What approach to email marketing works best?

“Email marketing sounds great in theory. But how does it work in practice? Our second clinic takes you through the first steps of a winning email marketing system…”

Ronen Yaari, OpenMoves
Questions? Drop me an email or call!

Last week we saw how email marketing can make significant contributions to your revenue.

Now let’s turn that potential into real dollars.

Our first task in developing a successful email marketing system is to find the approach that will work best for your business.

But just what are the different types of email in the marketing toolbox? And how can you determine which is best suited to your situation?

Understand your email choices

For most businesses, the myriad of email alternatives narrows down to three common choices:

• The promotional email
  This is a single email or series of emails containing one or more offers and seeking an immediate response.
• Example: A retail website might announce a 24-hour 10%-off sale.
• Main benefit: Generates an immediate reaction.
• Suited for: Retail promotions, particularly of impulse or low-cost items — but useful anytime you want to encourage an action that involves little commitment on the part of the recipient (such as a free download of an e-book).
• The email newsletter
  This is a standard email in which the main focus is on informational content of value to the recipient.
• Example: A sales consultant might send out a monthly newsletter with tips on successful selling techniques.
• Main benefit: Positions the sender as an authoritative, credible, and trustworthy partner.
• Suited for: Selling services or high-value products, particularly those with a long sales cycle or requiring a considered purchase decision.
• Newsletters nurture the customer or prospect. When the reader is ready to buy a relevant service, yours is the first name they think of.
• Of course, you can use newsletters for direct “sales,” too. Simply put house ads, announcements, and other promotional elements alongside the informational content.
• As long as they don’t swamp that content, such sales messages benefit from the credibility and trust you’ve built through the newsletter.
• Triggered emails/autoresponders: This is a one-shot email or a limited series of emails sent out in response to some specific action taken by the recipient.
• Example: A hotel sends a guest an email confirmation after processing a booking. A few days before the actual stay, the hotel sends further email(s) containing directions, weather forecasts, and offers on additional hotel services.
• Main benefit: Delivers targeted information or promotions.
• Suited for: Distributing self-contained bundles of informational or promotional content to specific targets.

Learn from others

Armed with a basic understanding of what the possibilities are, your next task is to gather inspiration from others.

Sign up for your competitors' email lists and consider these questions:

• What type of email do they send
• How often do they contact you?
• What reaction are they trying to get?
• How do they encourage that reaction?
• Where is there room for improvement?

Evaluate your business situation

This analysis should already have given you ideas on how you might use email. Now it's time to take a look at your own business activities, so you can match these potential ideas with your actual situation.

Take a step back and ask yourself:

1. What do you want to ultimately sell?
   How long is the sales cycle? Is it an impulse purchase? Is the buying decision a purely emotional one? Or is it a more considered decision relying on information and facts?
2. Who are you selling to?
   Consider what kind of emails your target customers might like to receive from you. Are they bargain hunters? Do they need advice on business challenges? Would they find event reminders useful?
3. What do you want people to do when they get your email?
   Do you want immediate responses, such as direct sales or event registrations? Or are you more interested in strengthening relationships and establishing your credentials?

Develop an approach matching your needs

Knowing what you want from email marketing and what your options are, now you need to put the two together.

Here it's helpful to consider how email can complement or replace your existing sales and marketing tactics.

Say you hold seminars. Could you use email to keep in touch with participants, invite them to new events, or remind them of your services?

If you already send out direct mail, can you shift resources to email (which we’ve already established is more cost-effective) and reuse some of your print promotions and designs?

All this requires creative thinking on your part, since each business is unique. Outside help is often useful. But don't worry — the very nature of email marketing takes the pressure off getting it right the first time out. Keep in mind:

• You can mix and match options. Why not send customers a regular newsletter, interspersed with the occasional promotion?
• You don't need to be all things to all people. Consider, for example, one approach for existing customers and another for prospects. The more you can narrow down your audience, the easier it will be to find an email approach to match their (and your) needs.
• Email is flexible, it’s low-cost, and it draws a measurable reaction. That means you can change strategy relatively quickly in response to what you learn about your efforts (a topic we'll tackle in a few weeks.)

Now that you know what you want to do, it's time to turn our attention to the hands-on work of actually building your email marketing system.