how to use email marketing to grow your business
TRANSCRIPT
HOW TO USE EMAIL MARKETING TO GROW
YOUR BUSINESS
Welcome we’ll start soon
‘TIS THE HOLIDAY SEASON’ "OVER THE FIVE DAY HOLIDAY WEEKEND, PROMOTIONAL EMAIL VOLUME SENT BY MAJOR RETAILERS WAS UP 27%
YEAR-OVER-YEAR, WITH THANKSGIVING DAY, BLACK FRIDAY AND CYBER MONDAY ALL SEEING RECORD EMAIL VOLUMES"
Cyber Monday:• Online sales: 33%• Over 80% retailers offered a promotion
Dir of Research, Responsys
Affordable
Measurable
Effective3
Why Email Marketing?
1. Email marketing is spam
2. Emailing is not effective
3. People don’t want to receive emails
Email Marketing Myths
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Communication Preference?
Build an Email Database
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Only send emails to people that know your business
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1. Referrals
2. Get out and network
3. Tradeshows
4. Run a contest, offer an incentive to sign up
5. Retail - guest book or fish bowl
6. Use social media
7. Email subscriber forms
Ways to Build a List
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Don’t buy email lists
Facebook Email Sign-Up Forms
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Automated Subscriber Forms
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• Gain new subscribers automatically• Automatically move new customers into Contact list• Set up Auto-responder to welcome new users
Subscriber Forms Example
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Use Webinars to Grow a Database
Planning an Email Strategy
• Do you want to:– Inform– Sell more– Increase repeat business– Reduce sales cycle
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What’s in It for me?Why should I sign up?Why should I listen?Why should I read this?14
Make your email look professional:
Use a service
15www.easycontact.com
#1 response in EasyContact customer survey:
“Designing a professional looking email” when asked “What’s most important…”
Useful educational content
Great Deals
Top of Mind
Visit Your Website
Event marketing
Holiday Greetings
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Coupons
Hints and Tips
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Weekly Newsletter
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Special member limited time offer
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Be relevant:
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Provide value:
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Create relationship:
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Discount Coupon
How do YOUR customers see you?
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How do your customers know you?– By your company name?– By your product?– By your personal name?
Add details in your sender info – Example: EasyContact - Email Marketing
How do YOUR customers see you?
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The Subject Line
• Keep it short but WIIFM
• Don’t use - ‘Free’, ‘$$$’, ‘Save’, ‘Discount’, Caps, Excessive Punctuation
• Test different subject lines
• Ask questions
• Make a statement
• Personalize it
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Subject Line: Special Mother's Day Offer: Flowers from $19.99
What do you want me to do?
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Call to Action
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Call to Action
“Click here” trap
CompellingWhatWhy (WIIFM)
Visible•Above the fold•Add social media links
Test, Test and Test Again
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Open Rate vs Click Rate
High Open/Low Click = not meeting expectations, benefit not clear
Low Open/High Click = subject line, timing or spam
Continuous Improvement– Images vs Text– Short vs. Longer– Subject Lines– Days & Times– Follow Up
Don’t send emails from your own computer using BCC or showing your customer email database
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Legal Stuff
• One click unsubscribe
• Include your physical address– Taken care of by my email service provider
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Be consistent and persistent
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Managing & Growing Email Lists
• Keep your list up to date
• Remove emails that keep bouncing
• Update email addresses
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Measure
• Open rate
• Click through rate
• Bounce rate
• Track traffic to your website from your emails
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Return On Investment
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Measure the effectiveness of every campaign
Investment compared to Profit
What should I expect?
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Message Type Open Rate Click Rate
Acquisition 10.9% 2%
Editorial 28.3% 10.3%
Marketing (~70%) 19.7% 3.7%
Research 13.7% 2.9%
Service 42% 8.9%
Other 24.4% 4.4%
“Q2 2011 Email Trends and Benchmarks”Email Experience Council and Epsilon
Mobile Users
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• View Results• Manage/Add Contacts• View Profile• Email Status
Top “Dos” and “Don’ts”
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Dos Ask yourself, “why should a customer
sign up for my email?
Run subject line tests
Use social media to increase open rates
Test (subject lines, frequency & timing, content)
Analyze (response rates, who’s responding…
Use clear calls to action
Keep important content “above the fold”
Respect recipients email image blocking and preview panes
Preview your emails before you send them
Don’t Assume something works
Convert print promos directly to
Get complicate your design just because you can
Over or under-mail your lists
Make subscribing or unsubscribing complicated
Say too much in a single email
Forget to use email along with your other communication channels
Forget a ‘landing page’
Ignore your results and reports
Say everything in the subject line
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95
years
Helping small business grow for:
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Join Our Community
Deluxesmallbizblog.com
Facebook: Deluxecorp
Twitter: @deluxecorp
Thank You
Gregg Zastrow
(651) 490-8026
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