Mass marketing with email is no different
Email marketing is the easiest and cheapest form of selling
I have been emailing for years for many reasons that we will cover in the following paragraphs. I rarely miss a day without sending a message to my list that covers the category of interest.
However, there are important rules of engagement that you must understand or you can end up in trouble or with no results.
Spamming with email is a no-no
This may not come as a surprise but unsolicited emails can be considered spam and you can be seriously affected if you are in breach of the rules.
Most email servers go out of their way to avoid this problem with a double opt-in or putting the full blame back on you.
However, there are often ways around any problem and of course, rules change with countries.
Gathering an Email list
Spend some money and buy a list on the market. These are available and are generally Koshia for use.
Gather from your website using a giveaway or other device to get names and build a list.
My understanding is that when people market their email address as a form of communications it sometimes ok to use.
Market on Facebook Linked In or All social media.
If you own a business, use your customer base as a wonderful opportunity to gather business.
Hand out cards and letter drops standing in shopping centres anywhere to get contact details.
Your email list is a valuable asset
Don't be fooled into thinking this is just a bunch of names. It can be a very valuable asset in real cash money at some point in the future. Think of $5 to $10 per name on the list, therefore, a list of 5000 has a potential price of $50,000.
Furthermore, there is a difference between a bundle of names and a target list.
It is not good selling golf clubs to aged pensioner ladies or retirement coupons to young football players. You are wasting time with everyone so your list must be targeted.
My Fish shop experience
I had a customer with a live fish and supply shop. During bad times she had to exit the shop and move her gear out of the property. I rang another shop and asked if they could help with this by buying stock or fixtures. They were in a similar location so it would be easy.
Their response was yes, we will buy the customer list and email them with our location and pick up a lot of customers.
Unfortunately, she did not have a customer list. probably one of the causes for going broke. This is a sad and true story but how things changed.
Capture area emails
Within my capture area, I have three Pet shops. Every couple of months I go and buy cat food, Litter and a few trinkets.
What is interesting is they badger you for contact details and to join the free club for special offers, which I joined.
What happens now is when I miss my purchase cycle because I have changed shops I get a special offer by email. Something like 20% off store wide. This is a great cycle for me as a buyer and they get a regular customer by marketing me
Fixed location or online email lists
All lists are the same and have a value if they are a targeted list with a response rate that meets or betters a market average.
Not everyone will open every email for a bundle of reasons or act on the information after they have read your information.
With a proper plan we can guide you to better results so let's move on with this.
How to prepare a list for email
This is not a real hard answer, anything from a scrap of paper to a full-blown CRM management plan. – Customer relationship management
However, let's start with an ordinary email list.
This can show your name, email, mobile and interest plus anything else you need.
If you save as CSV file you can sort to your heart's content, cut and paste as you desire.
Your email facility will also house your base under different categories.
Working a fixed location will normally contain a point of sale software that will maintain your list as well.
Last of all a full-blown CRM package costing hundreds of dollars per month, but invaluable if used properly.
You can easily search these on Google for the best use for your business.
Starting your Email marketing
We have talked of targeting your market and having a list of matches but that is the easy bit, now we are getting real with this.
The first thing in any marketing is the know, like and trust system. By email, you will need to build this along the way.
Know a major asset.
When you scan your daily emails what do you look for?
Normally two things,
Who is the sender?
What is the subject?
I do, I tick all the boxes to delete and then un-tick the ones I want to read. Only those I know will get looked at provided the subject matter is of interest. Out of 100 emails, I might look at half a dozen. Not many.
So how do you overcome this problem?
The answer is to introduce yourself first with a promise of what is to come.
Your first email is not selling on it. No promise of riches or grandeur just to get your name on a possible tick list.
This gives you an even chance for the future.
Like is a necessity
If they don't like you they have several choices.
Report you for Spam, never good but it happens
Unsubscribe immediately, Gone forever.
Request you to unsubscribe them because they can't be bothered
Delete the email
Or they are in a band of bored that open everything
Or, they will open and read the mail. This may be 20% or 50% depending on many factors though mostly because they are interested in what you have.
These are the good ones that hold some promise for the future.
Like also centres around the subject line
Have a look at the ones that interest you and re-shape to fit your message
You can use the old How, When, Where and Why format to make a headline
I just looked at mine and I had;
Can you help……
Storewide 20% sale for customers only
Introducing belated posts ( A subject of Interest)
Great news.
It depends on what you are selling or marketing but be creative and remember to test before you opt to go big.
With Whom do you send messages
You can use Constant Contact, Aweber and Mail Chimp just like I do.
Having tried all sorts of other I have lately settled back to the major ones because it saves me time. The cost is not cheap at about $100 a month but they are consistent and we are mailing in results. If you can't earn a $100 a month give up and try something else.
You can select a list, structure it and send a message in minutes, not days and hours
Then generally, send a test message and see if it meets your benchmark in open rates before You commit a broad-based send out.
Look for an open rate at +25% in a well-selected category but it is a numbers game depending on volumes and targets. You could be happy with 5% in some cases.
Autoresponder for best results
An Autoresponder sends out emails written by you over a period of time. It might be daily or weekly but a series of messages to meet a conclusion that you want.
You will often find acceptance rates fall over time as you wear them out or it is not of interest. What you are doing is weeding out those that will never buy and eliminating them along the way.
One business I have markets a telecoms product to a new audience. We generally choose between 250 and a thousand businesses and send them an introduction.
This eliminates the real not interested players and we now have a clean product.
The next step is to compose between 6-10 future messages that go out everyday or two, weekdays only, 8 am to 5 pm.
At the end of this, you have a well-read customer contact base that you can target directly.
You can compose your emails to suit different categories of businesses under the same general messages.
The big Email blast
This usually comes with a cheap purchased list that you are firing a shot gun at and hoping for results. If you sent out a couple of hundred thousand emails selling a new car you only need one sale to get a return, one would assume that would be easy, but it is not.
If you were selling a $10 product you need to sell hundreds of them.
No targeting, no testing, just a blast of messages that will burn many.
The Newsletter blast
This is one of my favourite children. Every business should send a newsletter at a defined period and then regularly for life. No exceptions.
If they don't, someone else will.
A newsletter is not to sell anything it is to inform them or entertain them.
Think this way. You have put a list through an Auto Responder and you gather a group that has shown interest but they are not ready to buy.
By then, including them in your newsletter when the time is correct, they will probably call you and the sale is done.
I have a sign-making shop send a message to me about every six weeks.
This message shows the latest vehicle or building wrap they have done and brag about the job. They interest me because it is in my area so I read them. If I want a vehicle wrap where will I go?
It may be a month year or never but the image is always with me and I will recommend them to others. It works.
I have a Tyre store that sends history on all types of cars, Racing cars, Vintage cars, Collectables etc. Again in my interest group so I read them and
are entertained until my next purchase
So don't waste your leads, keep them entertained on your list and you never know if one day you will hit the Funny Bone.
We have now completed the trust element
We targeted them with an introduction to getting known. We supplied enough relevant information to be liked and because of our constant contact, we are now a trusted supplier. The circle is complete
Well done.
Email marketing has many elements
So we have shown many elements in the market. first of all, don't just shoot a message and hope for the best.
Build your list and develop categories of interest. I sell several products so I have several lists with a target customer in each list.
They all go into a newsletter because that is a generalised product and may well pick up floaters or fence-sitters that have been biding their time.
We all have different agendas so we are waiting for the moment
Mass marketing with email by Peter Hanley
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