Increase Open Rates: Be Direct With Busy Readers
On-line marketer, ProspectZone, increased open rates by 28% and click-throughs by 53% in a recent split-test. What can you learn from their results?
First, some background: ProspectZone sells sales leads to busy health insurance sales people. They had experienced an average 34.8% open rate for their email campaigns. However, considering their product is the life blood of the insurance industry, they really believed their conversion rates should have been better.
So they designed an A/B split test and divided their list in half. Group A received a subject line that said “How to get 10 health leads at no charge”. Group B’s subject line read “Here’s ten health leads at no charge” [sic].
The direct approach won out. Subject line B experienced a 28% better open rate than subject line A (and a 48% increase in opens versus the previous campaign).
They also decided to split test the landing page. Both landing pages had identical headlines and sales copy, the only difference was the graphic.
Landing page A showed a gorgeous woman and landing page B showed a man in a business suit. Considering the average audience member was a 40 year old male, ProspectZone knew without a doubt that the gorgeous woman would out-pull the business man. In fact, they didn’t even want to waste their time with the test.
But it’s a good thing they did, because they were wrong! In fact, the business man generated 53% more click-throughs than the woman.
So, what can you take away from this and apply to your own on-line marketing? First, if your readers are busy (and who isn’t these days?) try the direct approach. Instead of a “How to…” or “7 Ways to… ” subject line, try “Here is…” or “Now You Have…” or some other wording that does not imply the reader will have to work for what you’re offering.
And don’t use impudent tactics, or try to otherwise “trick” your reader with brazen graphics. In today’s world of email overload, busy executives, sales people, and anyone who is trying to get some work done, will appreciate the respect you show for their time by keeping your message, and graphics, meaningful.
Secondly, if you aren’t split testing, start now. You should be testing subject lines, links, images, sales copy, personalization, headlines, calls to action, etc. Most email service providers offer a way to do this with your newsletters. You should even be split testing your web site.
Time to implement: you should be able to perform and analyze a subject line split test in approximately 30 minutes - the tricky part is deciding on the subject lines to use.
Karen Scharf publishes Successful Site Secrets, an on-line newsletter that offers insider tips, tricks and techniques for transforming your web site from one that is “good” into one that has your profits soaring through the roof. Get your own free subscription at http://www.SuccessfulSiteSecrets.com
Who Else Wants a Hurricane of Hungry Buyers From eBay
If you’ve tried to use eBay in the past to get traffic to your website or better yet build your list and you haven’t had much success then you’re about to read about a really easy technique that will have your website flooded with visitors, practically breaking down your door wanting to join your email list.
If you haven’t set up your eBay “About Me” page then you need to go do that immediately. Go to http://pages.ebay.com/help/account/about-me.html and find out exactly what to do to set it up. It only takes a few minutes.
Here’s the technique in a nutshell. You’re going to give poeple the opportunity to get your products at a discount if they join your list. All you need to do is make a simple change to each of your listings. You need to put an image or text that’s hyperlinked to your “About Me” page. The image or text should say something like, “Click Here to Find Out How You Can Get a Huge Discount On this Product”.
Your “About Me” page will tell them that if they go to your site and fill in their name and email address that they’ll get a link that will show them where to get all of your products at a discount. It’s that simple.
Of course you’re going to have to setup your squeeze page and have some decent copy in there. The incentive for them giving you their information is that they will be able to get your product(s) at a discount. Obviously you’ll also need to setup a page on your site with links also on your website to all of your products that you’re willing to give them at a discount.
You can use PayPal to accept payment for any or all of the products. PayPal has detailed information on how to put “buy” buttons on your website. It’s very simple.
If you’re thinking that eBay won’t allow you to put up a link on your website then think again. They won’t allow you to link to your site from your auctions but it’s perfectly within their terms of service to put a link in your “About Me” page. It’s also perfect acceptable and encouraged to put a link in your listings to your “About Me” page.
That’s all their is to it. All you need is a PayPal account and an autoresponder. You can easily setup this technique in under about an hour. The benefits of building your list and getting a ton of traffic to your site with this technique is literally priceless.
