it has to be something worthwhile for the person you just
interrupted. While the end result might be self-serving, the means to that end need to be beneficial
for both parties involved.
Our favorite plugin for WordPress at the moment is OptinMonster. It’s easy to install, easy to
configure, connects to most email tools and can be customized to fit your needs. There are many
other options too.
QUIZZES, SURVEYS AND CONTESTS
Quizzes are hot right now! BuzzSumo did an analysis of top posts shared over an eight-month
period, and eight out of the top ten most shared articles were quizzes. You could also host an
online contest, giving people a chance to win a prize in return for their email address. Make sure
that you’re giving your audience a genuine incentive just like you would with other email-gathering
options. Don’t snag someone’s email address and then spam them with sales pitches. That’s just
bad marketing.
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MA XIMIZE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA
You may have a presence on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter (hopefully all of them). Keep in mind
that while you might prefer one social network, that doesn’t mean all of your clients share your
preferences. Build profiles in as many platforms as you can, and post often on the ones where your
audience spends the most time. Be sure to advertise yourself frequently and fully by encouraging
people to opt in to your email marketing campaign, and tell them what they will gain by doing so.
Add your social media accounts to your email signature and make sure your email address and
website are prominent on all of your social media accounts. This will allow you to maximize your
reach with your customers in as many places as possible.
Pro-tip: Did you know you can easily export contacts from any email and most social media
platforms? Chances are you’ve been building a contact list without even knowing it.
LINKEDIN
Your LinkedIn connections are a goldmine of email addresses for your database. Even if you have
these contacts in your database already, it’s always a good idea to export updated information
in case people have changed email addresses or jobs. LinkedIn is likely to offer more relevant
contacts than other social media networks because most of those people are connected with you
professionally rather than personally.
LinkedIn has made it easy to export emails into your database, too. They’ve documented the whole
process here.
GO PAPERLESS
Use email as your go-to correspondence. Not only is this method efficient and convenient, but it
also puts you in the position of collecting email addresses from the get-go.
EMBRACE THE CLIPBOARD
Make it a regular practice to have a clipboard (or smartphone) at networking events, trade shows
or in the waiting area of your office. This tried-and-true method is a great way to encourage people
to join your mailing list. Again, be sure to let them know exactly what they stand to gain, whether
you’re offering market tips, promotional contests, discounts or just way to stay in touch.
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GET BY WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM YOUR FRIENDS
Don’t be afraid to include the people close to you in your marketing efforts, but do let them know
beforehand exactly what you are trying to achieve. You will soon see the power of word-of-mouth.
By including friends and family in your email marketing efforts, you are offering content for them to
share when they encounter someone who would benefit from what you have to offer.
BECOME AN INTERNET EDUCATOR
Don’t underestimate the power of your industry awareness. Offer webinars, publish original
content to LinkedIn and hold seminars. This is an excellent way to put forth something valuable,
build relationships and, you guessed it, expand your email contact list!
USE THE POWER OF THE ASK
Take the time to go through your contacts. If you are missing an email address, call and get one! Let
your clients know you’re sending out a newsletter, and explain how it will benefit them.
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WHY YOU SHOULD TAKE ADVANTAGE
OF EMAIL AUTOMATION
When someone uses the term “email automation,” this generally refers to sending relevant
emails out on a timeline of your choosing, scheduling them in advance so you don’t have to sit
there hitting “send.”
Examples include welcome emails that are automatically generated and sent to anyone who signs
up for your newsletter, a thank you email after a business transaction or a renewal reminder.
Another example could include regular newsletters. While you may write and create these
newsletters in advance, automation allows you to schedule and send them whenever you choose.
Email automation builds customer relationships by combining the power of customer data, great
content and software. It allows you to have continued presence in your clients’ and prospects’
inboxes without having to do all of the work yourself (or at least being able to schedule it for a time
that is more convenient for you).
When you’ve set up an automated email campaign, you don’t think about when you should send
the next email because you’ve already scheduled it, giving you more time to focus on other aspects
of your business.
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SECTION TWO
TURNS TO AVOID
S EC T I O N 1 S H A R E S B E S T PR AC T I CE S; IN OT HER WO R DS , W H AT YO U
WANT TO DO WITH YOUR EMAIL MARKETING. THIS SEC TION TELLS YOU
W H AT YO U D O N ’ T WA N T TO D O.
1 Don’t Spam
2 Words, Phrases and other things to avoid
3 Why you shouldn’t send email “blasts”
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DON’T SPAM
Spam is junk mail – unsolicited, unwanted and often a scam. That’s why email providers work
hard to keep those annoying emails out of your inbox and most likely undelivered. But as any
experienced email marketer knows, being reported as spam is both worrisome and inevitable.
