Making Lemonade – Or How to Transform an eMail Mistake Into a Win!
Last week I sent an email to remind 17 people they had registered for a seminar. Due to a glitch in the email system, the note was actually sent to 1100 people. ( And this time I know for sure it was not user error)
The result, was good and bad… More than 350 people responded. Many were confused because they didn’t remember signing up, some were apologetic, and some like my son and Father-in-Law were simply amused. ( My son is in the Navy, on his way to Thailand, and my Father-in-Law lives in Dallas)
So the bad … I needed to send 350 notes of explanation to friends, clients, colleagues, and prospects. This took up most of the day on Wednesday, even with the help of my staff.
The good … I had a chance to make personal connections with more than 350 people with lots of good conversations as a result. I have quite a few laughs, lots of sympathy, and made plans for a lunch date with an old friend who will be here in Indy for just one day later this month.
And best of all, five people showed up for the Seminar on Thursday who had not registered. They came because of the email! Now I am not going to suggest that this was a good marketing strategy, but it made me wonder what was it about that email that generated such a high response. (A 31% Response Rate for email is extremely high )
I found some answers in a post on Groundswell – In it the author talks about how to get people you don’t know to respond to your email. He suggests you keep the message short, to the point, personal and real. When I reread my email, I realized I had done just that, and the results were, overwhelming.
I lost a whole day answering email, so I won’t be doing that on purpose anytime soon, but I am going to apply some of the lessons, and make my mass emails more personal, and see if it changes the results!
And if you missed the seminar – I will be teaching Intro to Business Planning ( How to Avoid the Ten Mistakes Business Owners Make) again on Feb. 11. Hope you can make it!
Where Email Fits in a Social Media World
Contrary to popular belief, email is not dead. It still works if you use it well. The problem, so few people use it well. I stumbled across an old post by Seth Godin in which he compares good vs bad email strategy. Read the article, then tell me which is closer to your email model?
Do you treat people as individuals, sending relevant content to small groups of people who have expressed an interest in hearing from you. Or are you still using a one-size-fits all appraoch where you send the same generic email to everyone you meet, and hope someone will buy from you?
For small business owners, especially in a slow economy, email is tempting. It is relatively simple to create and inexpensive to deliver. So what is the harm of sending one more email? The harm can be seen in the increases in your opt out rate, and the decreases in your open rate. I started using email, six years ago. At the time, my open rates were routinely around 50% – 65%, and sometimes as high as 70% . Today, my lists are larger, but I am reaching fewer and fewer people with my mass emails. Why? Over time people unsubscribe, opt-out, or simply stop opening the email I send.
While my general email’s are experiencing a falling open rate, there is an exceptoin. My 10 Week Biz plan emails typically run around 70% open rate? How is this possible? This group is much smaller, only 150 people, but each of them has specifically requested they be added to the list. The key is permission!! These subcribers have all joined the list as a result of a post on my blog. That is the second piece of the puzzle. Your email needs to be tied to your website, and your website to your email to create a perfect loop for prospects.
Social Media will not replace email, but it does challenge us to be more creative and more interesting in our communications.
eNewsletters Still a Powerful Tool for Small Business Owners
Seven years ago I discovered Constant Contact. This powerful eMail tool has been an integral part of my marketing activities for years. I have long been an advocate of the tool because if done well, newsletters are a great way to touch your customers and potential customers. Over time, it can help build credibility and a sense of familiarity with your organization.
It is more challenging now, because so many companies are using email newsletters as part of their marketing mix. But, if done right, they still add value.
The following tips apply equally well to printed or electronic newsletters.
Customer Focused Communication
Think about your customer’s issues, questions and interests. Focus on information that is interesting or relevant to them!
This may not always be about you. Sometimes the most valuable thing you can provide potential customers is general information which demonstrates your overall knowledge or position as a business resource.
Special Offers
Include special offers or coupons in your newsletters. Make this a regular sections, so interested consumers know where to look for your latest offer.
Short-term offers or coupons with an expiration date are more likely to make the phone ring, today.
If you do include offers, be sure to track the results. Over time you will be able to modify your offer to maximize the number of calls you receive from serious, potential customers.
Introduce Your Company
Newsletters are an ideal venue to help potential clients get to know the people behind the brand. Consider a short feature on one of your employees each issue.
Make your stories personal so customers learn what separates you from your competitors. Do you sponsor the local soccer team? Are your employees involved in the community? What are the values that really drive your business?
Getting Started
Your newsletters don’t have to be long. Limit it to 2-4 articles for a printed document, 350 words for an electronic one. Remember this is not a one shot program. You will tell your story over a series of issues.