Of course you could easily do this without an autoresponder and just get people to your website but the money making power is in the list. Now go out and use this simple technique to generate a hurricane of free traffic to your site and build your list like you never thought possible.
Want more free money making tips like this one? John Gottshall is the writer and creator of Secret www.secretprofitfiles.com where awesome secrets are frequently revealed. You’ll also find great tips to generating traffic and increasing your bottom line at http://www.secretprofitfiles.com
How To Make Money From Freebie Hunters
I regularly visit marketing forums, and one of the most common things people complain about is not being able to make enough profits from their list. They complain that the vast majority of their subscribers are simply freebie hunters, and have absolutely no intention of spending any money. So how can you make money from these freebie hunters?
Well this is a problem that affects a lot of online marketers. We’re told that the money is in the list, which is absolutely true, but nevertheless it’s important to remember that most people on your list will not be buyers, unless of course you’ve built up a list of previous customers.
If you think about it, this isn’t surprising because most marketers build up their list in the first place by giving away a free report or mini-course just to get people onto their list, so straight away they are attracting freebie hunters to their list.
But even taking all this into consideration, all is not lost. It’s still perfectly possible to generate cash from these subscribers, without persuading them to dig out their credit card.
One of the best ways of doing this is by offering free and valuable content, but not in the actual email itself. Instead you want to direct them to a page of your website or blog where this content can be found and strategically place pay-per-click ads, such as Google Adsense, around the content so you earn money every time a visitor clicks on one of these ads. After all your list provides a great way of directing traffic to your sites, so why take advantage of this opportunity.
This way even if you have a list of say 1000 subscribers, with most of them apparently freebie hunters, by directing them to monetized pages of your site you only need them to click on ads to earn you money, which I’m sure you’ll agree is easier than getting these people to buy from you.
Another way of squeezing cash from a list of freebie seekers is by sending them to pay-per-lead companies. This can be very lucrative because a lot of companies will pay you generous commissions for each visitor you send who carries out a certain activity. This could be something as simple as filling out a form, signing up for a free newsletter, or downloading a free piece of software, all of which your typical freebie hunter will be more than happy to do.
So to conclude, although we would all ideally like a large email list of proven buyers that we can profit from, even a low quality list of freebie hunters can generate profits for you if you use some of the methods outlined in this article.
James Woolley is a full-time marketer who has built up responsive email lists in not only the internet marketing niche, but other niches as well. All of these lists are run from one autoresponder account. Click here to find out which autoresponder he recommends:
http://www.mytopautoresponder.com
Automation Features of an E-mail Marketing Service
An e-mail list management and autoresponder service is a major component of business automation efforts. From list building to management of subscribers, an e-mail management service can help to boost your sales and save you valuable time and money. The benefits of such a service are many and all will lead you toward an automated business process.
Managing your Opt-in lists
One of the main functions of an autoresponder service is the ability to manage multiple lists. List management includes the handling of subscribers, the automation of subscriber movement between lists, as well as automatic deletion upon user request. Sign-ups occur through a web form or subscription box that can be placed on your site. Most systems also allow subscribers to join by sending an e-mail.
Most e-mail list management systems also have features to control the adding or removal of subscribers to lists based upon certain events such as add or removal requests to a specific list. Users that decide to opt-out of your e-mail list can do so with a simple, single request through an unsubscribe list that is included in all of your e-mails.
Sending e-mail messages
An autoresponder system simplifies the task of sending e-mails to one or more of your lists. There exists two types of e-mails that you can send: broadcasts and follow-up messages. Broadcasts are standard e-mails that you send to the lists that you desire and at the times that you specify. Follow-up messages are pre-written e-mails that are sent automatically to a list subscriber at the intervals that you set.
Personalization
One of the best features of an e-mail list management and autoresponder system is personalization. Personalization is important because it helps you to develop a relationship with your subscribers as each message is personalized with their name or other specified information. Personalized fields, or tags, can easily be inserted into your e-mail message and the system automatically replaces the tags with the information from each specific subscriber.
