Systems make everything you do work better. Automation helps you stay current with some  things while you work on others, so it’s a good idea to really think about all the ways you can make your day more efficient. When you systemize your email campaigns, you’ll begin to see a world of opportunity open up right before your eyes.

If you haven’t been using email to communicate with your customers, you may be a little overwhelmed by the whole thing. First there’s figuring out what to write, then there’s the CAN-SPAM compliance laws, and how do you even know if it actually helps your bottom line?

Here are some ideas that work for many businesses, and whether you currently use email marketing or not, these methods will help you sign, seal, and deliver your brand to a targeted consumer in smart, non-spammy ways – and keep it in front of them for the long run.

Follow-up Post Sale
Businesses that follow up with their clients using a follow-up email, like a thank you or customer service survey, show their customers that they’re a priority. Not only does it put the ribbon on the deal, it also gives you an opportunity for feedback, turning a one-way communication into a dialog.

Make a habit of collecting email addresses along with phone numbers and street addresses, and develop a list of questions that will help you understand where your customer service could be improved. Then develop a follow-up email that you can customize to use with ease.

New Product or Service Introduction
When you have a change in product lines or services, share that information with your email list of happy customers. Invite them to review it, or ask questions to gauge their interest.

I suggest adding a link to an image you’ve uploaded to your website or wrote about in a blog. Images and video improve attention spans by 50%. If you send them to your blog, request comments or a Facebook ‘like.’

Holiday Messages
You don’t have to wait for the holiday biggees like Christmas or the Fourth of July. Holiday messages can go out about Veteran’s Day, Halloween, and Martin Luther King Day, too. Customize your approach by asking your readers how they recognize important dates.

These are just a few ways to be a part of an email conversation. We use AWeber for all of our email campaigns because we can choose templates that reflect our current emphasis. We can draw from statistical information, too, and learn who opened what and if they responded to a link.

Scheduling emails to go out when we choose gives us an opportunity to test time frames to see when most of our customers actually read our information.

Given the scope and reach of effective email marketing, this information is extremely valuable. Your odds of generating repeat sales from a targeted email list are greater than any social media emphasis that mainly encourages the sale of a discounted product or a give-away.

Even so, getting through an inbox can represent the biggest challenge. If you could use some help in that area, our Email Success Series was designed for you. Sign up to learn effective tips and strategies that you can begin to use right away to develop your own system. We offer this program free of charge with no strings attached because we believe in and support the economic recovery of American businesses. We know email marketing improves sales, and want you to benefit from these types of intelligent marketing practices.

Was this information helpful? Please leave me a comment and let me know, I love to hear from you. Don’t forget to sign up for our completely free tutorial – Email Success Series with Audio.

By the way, have you ‘Liked’ us on Facebook yet?

Email is the number one method of communicating with your customer base, with a reach that outweighs social media by a huge percentage worldwide. More and more, those messages are opened on smart phones, and that tiny screen changes the rules. Design, text and messages need to accommodate a busy person on the go viewing on a small screen – or you risk missing out on a large part of the population.

Text should be larger for smart phone reading. Increase your font to at least 14 points for body text and 30 points for headlines. Avoid serif fonts for easier reading. Serif fonts have those little ends on the letters, to look nice in print. The problem is, they’re harder to read online. Make text easier to read on a smart phone by choosing a sans serif font.

Audio and video are easier to consume for most on the go. Consider offering those versions of your message at the opening of your email. Be sure the length is clearly visible so a subscriber can choose to listen or watch at home.

Keep your design neat and clean. Your text should be narrow to avoid having to scroll to the right and left as it’s read.

Use additional spacing for links. It’s harder to click on links that are too close together on a smart phone screen. Space them out for easy tapping.

Last but not least, don’t forget to test your email message across many different phones and readers. Smart phone technology isn’t going away, so learn to get the most out of this medium today. Sign up for my Email Success Series to learn more about techniques and strategies that will motivate your readers, and increase sales.

The most effective method of reaching your audience is through an email campaign. Learning how to be straight and to the point can be tricky for many business owners. The longer you’ve been in business, the harder it is to realize that your customers don’t think like you.

You own the business; they want or need the products and service you provide.

Two totally different mindsets.

One key component to message clarity when developing a campaign is to outline for yourself exactly what you want from your customer. You have to clearly know what you want to accomplish, and it has to be more specific than ‘sell more stuff.’ Email campaigns drive readers to your website, so your landing page has to reflect what your email encourages – in copy (text), design, and offer. And although you wouldn’t think it needs to be said, your call to action has to be very specific to get a response!

