Quickly grow your business using email marketing by encouraging current customers to buy again and prospects to become new customers. Email marketing will help grow your business because of its versatility and ability to connect with prospective, new and long-term customers.
What is Email Marketing?
Email marketing is a great tactic to reach people in their work or personal (depending on your industry and why someone signs up,) email inbox.
Many organisations decide to start an email ‘newsletter’. Quite frankly, this newsletter is just a company mouthpiece, used to push out news nobody except the managing director (MD) is interested in.
If you’re that MD reading this right now, just know our observation comes from a place of love. I want you to gain market share, not have a valuable sales tool ignored because your audience couldn’t see the value, so please read on.
If you’re not the MD…don’t tell him we said that!
How Frequently Should I Send Email?
As the MD, you may want to hijack the newsletter, but it’s vitally important to contact any audience with messages relevant to their situation. Of course you also want to stay top of mind, so frequency is something that has to be decided on a case-by case basis as there’s no single correct answer. The answer on a case-by-case basis is as often as you need to and no more.
Let’s think of a few examples with an online retailer and a Software as a Service (SaaS) development company. Both have different types of customer and different reasons for making contact with their customers.
With an online retailer, you may have time-sensitive deals to share every day, or every few days. You could send out an email every day with deals, or you could send one every day with fashion advice. You might send email every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday only because that’s when your latest products arrive.
An SaaS product developer might send more frequent emails if it were B2C than if it were B2B. Maybe a B2B audience would receive only product updates monthly like new feature reports and downtime updates. Both B2B and B2C audiences might wish to receive tips on making the most of the SaaS software sent on a weekly basis.
For your own business, think long and hard about exactly why you want to get in contact with your customers and why that contact would be beneficial for them. Set a frequency that suits the needs of your customer.
How Does Email Marketing Generate Sales?
Email marketing is great for generating sales. You generate sales via email when you are clear on what you want customers to buy, why they want to buy and how they want to buy from you. B2C can be very instantaneous and impulsive, whereas B2B can require a more time-sensitive approach. No doubt there are instances where the exception proves the rule and the opposite will be true.
How might you use email to generate sales? A great strategy, aligning your email messages with customer needs and keeping your customers up-to-date with new products and services.
Email strategy for an online retailer
An online retailer might contact customers with summer discounts, or have a product they need to move to make space for next season’s clothes.
Email strategy for manufacturing
A B2B manufacturer with accurate customer records could send out email reminders close to product servicing intervals; they could even include a time-sensitive discount.
Align messages to customer needs
Email messages must be aligned with the needs of your customers. Tactics used in B2B and B2C are similar, but need to be adapted to the specific situation. Speaking generally, B2C can be very instantaneous and impulsive, whereas B2B can require a more time-sensitive approach. But never forget the exception proves the rule and the opposite can also be true, so you need to get a clear understanding of your audience. That’s why it’s important to develop an integrated marketing strategy that clearly defines when and how you’ll approach current and potential customers.
Update customers with new products and services
Nobody will know about your new product or new service levels or about your seasonal discount if you don’t tell them. Generating interest in your business using well-written emails with the right message sent at the right time will get sales that will grow your business.
Stay in regular contact
Regular, welcomed contact is the gold standard. How often you actually make contact with your customers can be a fine balance, but once you strike that balance, you don’t always need to immediately go in for the sale. By delivering valuable insights and information to your customers on a regular basis, they will be more inclined to take action when you send an email to buy something every now and then.
Other Email Benefits
Yes, email is great for sales, but it’s also perfect for:
- Company updates
- Product updates
- Community management
The key with these purposes is to always deliver something customers want or need to know.
Company updates can be a bit of a grey area. If you’re a manufacturing company, nobody wants to hear about the amazing new machine you’ve just purchased. Your customers do want to hear that your new machine will result in a higher rate of on time delivery with fewer defects.
Product updates are great for SaaS products that have new features and security updates added regularly. Including tutorials and links to walk-through guides work well to keep customers opening and reading your emails.
Community management is probably the oldest and best way to use email. People used to love receiving email until the spammers ruined that good will. Who used to love the AOL sound bite?
Every business in every industry can and should try to grow a passionate community who can act as brand ambassadors. Keep your community updated on what you’ve been up to since the last email and encourage them to take part in you latest initiatives.
No matter what the purpose of your email marketing messages, sending relevant and timely emails should be your ultimate goal.
What next?
It’s time to transform prospects into new customers and current customers into long-term users of your products and services. Although customers and prospects are not the same and should be approached with different messages, both can be won over through the power of email.
Are you ready to show your prospects why you’re their best option? Get in contact with us to kick start your email marketing and grow your business.