Automatic downloads
An autoresponder system allows you to automate the distribution of an electronic product through a web link in one of your follow-up messages. The automatic sending of follow-up messages allows you to distribute a purchased product or a free gift to your subscribers.
FAQ lists
Use your e-mail list management and autoresponder system to set-up a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) list and automatically delivery the FAQs through a follow-up message series. Advantages include the automatic delivery of the FAQs directly to the inbox of each of your subscribers. Many find that this not only saves time but also reduces the amount of support requests that are submitted to your customer support desk and often results in improved customer relations.
E-courses
Offer an X-day e-mail course (e-course) as an enticement to visitors to sign-up to your mailing list. Simply use a follow-up message series and the e-course will be delivered automatically over the period of days that you specify.
Newsletter management
A publication can easily be sent out and managed with an e-mail list management service. Doing so will put your newsletter on autopilot. Select a pre-defined newsletter template or customize your own. Simply insert your newsletter message and schedule the date and time for your newsletter to be sent to your list.
There exists many ways to automate your business. The set-up and use of an e-mail list management and autoresponder system may be one of the most powerful steps that you can take for your business.
Brad Semp uses his Cashmap techniques to lead entrepreneurs and business owners to higher revenues and profits. Brad provides free, step-by-step help for setting up an e-mail list management and autoresponder service in his Listping Cashmap product at http://www.ListpingCashmap.com
Surefire Email Marketing Strategy
If you’ve been selling real estate for a while you know that the secret to success is generating leads, and lots of them. Equally important is the ability to replenish them.
Why not simply advertise for them?
For one thing many agents assume that they must have listings to advertise, but that’s the farthest thing from the truth. In fact, it’s as easy to generate prospects with the listings of other agents as it is your own.
Now, I assure you that I didn’t just suffer a bump on the head, but think about it for a second. Do you think agents in your office would be upset with you for advertising their listings? Probably not. In fact, they may be downright ecstatic about it, because they know that the more exposure their listings get the more successful they’ll be selling them.
And most importantly why would they be upset about you spending your money to make them money - you, too of course.
So, they probably won’t care one teeny tiny bit, but to be on the safe side you should ask before doing it.
Email Marketing for Leads
There are many aspects of email marketing that are appealing, including but not limited to it being a relatively inexpensive way to advertise. Also, you can have your marketing messages broadcast 24/7 - almost completely automated; and in some instances once you develop one campaign you can duplicate it for little to no additional expenses over and over again.
Some agents use special reports, while others use electronic newsletters as the foundation of their email marketing campaigns, but have gone low maintenance by using prewritten content. Many agents simply don’t have the time or interest to write their own materials, so they simply buy prewritten content and pick and choose what they want to send to their readers.
If you want some, too you can go to Google and type in “real estate agent marketing reports” or some variation of that.
Advertising and Email Marketing - A Dynamic Combo
The key element of email marketing is to have people request information in exchange for their email address and other contact information and get folk offering up their contact information.
For example, you could advertise the following. “3 Bedroom House - Best Value In West End Subdivision. Won’t Last Long. Email yourname (you) at your name email address for full details.”
Do you think people might email you for additional information. And of course you’re not limited to advertising in a newspaper. You could advertise on flyers and place them on windshields of automobiles parked at the malls and shopping centers in your area.
Another example of this email marketing strategy is to advertise to gather the names and email addresses of renters in your community who might be interested in buying their first home. You could have an ongoing ad that reads something like…”Own a home for the same as rent. Email your name at your name email address for a confidential consultation.”
Again, you should not limit your advertising to just newspapers. Alternatively, you can post flyers in laundromats and simply lying around where people gather; in business offices, stores, college campuses, movie theaters, etc.
Now the point in both of these examples is to build your mailing list, not to make sales. While that might not be exactly what you want to hear you should understand that not many folk are compulsive buyers when it comes to purchasing real estate. It’s much too big of an investment for that. Instead, they typically labor over the process for months, sometimes years.
So, it’s unrealistic to think that you can change that about them and have them buy a home from you just because you want them to…espcially if you just met them. Forget about it already.