Would you like help outing together your newsletter? Contact roundpeg today!
Email is Back!
Or maybe it never went away? There are some social media experts who say email as a marketing tool is dead, replaced by RSS feeds, but I don’t agree. I think social media has changed the nature of internet marketing just as cable TV changed TV advertising.
In both instances, the target has more choices. If you want your ad to be watched or email promotion to be opened it needs to be bundled with good content, relevant to a smaller, but more concentrated market.
Pro Blogger Darren Rowse argues that the most successful bloggers use both! If used properly, email will drive traffic and build community. He says:
I’m arguing is that bloggers take a 2nd look at email. My personal approach is to have multiple points of connection with readers which reinforces what I’m doing on my sites and maximise the impression that I’m able to make upon them.
At Roundpeg, we have been using email marketing, with Constant Contact for almost seven years for our business and our clients. We have seen open rates decline from a high of 60% to 15% for good programs. Recently, we added more targeted emails and have seen a reversal of that trend.
For example, we work with an optometrist who sends email reminders to patients to come in for their annual eye exam. These small lists perform significantly better. Patients who ignore his monthly newsletter, open an email with a subject line which says schedule your annual eye exam. His open rate was over 30% on the targeted email, and more than 15% clicked through to the scheduling form on his website. We have seen the same type of performance on our Business Plan list. Small (100 business owners) in comparison to my primary list (3,600 business professionals and owners) the open rate for email to this group is around 60%, with strong click through as well.
So mass email may be dead, but focused, relevant, PERMISSSION BASED email is alive, productive and powerful!
———————————————————————————————-
Looking for help with your emal marketing program? Contact Roundpeg, we can help you get started today!
5 Quesions for Email Marketers
Written by Ellie Flores
In today’s day and age, emailing is sometimes the key that gets everything done. Here at Roundpeg, we are accustomed to this way of working, and understand a good email newsletter is a center point to your ongoing customer communication As email marketers, it is important to self-evaluate your work and progress in order to achieve success.
Gail Goodman, CEO of Constant Contact, shared 5 questions you should ask yourself as evaluate your email marketing program:.
1. How did your results measure up to your goals?
2. Did your bank of email addresses grow? Is it organized?
3. Did you stay connected to your contacts as well/as often as you wanted?
4. Winner? Losers? Were your campaigns improved to achieve success every time?
5. Are you striving to become a better marketer? i.e. Taking all opportunities to improve yourself.
How did you measure up? Do you think you are where you want to be? For more measuring questions check out Goodman’s article! Don’t be afraid to find your flaws and fix them for future success!
Need some help with your next campaign? Roundpeg can help
You Can’t Judge A Book By Its Cover… But You Can Judge Mail By Its Subject Line
Written by Christine Maley
Early this week I wrote a post on email marketing so I thought it would be interesting to follow up with a look at how to get people to actually read the mail you send them.
We all receive so much mail and email, that we rarely read the majority of what we receive. Many items are automatically trashed because their heading or format fails to capture the interest of the receiver. So how do we get people to actually read what we have to say?
Half of the battle is simply getting the consumer to open your piece of mail. There was a post in Marigold’s Technologies Direct Marketing Blog that I think is very relevant to this:
“Far too often I have seen email creative efforts focus 99% of their time on the body of the email, that is, the copy, layout and graphic design and only 1% on the subject line. This is a huge mistake. Sometimes the subject line is a mere afterthought. In our experience conducting B2B email marketing campaigns, sometimes we receive the creative with beautiful images, HTML design, good copywriting and no subject line at all. We then ask for the subject line only to have one thrown back at us with minimal consideration. It is my opinion that 50% of the creative effort should go into development of the subject line itself and I will tell you why.
It does not matter how good the content of the email is if it does not get opened.”
To read more of this article and for some tips on good subject lines, click here
The difference between direct marketing mail and directly-to-trash-marketing- for me- is making them short, sweet, and any of these three things:
- Personalized
- Interesting
- Relevant
Your business is all of these things to the customer. The heading of your mail needs to demonstrate that.
Notes on Email Marketing
Written by Christine Maley
As an intern, one of my jobs is to utilize -what I’ve found to be- the easiest and best professional email marketing system, constant contact. I can say as a writer (and reader!) of the emails that go out weekly for Rainmaker University, that Constant Contact makes it much easier for me to edit and manage all of the different marketing accounts for Roundpeg.
