Last month we announced the general availability of Yodle’s Marketing Essentials, our all-in-one suite of marketing solutions for local businesses. Many of our local business clients have already begun utilizing the offer management and email marketing features to communicate with their existing and potential customers and to stand out in the marketplace.
As a reminder, Yodle’s offer management feature simplifies the process for attracting new and repeat business from special offers and promotions by creating one offer for distribution across multiple channels. Business owners can track and manage offer performance through Marketing Essentials. Our email marketing feature also makes it quick and easy for local businesses to communicate with people in a customized way with professional and brand consistent emails.
We thought it would be helpful to dive deeper into these communication automation offerings so I recently sat down with Product Manager Priya Narasimhan to have her explain their value, why they are important for local businesses, and how to begin using them if you haven’t done so yet. Read on for some simple tips to set your business up for success!
Yodle: Why is it important for local businesses to have the capability to manage email campaigns and provide online offers to their customers?
Priya: Attracting new customers, as well as retaining existing customers, is very important for local businesses. Both email campaigns and online offers can significantly impact this dynamic. For example, according to eMarketer, more than half of U.S. adult Internet users will redeem a digital coupon in 2014. Emails are a great way to stay engaged with customers. Be it useful content, reminders or promotions emails have a significant influence in generating repeat business. Many local businesses don’t have the time or resources to create and manage email campaigns and offers. It can be a very complex process and there are multiple platforms out there for each, making it harder to tie their marketing efforts together.
Yodle: How does our offers management feature add value for local businesses?
Priya: It helps local businesses who aren’t fully equipped to handle it on their own and need a simple, effective solution. Recognizing how important it was for our clients to have the capability to provide online offers and promotions to their customers, we created a simple tool to make it easy for them to set up an offer and then syndicate it across multiple locations online. We push the offer across a variety of channels including the client’s adversite, local listings and business Facebook page. It takes just three clicks to setup and send out an offer through the Yodle dashboard. We provide simple tracking as well so our clients can see the data and gauge how effective their offer is in attaining new business.
Yodle: And what is it about our email campaigns feature that should most excite local businesses?
Priya: Email campaigns can be an effective retention tool. A 5% growth in customer retention can increase a business’ profitability by as much as 95%, depending on the industry (source: Leading on the Edge of Chaos by Emmett C. Murphy) It’s evident that repeat business is important but many owners are not engaging with existing customers and staying top of mind with them. As a result, the next time that customer needs the same service again they are often conducting a new search. Emails are a great way to remain visible with existing customers and keep the line of communication open. Emails also help convert more new customers. For example, a targeted follow up message to a consumer who inquired about your service the previous week can make a big difference.
Bear in mind too that Offers and Emails work seamlessly with each other. For example, a Yodle client can email an online offer to all of their contacts (which are automatically populated through Yodle’s dashboard with incoming leads). Local businesses can easily engage with customers who redeemed an offer and email those customers to follow up and see if they have any questions.
Yodle: What are some tips for our clients on how to best leverage these features?
Priya: You can get started by running a free estimate or small percentage off for one of your most common specials and you can see the traction from there. Another helpful tip is to offer a discount on certain services or products that you notice customers are negotiating with you on frequently.
As for Emails, the best advice I can offer is to start simply. Start collecting email addresses from your customers. Given how busy everyone is, your customers will most likely appreciate email communications over phone tagging. Next start with follow-up/thank you emails and follow up on a job you’ve completed. If you provide recurring service, take advantage of reminder emails. We have professional templates that include your logo.
Yodle: How easy is it for clients to implement these features even if they’ve never used online offers or email marketing before?
Priya: It’s straightforward to use both features. Our Client Services team is also available to provide support.
The Offers feature only involves a simple three click process from the offers menu on the Yodle dashboard, which you can access via your mobile dashboard as well.
For Emails, you simply choose between creating a customized email and selecting from one of the professional templates we provide. There’s no need to worry about anything else. We make it easy to track metrics and we handle unsubscribes as well. You can focus on being relevant to your customers while using Yodle’s metrics to improve deliverability and to alter the content and nature of what you send.
Do you have any questions or comments on our Offers and Emails features? Do you have any thoughts on what to include in an offer or email? Please share them in the comments box below.