However, it is reasonable to expect that if you cultivate a relationship with them that you can be the agent they work with when they are ready to buy That’s the power of advertising for email marketing leads.
So, once you have names and email addresses you are ready to take the next step, which is converting them into paying customers. In fact, you’ll be able to provide useful information and follow-up for as long as it takes - and much of it with a precision like efficiency.
Who knows, pretty soon you could be in the enviable position of having folk on your list buying and selling through you, one by one, and all because you recognized the basic principal of selling - which is building relationships.
Visit Lanard Perry at http://www.real-estate-marketing-talk.com for more business building tips, tools and strategies.
How To Use An Autoresponder On Your Website
Ok, so you have a great product and people are visiting your site, but perhaps even though they are interested in what you have to offer, they need some more convincing. How can you convince them that they want to purchase your product? An autoresponder is the best way to do this.
Autoresponders are used by websites all over the internet and why? Because it is a proven and well-known fact that people generally, do not purchase on their first visit or contact with a website. They may not even make a purchase on their third or fourth visit either. It usually takes up to six contacts before a visitor will make a final buying decision.
Why do they wait so long? Well, there are many reasons. Maybe their searching for a better deal, doing some comparison-shopping, maybe they are trying to decide if they truly need your product, or maybe they simply forget you even exist. It is up to you to remind them.
How does an autoresponder work? Well, you would have to place a form on your website. It should be visible and attractive, on every page of your website. You ask for their name and email address. With an autoresponder, you have an automatic way of contacting any person that fills out that information.
The instant that information form is filled out; they will receive an automatic email from the autoresponder. A few days later, another one goes out to them, just as a reminder. You of course have to type the email, but just once, the autoresponder sends it out automatically, at a time pre-determined by you.
Autoresponders are a great marketing technique for any type of business, whether or not you sell something online. It works just as well for businesses in the brick and mortar world, as it does for online sales.
There are specific key points to making an autoresponder system work well for you. The first thing is you have to make sure that the autoreponder content is valuable and useful. You have to follow a formula such as AIDA
A) Get the customers Attention
I) Generate Interest with the benefits, advantages, and features your product or service offers
D) Create a Desire; make the customer want your product. Show them how it can help solve a specific problem.
A) Ask for Action, give them something to do, click a link or purchase a product
It is essential that your autoresponder message shows how by purchasing your products or services, you are solving a specific problem that they may have in their lives. You need to show potential customers how your product can make their lives easier, more enjoyable, and efficient.
Omar Johnson is author of the the homestudy course “How to Make Money On the Internet While You are Asleep” for your free report visit http://www.makeprofitseasy.com
5 Tips for Making the Right Impression with Email
Every email you send out represents your company. Are you sending out the right impression?
Here are five tips on how to create email that makes the right impression:
1. Make sure your subject line is not the message.
A subject line should concisely tell the reader what the email is about without the details that could be included in the body of the message. You want the subject line to make sense, but it is a keyword summary, and shouldn’t be a complete sentence.
Try writing your subject line after you’ve written your email message. Then pick out some keywords from the body of the email and use them as the subject line. For instance, if I was writing an email to my boss asking for permission to attend a conference, I wouldn’t have “May I attend the conference?” as my subject line. Instead, in the body of the message I would list the benefits to the company of sending me to the conference and then use one of the benefits in the subject line. So my subject line might be “Time Saving Writing Techniques.”
2. Address one topic per email.
How many times have you received an email that has all these unrelated topics? First it talks about the high employee injury rates, then the cancelled employee orientation, and then a complaint about the company’s dress code. The final sentence is “Please schedule a meeting.”
Do you know the topic of the meeting? No, and you’ll have a hard time trying to figure this one out because the email covered three different issues. Now you’ll have to send another email asking for clarification and waste more time. The whole problem wouldn’t exist if each of the three topics was sent out as three separate emails.
3. Watch your tone.
The tone of your email is how your message comes across to the reader. It’s not so much what you’ve said, but how you’ve said it. Angry, sarcastic or insulting email should never leave the office no matter how vengeful you are feeling. Words cut deep and there are no “take-backs” when dealing with email. You push the send button and the damage is done.