In an article on selfseo.com, an online resource designed to help webmasters to build a successful website, they list the Top 10 Advantages of Using Email Marketing for your business:
1. Global reach
2. Lower cost
3. Interactive
4. Highly personalized
5. Round the clock marketing
6. Measurable results
7. Targeted marketing
8. Opt-in or unsubscribe options
9. Faster response
10. Simple
To read more of this article, click here: http://www.selfseo.com/story-14500.php
Constant Contact is particularly superior to most other email marketing systems because of its professionalism and ease of use. As a business professional, your valuable time should not be wasted on formatting and computing issues. It should be content. Constant Contact provides you with an effective layout, management, and delivery system. All you need is information to fill in the blanks.
For more information about Constant Contact, check out their website at: http://www.constantcontact.com/
Marketing Trends for 2009 – Trend #2 Internet Marketing Palooza
In an article for StartUp Nation, Tom Now wrote about the 20 hottest Internet Marketing Trends for 2009. As I read through the list, I thought it would be fun to take a closer look at some of the trends, and more importantly how some of our clients are incorporating these ideas into their marketing this year.
This week I thought I would take a closer look at Trend #2: Internet Marketing-palooza. Talking about this trend Tom says:
Due to its cost-effectiveness and inherent measurability, expect many more small businesses to take Internet marketing seriously in 2009. This includes everything from email marketing, pay-per-click advertising and social networking, to increased investment in websites, microsites and custom landing pages.
We are seeing a number of web redesigns this year. – With clients updating from traditional HTML to sites powered by Wordpress. Why? Becuase it is easier to update, keep content fresh, and give search engines a reason to come back again and again. Very often the average visitor won’t be able to tell the difference between a wordpress site, and a “traditional site” but the value is in the improved SEO, ability to update on the fly, and offer your visitors something new.
Check out http://rubiconbrio.net/ - Ingrid Cummings has new book, and weekly radio shows she wants to promote. With the old site, she had to schedule time with her web developer, orgainze content in advance, and then pay for the updates. Now if she has an idea, she can make the chance, and if she doesn’t like, she can change it back!
We are seeing a fall off in open rates on traditional email marketing. As people receive more and more,their patience is wearing thin. One of the few exceptions is a former client of ours, Joe’s Butcher Shop. His weekly emails ( which we set up for him, and then taught him how to do on his own) still have strong open rates – Why? His list is completely permission based, visitors to the shop, have to fill out a form to be included. And each week, he sends them something of value – A recipe and coupon. Not only does he have strong open rates, he has high sales of his featured item, because he presents in a way his readers find valuable.
The lesson – simple, relevant content, in small doses, keeps you in front of prospects, clients and referral partners.
How do You Use Email?
Email works when you use it well, but so few people use it well. In a recent blog post Seth Godin compares a good use of the medium with a bad one. Which is closer to your model? Do you deliver relevant content to a small group of people who really want to hear from you? Or do you simply send everyone you meet the same generic email hoping someone will buy from you?
For small business owners, especially in a slow economy, email is tempting. It is relatively simple to create and inexpensive to deliver. So what is the harm of sending one more email? The harm can be seen in the increases in your opt out rate, and the decreases in your open rate. Six years ago when I started using email, my open rates were routinely around 35% – 40%, and sometimes as high as 55% – 60%. Today, my lists are larger, but I am reaching fewer and fewer people as people unsubscribe, opt-out, or simply stop opening the email I send.
At the same time, traffic to my website has continued to increase, as more and more people read my blog posts. Not nearly as many as receive my email, but the people who come, are intersted. And so I am not ready to give up my newsletters, but a change is on horizion. What about you? Are you still clinging to the hope that email campaigns will deliver your next sale or are you ready for something new?
What are You Doing to Keep the Customers You Have?
Written by Amy Rowe
Since finding new customers is an expensive and time consuming process it seems to make sense to do your best to hold on to your existing ones. A recent study from the Harvard Business School quantifies the value of your existing relationships. For example:
- The probability of selling services to a prospective customer is 1 in 16, while the probability of selling services to a current customer is 1 in 2
- A 2% increase in customer retention has the same effect on profits as cutting costs by 10%
- The average company loses 10% of its customers each year
- A 5% reduction in customer defection can increase profits by 25 to 125%, depending on the industry
- A customer’s profitability rate tends to increase over the life of a retained customer.
So what are you doing to hold on to your customers, to keep them comming back, and bringing friends along as well?
Thanks to Deb Daily at Buckaroo Technology - She shared these statics in her monthly newsletter so I didn’t have to find them myself. It helps to have smart friends!