You should email people you personally know or who have opted in to receive your
communications. We don’t recommend buying lists; there are laws in place to protect people from
receiving certain types of unsolicited communications.
SPAM REPORTS
A spam report is when someone reports an email that you sent to them as spam. While many think
this just gets an email moved to the spam folder, it actually has a greater impact than that. Most
major email services will start blocking the IP address sending those emails if they receive more
than a handful of complaints. This has a direct impact on your email deliverability and ability to
send any emails, not just emails to the account that reported you as spam.
CAN-SPAM ACT
This 2003 federal law outlines the rule of commercial emailing. Short for “Controlling the Assault
of Non-Solicited Pornographic and Marketing Act,” this law sets up the requirements all email
marketers must follow and establishes the consequences for not following the law.
If you’re sending emails for commercial use, you have to:
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Include an unsubscribe method.
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Actually unsubscribe someone when they request it, and do so in a timely manner.
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Include a physical address.
•
While not explicitly banned, sending to people who have not opted in is discouraged.
Remember two things:
•
You don’t have to be a spammer to be reported for spamming.
•
If you send email newsletters long enough, it’s bound to happen eventually.
As long as you’re staying CAN-SPAM compliant and legitimately obtaining email addresses from
your actual customers (not purchased lists), you’ll have no trouble keeping this number low.
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WORDS, PHRASES AND OTHER
THINGS TO AVOID
There are common characters, phrases and practices that will likely trigger spam filters and thus
prevent you from getting into inboxes. Some estimates claim that spam filters may block 10 to 20
percent of emails from your subscribers’ inboxes.
We mentioned above in the subject lines section that you can experiment cautiously with some
of these words. Research suggests that spam filters may be more aware of context than in the
past. Just make sure you measure your campaigns so you can adjust future emails if these words
negatively impact your results.
Spam filters may be triggered if:
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An email uses all caps, extra punctuation (like ?! or !!) or special characters.
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There’s not a text-only version available.
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There is extra code, such as code pulled from Microsoft Word or codes from other tools like
Google Analytics.
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Your recipients have marked you as spam too often. This could work against you with future
emails.
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There are too many images or one large image with little or no text. There should be a balance
between image and text.
Your email will likely go to the spam folder if:
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The first eight characters of your email address are digits
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To/from contains: sales@, success@, mail@, profits@, friend@ or public@
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Your email subject line contains: advertisement, $, ! or free
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Your email body text contains: anything to do with money, like cash, free or money back
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WHY YOU SHOULDN’T SEND
EMAIL “BLASTS”
A “blast” is an email that is all about that company, most (or all) of the time. In other words, a
constant sales pitch. Most customers will tune out this message, if they bother to open your email
at all.
Think of email marketing as a conversation. You want to talk with your customers, not to them, and
you want to invite feedback. Whether someone takes the time to respond to your newsletter, takes
action on something you sent, or unsubscribes, listen to your customers’ feedback and adjust your
marketing accordingly. An email blast is a monologue, not a conversation.
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SECTION THREE
THE NEXT LEG
B U IL D IN G R EL AT I O N S HIP S , IMPROV IN G YO U R B OT TO M L INE
1 How to build relationships using email marketing
2 How to use email to increase customer retention
3 How to use email for referrals
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HOW TO BUILD RELATIONSHIPS
USING EMAIL MARKETING
There are many email marketing strategies, whether your audience is consumers or other
businesses. At OutboundEngine, we focus on B2C, and we advocate a strategy of helping, not
selling, to your customers.
Many of our clients work in industries with long sales cycles, like real estate, mortgage and
insurance. Bombarding your clients with messages about buying new homes, financing and
updating their policies – especially if they’ve recently taken these actions with you – becomes
annoying and repetitive and could trigger unsubscribes.
In industries with long sales cycles, the majority of your clients aren’t likely to be in the market for
your services at any given time, so you use email marketing to keep in touch and help them until
they’re ready to do business again. You build trust with them by providing helpful information. For
instance, a real estate agent might send an email about conducting a home energy audit to save on
utilities. A loan officer could share information on free money management websites.
This approach keeps your business in front of clients in a non-obtrusive way. And when that person
is ready to do business again or a friend is asking for a referral, your name is top of mind.
Here are a few tips for nurturing relationships with email:
PERSONALIZATION: With email marketing, personalization is extremely helpful. This can include
personalized salutations or noted client information within the body. Also, make sure the message
applies to the client’s situation. For instance, don’t send a renewal notice to a customer who just
renewed.