My advice is to never write an email when you are upset. If you feel the urge to vent, open up a Word document and pour your heart out. Say all the mean, rotten things you”d like to say and then step away from the computer. This message is never to be sent.
The next day, chances are, you’ll be embarrassed by what you’ve written because you don’t feel nearly as emotional as you did yesterday. And, you’ll be ever so grateful you had the clear mind not to send this flaming email!
4. Include a complete email signature.
Think of each of your emails as a business card. Would you hand someone a business card with just your name on it and nothing else? Of course not, so why would you send out an email without all your contact information? It makes no sense.
This week I had a client ask me for a referral and I had the perfect person in mind. I quickly opened an email I’d received from my associate and hoped to instantaneously give my client the contact information she needed. Much to my disappointment, my associate only had his name in the email. So I had to tell the client I’d get back to her with the information. Then I debated whether I really wanted to refer the client to this person that wasn’t even professional enough to have complete contact information at the end of the email.
5. Don’t assume your email will be read only by the person you are sending it to.
Although email etiquette dictates that you should get permission before forwarding an email, not everyone is so polite.
In one of my email training classes one of the executives told us the story of how in an email to a client, he discussed the problems they were having with a state agency. Rather than keeping this email private, it was forwarded to a state agency representative without the executive’s knowledge. Thankfully, the executive had been very diplomatic in discussing the state agency’s shortcomings, so he didn’t look too bad. But, can you imagine what would have happened had he not been watchful of his tone?
Take Email Seriously
Too many business people take a casual approach to email and that’s the wrong attitude. Email needs to be taken seriously. If you think of an email as a business letter and give it the respect it deserves, you’ll always make the right impression.
Michelle Howe, MBA, is an expert in online copywriting and author of the popular book, Turn Browsers into Buyers. Visit her website at http://www.InternetWordMagic.com for the FREE report, “Five Steps to Article Success.”
7 Steps for Improving Your Email Marketing
The success of your email marketing campaign is often based on a set of complex factors. However, a number of these issues can be proactively managed to ensure an optimized response. When developing your next email campaign, consider the following guidelines.
1. Your list. Certainly one of the most important aspects of any email marketing campaign, your list is directly correlated to your success. Are your names recent? Have they agreed to be marketed to? Have they shown an interest in products or services similar to your own? Make sure that you are using a house list (names you collected on your own) or have been purchases from a reputable broker.
2. Your subject line. Getting a user to open your message is paramount any email marketing campaign. The best way to determine the subject line that works best is to break your emails into three random yet equal groups. Measure the response to each email and use the highest producing one as your control. In follow up emails, try to beat the response rate of your control email.
3. Your sender information. What information appears on the sender line of your email? Will your prospects recognize it? Do they want to hear from you? Often times, emails are deleted without ever being opened due to an indiscernible sender name. Your sender name should be brief and easily understood.
4. Track your results. Tracking allows you to determine who opened your message and clicked on a link or multiple links within your email. By determining what worked and what didn’t, you can replicate success on your next email. As described above, tracking is particularly important when testing subject lines, imbedded links, and other direct response vehicles.
5. Make sure your unsubscribe method is in place and working. The CAN-SPAM act of 2003 requires that all email messages contain clear directions on how to opt-out from subsequent mailings. Provide an unsubscribe mechanism that allows those receiving your email to send you and email and indicate their desire to opt-out from receiving further emails from you or your business. If recipients no longer want to hear from you, it’s in your best interest to remove them from your list.
6. Your images are correctly referenced and you’ve used alt tags in each image. Improperly referencing your images can cause them to appear broken when you send your message - the dreaded red x. To insure the image is referenced correctly it must appear as, img src=”http://www.yourdomain.com….” rather than, “img src=”/images/yourpicture.jpg”. Alt tags are another important part of your images. The new security features on almost every email client these days disables images automatically. Having alt tags in place allow your reader to identify the image and determine if it is safe to enable.
