At Domino Theory we consider an e-mail marketing program essential to successful customer acquisition and retention. While social marketing is important and seems to get all the attention these days, a good e-mail marketing program will integrate with your other efforts to help your business grow and prosper in 2012.
[caption id="attachment_1008" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="E-mail Marketing Has Come a Long Way!"]
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Hopefully your business has an e-mail program of some type, wo what we're talking about here is how to make your e-mail more targeted and productive.
The first thing we suggest is using an a third-part e-mail marketing service. As we explain how to better your e-mail marketing, the reasons for this will become clear. Domino Theory uses MailChimp, but Constant Contact, iContact, and AWeber are also good programs that might better fit your specific needs.
The first and most important thing most businesses need to change with their e-mail marketing is to stop treating all recipients as if they are the same. Your customers and prospects fall into different categories depending on their needs and where they are within their buying process. The e-mail marketing services listed above all let you create lists so you can send different messages to different audiences. At the most basic level, you should have three lists: current customers, customers with whom your are currently engaged in a dialog, and prospects whom you are courting but not yet engaged with in any meaningful discussion.
Each these three groups, and with many of our customers we develop more subsets and categories, has a different need based on where they stand in their relationship with you:
One of the great things about the email marketing services Domino Theory recommends is that they allow you to quantify and analyze your efforts. You can document how many e-mails are being openend and by whom. Even if they are being opened multiple times. You can see if your e-mail has been forwarded or shared on social media. You can even track the quality of your list by seeing how many e-mails bounced and were never properly delivered.
Hand in had with the analytics above comes the ability to do A/B testing. You should constantly be improving your engagement by testing different e-mail subject lines to see which gets opened more. You can try different offers, different layouts, different links, and even different landing pages.
By taking these easy steps, you are going to see much better results from your e-mail marketing efforts.
The digital tools available today allow you to constantly refine and improve your marketing at all levels. E-mail campaigns, key words, Google ads, blog posts, landing pages, and every other piece of your digital marketing can measured evaluated and tweaked. If you are doing these things today, you are likely way ahead of your competition, if you're not doing them a year from now, you're likely to be well behind.
What do you think? Send us a note or post your comment below. [contact-form-7 id="541" title="Contact form 1"]
If you found this post interesting and or useful, please share it with your fiends and colleagues using the buttons below.
[caption id="attachment_1008" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="E-mail Marketing Has Come a Long Way!"]
[/caption]Hopefully your business has an e-mail program of some type, wo what we're talking about here is how to make your e-mail more targeted and productive.
The first thing we suggest is using an a third-part e-mail marketing service. As we explain how to better your e-mail marketing, the reasons for this will become clear. Domino Theory uses MailChimp, but Constant Contact, iContact, and AWeber are also good programs that might better fit your specific needs.
The first and most important thing most businesses need to change with their e-mail marketing is to stop treating all recipients as if they are the same. Your customers and prospects fall into different categories depending on their needs and where they are within their buying process. The e-mail marketing services listed above all let you create lists so you can send different messages to different audiences. At the most basic level, you should have three lists: current customers, customers with whom your are currently engaged in a dialog, and prospects whom you are courting but not yet engaged with in any meaningful discussion.
Each these three groups, and with many of our customers we develop more subsets and categories, has a different need based on where they stand in their relationship with you:
- Your current customers are looking for your expertise and consultative advice on how to continue to improve their business based on the products and services they purchase from you. You have earned the trust of these businesses and in order to continue to service and up-sell them you must continue to add value to the relationship. You can do this through training, white papers, webinars, etc. If you send the same message to this group as you do to prospects with whom you have no current engagement, you are missing out on a great opportunity grow your business and maybe even sending a message that confuses your current customers. Make your communications to your existing client list feel exclusive. Your customers don't want to be treated like prospects!
- Prospects in your pipeline are looking for more information and validation as to why they should do business with you. They are looking to ensure that your products and services are a fit and that the value and expertise you offer fit their needs and budget. This is a great opportunity to provide cast studies, testimonials, trial offers, and education and training.
- Your newest prospects, those with whom you've yet to start a discussion are likely at the earliest stages of their buying process. They have just become interested in products or services like yours and are educating themselves as to the choices available that might fit their needs. Your message to this group should focus their needs and the products or services you offer that fill them. Your goal with this group is to create deeper engagement. You need to get them to respond to some type of offer that better qualifies them as a prospect. A free white paper, webinar, or research document might be the answer. A free telephone or online consultation or even a free product sample or trial might be the piece that pulls them into your sales funnel.
One of the great things about the email marketing services Domino Theory recommends is that they allow you to quantify and analyze your efforts. You can document how many e-mails are being openend and by whom. Even if they are being opened multiple times. You can see if your e-mail has been forwarded or shared on social media. You can even track the quality of your list by seeing how many e-mails bounced and were never properly delivered.
Hand in had with the analytics above comes the ability to do A/B testing. You should constantly be improving your engagement by testing different e-mail subject lines to see which gets opened more. You can try different offers, different layouts, different links, and even different landing pages.
By taking these easy steps, you are going to see much better results from your e-mail marketing efforts.
The digital tools available today allow you to constantly refine and improve your marketing at all levels. E-mail campaigns, key words, Google ads, blog posts, landing pages, and every other piece of your digital marketing can measured evaluated and tweaked. If you are doing these things today, you are likely way ahead of your competition, if you're not doing them a year from now, you're likely to be well behind.
What do you think? Send us a note or post your comment below. [contact-form-7 id="541" title="Contact form 1"]
If you found this post interesting and or useful, please share it with your fiends and colleagues using the buttons below.