COMMUNICATE WITH THEM, NOT AT THEM: Use a conversational tone. Just because you’re
sending an email to a large audience, it doesn’t mean you can’t write it like you’re talking to a single
person. Customers want to be communicated with, not to. Think of it as a dialogue instead of a
monologue.
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BE WELCOMING: If you treat your customers like they’re just another name on an email list, then
the emails you send will be received as such. This has a lot to do with the content that you’re
sending. If all you have to say to your email list involves you or your business, you’re not inviting
customers to have a conversation with you. You wouldn’t simply walk up to someone and ask them
for business. Make your emails inviting.
KEEP IT BRIEF: Why send a lengthy newsletter when a few paragraphs and sentences will do? There
will be some emails that are longer than others, but make sure the length is appropriate to the
message. If they’re longer, make it easy for readers to find what they want and get to the point.
PROVIDE VALUE: When someone signs up to get your emails, they want you to communicate
something of value. Make the email worth their time. You already know your customers, and you
probably know their interests and needs. Your emails should reflect this rather than being simply
self-promotional.
BE CONSISTENT, NOT ANNOYING: Finding the right cadence for your emails is definitely
important. You want to keep your brand in front of your audience. Just don’t overdo it.
The whole idea behind building relationships through email is that the payoff doesn’t have to be
right then and there. Just sending an email doesn’t necessarily result in instant business. And
that’s fine! These effective communication practices help you build these relationships over
time, increasing loyalty and nurturing prospects to become even more valuable over time. More
importantly, they’ll become voluntary marketers, recommending you to others.
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HOW TO USE EMAIL T0 INCREASE
CUSTOMER RETENTION
Your clients are your most valuable assets, but many business owners do a poor job of customer
retention, specifically through email marketing. They rely too much on the phone to ring or focus
on one event or strategy (like a holiday card) to keep those relationships alive. That’s where email
marketing can help.
Here are three ways that email marketing can help customer retention in your small business:
KEEPING YOU TOP OF MIND: Regular emails are key to maintaining your name and brand
recognition with clients. The next time a customer is looking to do business, you don’t want them
struggling to remember your name or trying to remember where they put your card.
MAINTAINING A CONVERSATION WITH CUSTOMERS, YEAR-ROUND: Email marketing that’s
timely and relevant to seasonal trends can act as a friendly reminder. Maybe it’s summer and you
can create a checklist for planning a road trip or put together a quick guide on the best wine bars in
your area. As long as it’s helpful and not about you, you’re good to go! Either way, the more you can
converse with your client base instead of marketing to them, the more they’re going to appreciate
hearing from you.
PUT A FRIENDLY FACE ON YOUR BUSINESS: Whether you’re a loan officer, realtor or insurance
agent, it may be some time before your client needs to contact you again. In the meantime, doesn’t
it make sense to be a professional, trusted friend to your clients? Think of it as a way to make your
customers continually happy to have done business with you.
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HOW TO USE EMAIL FOR REFERRALS
Email marketing is often underused for referrals. While you might be spending marketing dollars
buying new lead lists, sending out direct mail pieces, or even handing out branded products at local
events, you’re also sitting on a treasure trove of referral gold: your existing customers.
Email is a direct line of communication to your existing customers and potential prospects. Not
everyone is looking to buy from you right this instant, but when they are, whoever is top of mind
is most likely going to get a phone call. That’s why email is so powerful. Stay in front of the people
who will send you referrals in a good way (not through annoying spam) and they’ll help your
business grow.
We also advocate the 80/20 rule: 80 percent of the time, you provide helpful information to build
trust. Then, with the other 20 percent, you can ask for referrals or another action that benefits you.
For instance...
RUN A REFERRAL CONTEST: Don’t abuse this option, but definitely reward customers who send
you referrals. You could do something small like a $20 gift card for every referral sent your way. Or
you could be more practical about it financially and make it into a contest. Buy something everyone
wants, like an Apple Watch or a $500 Amazon gift card. Run a referral email contest one to four
times a year; every referral someone sends you earns them an entry into the drawing.
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Email marketing is an extremely useful, efficient and low-cost tool to help
you promote your business. By helping and not selling to your customers,
you become a trusted resource. Eventually, you can call on this trust to
occasionally ask for something that helps your business, like referrals. You
will also maintain brand awareness and likely increase customer retention.
Just remember to measure your efforts. Without metrics, you won’t be
able to learn what’s working and what you need to tweak to improve.
Drive safely!
(AND HAPPY TR AVELS)
98 San Jacinto Blvd, Suite 1300 | Austin, TX 78701
Phone: 512.782.9983 | [email protected]