7. Test, Test, Test! No matter what your involvement with email marketing happens to be, it is essential that you follow the guidelines above for successful results. In addition, the key is to test, test, test! After each email campaign, measure your opens, click-throughs, and purchases. Document the specific date, time, list, subject line, and content used to produce your results. Refer back to your documentation prior to your next campaign.
Email doesn’t have to be a complex form of marketing. There are many best practices you can follow and some simple rules that ensure effectively delivery, open and conversion. By following the simple rules presented in this article, you’ll not only deliver and effective email campaign, you’ll discover a consistent method for generation revenue for your business.
Michael Fleischner is an Internet marketing expert and founder of MarketingScoop.com. He has appeared on major media including the TODAY Show, Bloomberg Radio, and more. For more free marketing articles visit http://www.marketingscoop.com/articles.htm
The 5 Cardinal Sins of Email Marketing
One of the most frequent questions my customers ask me is “What should I do to make sure my email marketing campaign is a success?” My answer is always different, depending on the client’s industry, campaign goal, and many other factors. But in today’s e-marketing landscape, there are a few pointers that stand true for any client, a few things that can really make or break an email campaign.
You could overlook these, and you’ll still have an email campaign. But if you’re stuck wondering why your email messages are yielding little to no response, you may want to take a closer look and consider if you’re commiting any of these 5 email marketing sins:
1. When new subscribers sign up, I should treat them just like my old subscribers.
One of the most overlooked aspects of email marketing is the welcome message, or the message your subscribers receive as soon as they sign up for your email list. The welcome message is your first opportunity to connect one-on-one with your subscribers. Think of it as your first impression, since this is the very first of, hopefully, many email messages you’ll be sending them. Of course, you want to make a good first impression: be courteous, friendly and very mindful of your audience. Make sure to remind them of the benefits of signing up, include links to your website and tell your readers how to get a hold of you if they need. It’s also important to ensure the welcome message arrives shortly (if not immediately) after the recipient signs up. So your best bet here is to choose an email service provider that sends automatic welcome messages to your subscribers on your behalf. Some of the top email programs will allow you to fully customize your welcome message, so it reads, looks and feels just like your company.
2. All my subscribers are the same, so I should just send the same messages to all of them.
Well.. actually, no, and no. It’s not rocket science: subscribers are individuals, just like you and I. They have different preferences, different habits, different personalities. Addressing your subscribers by their names is a good start (and an easy thing to do, since most reputable email service providers automatically insert your subscribers’ names into the greeting field). But, in most cases, this personal greeting is just not enough. Say you own a clothing store, and you sell men’s, women’s and children’s clothing. John Smith is a customer, and he loves your menswear collections. But he’s busy, and he has no women or kids to shop for. So why would he waste his precious time browsing through your specials on blouses and bibs? It’s been proven: In a recent study by DoubleClick, email users were 72% more likely to respond to a business e-mail if its content was based on the interests they had specified. Choose an email service provider that allows you to set up interest groups, and then allows your subscribers to choose which groups they want to belong to. Back to the clothing store, you would produce 3 separate emails (men’s, women’s, children’s) and only send them out to the subscribers who want to read them, creating higlhy-targeted, personalized and effective email campaigns.
3. When a reader clicks on a link from my email, it doesn’t matter if they end up on a page that looks nothing like the actual email.
Um, actually, it does matter. First-off, you want to provide a consistent image of your brand. That’s just Branding 101. You wouldn’t create business cards that look one way, letterhead that looks another way, and a store sign that looks completely different. So why would your email marketing campaign look nothing like your website? Chances are you already have a website, so all you really need to do is customize your email campaign to have the same look and feel. Many email service providers will be able to create you a custom template that matches the exact look and feel of your website. However, beware of the price. While some email service providers charge at least a few hundred for this, others offer free custom templates as part of their services.
4. My email recipients may enjoy my messages, but they don’t really want to share them with their friends.
Here’s the good news: According to a January 2006 report by Sharpe Partners, 89% of US adult Internet users share email content with their friends, family and associates. And 75% of them forward emails to up to six other recipients. It’s called viral marketing, and it basically translates to word-of-mouth through email (as long as you provide good content, an essential aspect of any email maketing campaign). Some email service providers have taken this insight into consideration, so they have integrated the all-important “Forward to a Friend” feature in every email you send. A few email providers will even go a step further, and allow you to track which subscribers are forwarding your messages, so you can get a true glimpse at your “brand ambassadors” (and maybe offer them some extra perks).
