You’ve Sent a Mail.
You are a multi-channel seller looking to increase your marketing reach and want to do some email marketing. Brilliant; for any, Email marketing is a great way to reach your customers without actually spending a lot. Like everything good for your business, however, email marketing also entails huge responsibility. Email addresses are not given off just like that to anyone; respecting the customers will to share an email id with you and making prudent use of it hence is very important.
While email marketing/newsletters are an effective way to communicate with your customers, one should remember that the effectiveness of this communication depends on two things:
The quality of your mailing list
The quality of your mail
Without a good mailing list, the best of email campaigns flop. Without a good content factor, the best mailing lists give zero results. How does one achieve the balance then?
Mail the right people.
The colder your mailing list is, the more effort you need in appeasing your customer through your mail. The prime objective of any email campaign is to coax the reader into an action- that would ideally mean getting him or her to make a purchase.
With a list of people who have already interacted with you/your product in the past, reminding them of the experience is all that it takes to push them to a purchase. With those who are new to you, starting from scratch is the order of the day. The best mailing lists therefore, are your own customer base.
Existing customers are favorably inclined to reprise their interaction with you and you need lesser effort in communicating to them since introducing your product is not a requirement here. A “warm” mailing list can easily be procured by collating the customer information from various marketplaces that your product retails on. Most market places also run their own email campaigns to manage customer loyalty, these can also be made use of to reach your product to the customers, both new and old.
What should you mail?
Having figured out your mailing lists, you need to sit down creating the mail itself. So what constitutes a good mailer?
The golden rule here again is that the mailer is intended to coax the reader into an action- that is to push him or her to make the next purchase of your product. With this aim in mind, there are a few must haves for every mailer:
Honour your readers.
People who subscribed to your email lists have allowed you access to their addresses and in the process their personal inboxes. It is very important to respect this act of sharing on their part and be responsible with what you send them in name of a newsletter/mailer.
Honor this permission and access, reward their loyalty to your product by letting them be the first to know of new arrivals, designs, offers, discounts- in short, prioritize them as benefactors of any benefits that you offer on your product. Make them feel special, make them feel valued.
Flipkart First program is an ideal example here, where emailers offer you sneak previews of products much before the remaining public finds it out on the market place. A simple gesture that makes your customer feel special and wanted, motivating your customers to make that purchase.
2. Keep it useful.
You would not want an email that doesn’t really matter to you, is of now real value to you – you would delete it without any second thought. Your customer is no different. Hence, make sure your mailer is of value to him or her. Make sure the mailer BENEFITS the customer- give them something they haven’t gotten before.
Majority emailers end up ebing information bulletins of what new rocket science the company invented since the last time the customer read about them. Trust me, this is of no use to anyone. All that the customer is looking for is how he can benefit in the next purchase with you- so give the customer a reason to be delighted and provide the benefit fair and square.
3. Show some personality.
No one likes dull government notification styled mails. Get your mailer to liven up the mood as soon as the reader opens it. Give it some character, a personality, a zing. A little humor, some wit never hurt anyone. Speak to the customer like a friend of his sent him an offer across. Do not become the next “sarkari gazette” in the inbox.
4. Keep it short.
The length of an emailer is subjective to your mailing list. A list of new customers who have never bought your product before would need a detailed introduction to your product and its benefits. A reminder mail to an existing customer would only need the latest reason for him to buy your product again.
Either ways, it is important to not make a snooze fest of the mailer- keep it crisp, entertaining, humorous and beneficial. It helps to have sections that can be quickly scanned and hyperlinks leading to the actual product offer page if needed. Larger images instead of long paragraphs of text, bright banners, colors and good layout also goes a long way in keeping the reader interested.
5. Send them what they want.
Send the people what they want to know of. Understand and study your mailing list. Do not bombard them with every and any information that you have. Send out different emails for different groups, offer them options to join other groups that they are not part of, segment the mailing lists based on past purchase activities, response to emails, ecommerce data etc.
Relevance of your content in the emailer maximizes targeting of the customer and offers greater chances of a conversion into sale.
It is helpful to have a general outline for every mailer with respect to the content that would go out. A few important parts of a mailer could be:
Offers
Upcoming Sales/Discounts
New Product types/modifications
Articles about your product in media (that speak favorably of you)
Photos of events, endorsements, etc
Facebook posts, tweets by satisfied customers who had something really nice/funny to say.
Any of these categories could be mixed and matched to create content sections in mailers that can then be rotated periodically to create an engaged communication with your mailing lists.
How often should you mail?
There is no single right answer to this. Major marketplaces send in a mailer almost every day, few do it only when there is a new product launch or offer. Few keep a regular communication channel open with mailers being sent out every week or fortnight. What works for you and your product has to be decided by the type of content you are sending out.
A monthly emailer is a must in the least- one should not give the impression that you remember the customer only when you need a boost in sales. Weekly mailers work during special festive offers. What is important is that a mailer should only be sent when you have something different, useful and new to say to the customer.
It helps to plan for holidays, festivals, etc, times of the year where placing your product directly in the customers mind would help you. Plan these mailers specially, and schedule them to be sent out with a good window time before the actual festival/sale begins to give the customer a time to make a decision- do not be too well in advance either since then you run the risk of being forgotten.
Make a schedule
A little discipline is needed to maintain an email marketing campaign. Keeping a regular schedule is tough, and managing things in advance is the key.
Always keep the content ready in advance- jot down key items to be communicated, plan for offers in advance, prepare for festivals, holidays or special occasions and promotions.
Create the design; layout and styling in advance as well. Get all the collaterals, banners, imagery in place along with the exact copy of the content.
Schedule your campaigns for the month/quarter in advance with room to change them if needed.
Ensure the mailers are sent out in time and to everyone.
The greatest rule here however is to NEVER SPAM. Read the popular spamming rules on mail sites and in your operational regions identify what is disliked by the customers and weed these out of your mailer. No one likes to be disturbed without a reason, especially not by someone eyeing their money in the end.