How to Effectively use E-MAIL as Marketing!

You’ve done it, your first sale. Now what! Should you move on to your next sale. How would big companies handle this achievement? Now that you’ve made that first sale, what do we do now, go out for drinks, Wrong! First thing is first, your first transaction is doesn’t stop at collecting money and completing your services. The customer “cycle” per say has just started. Depending on what you’re selling you can always call and NAG for presales or upselling your product with warranties or services. To be honest I hate sales men like that. Repeat customers are the best customers, but to keep those customers you need to focus in on them. Don’t lose sight to your customers reactions and what they want to hear and why they should be hearing. Don’t always believe the hype that the customer is always right, maybe but not always well informed. Let’s move. The best customers are your satisfied customers. These are the ones that will create leads for you. Now that you’ve completed your sale, you may want to write two forms of emails. One for towards your customers that have purchased from you, and one towards your potential new leads. Look at it like this the ones that bought from you and have had positive experience from your services are always more likely to purchase again. I’m assuming that in the background of your database you have some wiz kid yourself (as small business person) are keeping notes for all those people who have purchased from you, by keeping their email and contact information, and the ones that just come and visit your website or storefront. Hey offer them a % discount to get that extra info. So the reason why I’m writing this post, is to let you know how to find leads from Email.

1 - It’s always nice to see a Thank you email with coupon! Every customer has a choice; let me say this every business has a choice to make, once the sale is complete. We completing the sale is just the beginning. Once that sale is complete to have a repeat customer, you’ll have to offer something more. I mean a repeat customer should definitely get SOMETHING. He did purchase I mean throw a bone or a discount  everyone loves a discount. In the email confirmation of the order, send out a thank you email as well. Let them know when the delivery date is expected. Once the delivery is made don’t finish communications there. Look at these big companies, they always offer some kind of discount for the second purchase, and if you haven’t noticed already, they constantly send out emails about their upcoming promotions. So in addition to the order details and email opt-in confirmation, include a clear call-to-action in these emails to encourage customers to stay engaged with your company in ways other than via email. It could be an exclusive offer to an industry-specific item, an promotion of your social media profiles to help expand your reach, or a recommendation for a complementary product or service your customer might like. The better targeted your content, the better chance that customer sticks around. Whatever you choose, keep in mind that a welcome and a confirmation email should thank the customer for their opt-in or purchase and offer additional ways to add value, not push for another hard sale.

2 - Service Email – Did you do good or bad? The sales is made it’s been about a week or sooner, and now is what makes you the money or can break you. Send out an email, to ask about their experience with your company. Be straightforward. Ask basic questions, was your delivery made on time, was there anything that our description of the product didn’t include or should of included. Was the product poorly made, ect.. Ask them did we do what we say. If you’ve given your customer either poor service or a sub-par product – don’t expect a 5 star email. You may of made your money in the quick turnaround but lost that customer forever. Before you take that route, let your email leverage your quality of service and also your companies good intentions. Email marketing goes both ways, and it can be a very powerful tool/free tool for you. But keep on thing in mind, that timing is everything. If you write, an email a month later don’t expect anything, and if they do remember you it’s not because you were outstanding. I can’t stress this enough timing is everything. Too early and the product hasn’t been tested with customer, too late and you’ve missed the boat. This is where You have to decide when to get in touch. Depending on what you’ve solved, if its digital give them a few days. (You be the judge on what a few days are), and if it’s physical give them a week or basic rule I use 10 days from delivery accepted. This should be more than enough time for them to of used the product. This is how I see it the more happier your customers are the more likely it is for them to spend again from you. This “ain’t” rocket science. You feel good, they(customer) feels good the transaction goes through without a hitch. Once through customer will feel more comfortable buying from your company. The more open you are about your item, and more communication you have with the customer, the more the customer will feel that he has the company support behind him. It’s very important the customer understand once the money is receive the transaction isn’t completed on our end we are more than happy to go the extra mile.

3 - KEEP IN TOUCH So you’ve sold that great product to the customer, that USB or that great gadget of the future. You’d be surprised that by giving/providing reviews of the product or giving them that PDF file will go far. You might think why bother, but keep in mind that with these great Think about this, Your initial email of educational just a review of the product that customer bought, may turn that neutral customer into a fan of your website or even a fan of your knowledge. If you have customers that on the curve, just think with your educational material or your insight information, might just turn those customer to potential YOUR customers. I can’t tell you what to write, but here is an example of what I would say, if they’re buying a product that is known for something bad name it, don’t hide it I know it’s a no-no in the industry but think about it, the more honest you are with your reviews the more likely it is your customer will be a solid lead.

4 - Should you upsell or your products? What is up selling well it’s like, do you want supersize your drink with that? Get it. Well when you offer your customers the ability to get the next best thing with a reasonable price range many of them will jump. It’s been shown that with these jumps, you can increase your profit margins by 30% depending on how much up scaling you do Selling to your existing customers an add on or providing your customers to an complementary product pays off. It’s shown that these freebeies actually benefit your business in the LONG RUN. I know its hard when you’re a small to medium business in survival mode but believe your benefits outway your initial costs. I’ may of jumped the ramp here I’ll try to tie this into how emailing works. In your emails try to initiate a coupon or try to upgrade the sale, or try to cross sell. What I mean by cross sale is with the cheese burger, offer the coke to wash it down wash it down with. These large firms like Amazon, a large majority of their revenue is from emailing their existing customer coupons or offering services above the situation called for. That’s called Marketing 101. Coming back to email marketing, know your audience, sell the product to your relevant audience. Here is a little home work you’ll have to do. Keep tabs on what your existing customers purchased, send out emails about the product they purchased, send out reviews and ask for reviews from them. This is a two way sword, you’ll get some good reviews and some bad. But to be an honest advisor you’ll have to post all. I know this is not what you want to hear but listen to the negative more than the positive. Don’t lose focus of the picture, most emails are sent maybe just maybe one of them will bite, and that’s better than zero.

5 - Exclusive Deals to current customers. Remember that one customer that purchased from you. Well don’t forget that ONE customer. Hey reward them, give them exclusives deals Did you forget that the reason why people join those email subcritons. Well to get on those great rewards. The customers that are your customers are special. They should be treated with respect and given that golden ticket. Free promotions, free exclusive coupsons, never hurts and these things create repeat customers. If you want create some kind of point system more you buy the more you get off, same way as if they bring new customers. • How about sending out special content/coupon before its released to on your website. • First look at items or services offered, and ask your customers if there is something they’d like to see. (That says you listen and VALUE there opinion)