5. After I send out my email campaign, there’s nothing left for me to do.
If you look at it that way, you’re really missing half the process, and jeopardizing the success of your future campaigns. Here’s why: any reputable email marketing program will include campaign tracking and reporting. These allow you to view how many of your messages were opened, which bounced back, which links were clicked on, and, with some email providers, exaclty which recipients clicked on each link. This data not only converts email marketing into an incredible lead generation tool, but it also allows you to learn more about your subscribers. So if you operate a travel agency, and you see nobody clicked on the Mexico vacation link, but 200 readers clicked on the New York vacation link, you’ll know next time to place a greater focus on New York vacations. You could even send a follow up campaign to those 200 readers with a special offer for a New York vacation upgrade. That’s lead generation and a highly-targeted upsell in one shot. Are you taking advantage of these?
Robert Burko is President of Elite Email Marketing, a powerful online email marketing program that lets small/medium sized businesses create professional and effective email marketing campaigns easily and affordably. Find out how you can skyrocket your email marketing at http://www.eliteemail.com.
Direct Email Marketing Keeps You Linked To Your Customers
Direct email marketing is the solution to a very big problem for online retailers. Ask anyone looking at the traffic reports for their online store and they will tell you that nothing drives them more crazy than getting someone to their site (either naturally or through an advertisement) and then seeing them leave. They are gone into the abyss that is the online market place, possibly never to return again. At this point they’re pretty much gone. This represents another lost customer, lost revenue, and increased frustration. If only there was some way you could stay linked in with that customer. You know they had some interest in your offering (after all, they ended up at your site in the first place) and maybe their next trip is the one that converts. Introduce a direct email marketing solution as part of your marketing and strategic mix and you might be able to lure those lost patrons back.
It’s a proven fact that it can take up to 6 touch points before a customer trusts you enough to make a purchase. Are you planning on achieving all 6 touch points on one visit? That is a very ambitious goal. Chances are you’ll get some touch points in on the first visit, but those are only the first steps. You can easily add a signup box to your website from any major email marketing company and collect visitors’ addresses. Once you have that, it’s a path to getting the necessary touch points to seal the deal.
Once you have a person’s permission to contact them (remember, do not spam as it will hurt your business in the long run!) you can easily create snazzy email marketing promotion to get them back to your site. Whether you’re selling T-shirts, office furniture, or DVDs, you know that certain deals just can’t be passed up. Why not put one of those deals in front of your customers and get their mouth a little wet. Even if it’s been weeks since they visited your t-shirt site, for example, if you offer a “buy 1 shirt, get 1 free” deal, you’ll see an instant spike in traffic and a boost in conversions. Eeaching out to customer has always been the role of direct marketing, but now, with email marketing, it all happens electronically.
Direct email marketing is a powerful tool that can boost your sales, but don’t expect that to happen without a little effort on your part. You need to take the time to understand your customers, know what interests them, figure out how to pique their curiosity and make an offer based on all that. The more you target your email marketing message effectively, the greater your response rates will be, and the faster people will come back to your online store.
The online retail marketing place is fiercely aggressive and there are tons of competitors just a click away from your site. You need to outperform the competition by making sure your store is in front of the customer a lot more. With direct email marketing campaigns you can get your store information and special offers right in their inbox. You will ingrain your online brand in their minds so that come purchase time, they’ve racked up enough touch points that their decision is easy.
Direct email marketing is a gateway to building the relationships with your customers that will make them want to buy from you. By staying linked with your customers, you will develop an edge, because your offers will extend beyond your website and into the inbox of potential buyers.
Robert Burko is President of Elite Email Marketing, a powerful online email marketing program that lets small/medium sized businesses create professional and effective email marketing campaigns easily and affordably. Find out how you can skyrocket your email marketing at http://www.eliteemail.com.