People follow links for:

• An exclusive offer
• A desire for comfort or luxury
• To learn something they want to know
• Humor
• Free stuff

Your reader needs to be motivated to follow the links in your email campaign, and those items listed have been proven highly effective.

Consider what you already know about your readers, based on the data you have at your fingertips. You’re probably already accessing information that you can leverage for higher conversions, like which pages or posts received the most attention according to your Google Analytics or Get Clicky (recommended) account. Do your customers call you with certain questions over and over? Those answers are a good place to start!

Write your campaign in sequence. You’ve probably heard me talk about Google Docs before, I find it simple to use and easy to transfer completed messages into my email template. When I use Docs, I write several messages and separate them with a dashed line. I make sure my message is easily understood from one to the next. I constantly scour it to be certain the information has value, and to be certain my links work.

Have you signed up for my intense Email Success Series? It includes many details to help you develop your ideas from the very beginning to more advanced techniques.

I encourage you to sign up for this valuable resource: Email Marketing Success Series

Design your message around what motivates your reader. If you’re not sure, testing two different methods will help you understand. AWeber Email Services makes A/B testing simple, and if you analyze the statistics they make readily available, it becomes easy to know what your reader responds to.

We recommend AWeber Email Services to all of our clients, and use them ourselves. Here’s a link to sign up, if you haven’t already: AWeber Email Services

Narrowing the focus of your newsletter to particular segments will increase your bottom line – whether you’ve got a huge list or not. Use newsletter design elements to keep your regular offers in front of your reader and introduce new ones, but cover specific material in the body content.

Your email marketing list is vital; it’s actually more important than your social media efforts and your website. Why? Because hands-down, more people are reached through their inbox than any other online method. Targeting behavior will increase your sales and build your brand.

Who opened up what email? Did they click on the links inside? Was it effective? Did they unsubscribe, or not open it up at all?

Our readers come for all sorts of reasons. Many of the issues people want solved are related to additional services we offer. As our list grows, our newsletter content becomes more specific to each separate group of readers. By continually tweaking those leads to see where their interest lies, we reach more people who we can actually serve and develop programs that address their needs. We couldn’t do that without the data AWeber Email Services provides.

This logic doesn’t only apply to a company with several products that can easily cross-promote. Even if you only offer one product that does many things, each solution may be another area to target. Getting specific will help you notice where your holes are for a more complete campaign.

Your list can be divided up in such a way that your message targets a particular group who has already shown where their interest lies. Interrupt the regular emails with product introductions, called email blasts, and always suggest that they forward your email to a friend who may not know that your product or service is their remedy.

Hey, don’t leave money on the table!

Posture yourself for increased sales with AWeber Email Services. They have several easy-to-use sign up forms that capture the information you need to dish up the right content to the right audience.

The templates shown on AWeber for newsletter design are a nice way to present your message, but the most important thing will always be the content specific material provided in it. Take advantage of the additional spacing in sidebars to keep your social connections, regular and new offers in front of your readers each time you send out a newsletter.

A great newsletter takes much forethought, and the right tools make all the difference. My Email Success Series was written and recorded for small business owners who would like to be email marketing, but don’t know where to start. For more information on building a customized email campaign, sign up for the Email Success Series today.

Are you better off marketing to your existing customer base or finding new customers?

They’re both critical to the growth of your business, but where is your smartest dime spent?

If you’ve done your job right, your current customers are a walking, talking, and breathing advertisement. Getting them on board with your new projects first is the smartest way to grow your business.

Prospecting for new clients is important, too. But the cost of converting a previous customer is far less expensive and much farther reaching. When they’re happy, you not only win their business, but they tell their friends, co-workers, and even family members. That kind of credibility is priceless.

How Do You Retain Your Customers?

Communication is key. It’s critical to stay in front of your customers 25, even 30 times a year.

Okay, HOW do you stay in touch with customers 25-30 times a year? These ideas may help:

• Blog updates 2-3 times a week
• Weekly newsletters
• Quarterly promotions
• Birthday messages
• Thank you messages for purchases made
• Customer service surveys
• Social media presence
• E-book offers

I can’t tell you how often I hear local businesses concerned that if they have an email marketing campaign, they’ll be spamming. Somewhere down the line the idea that email marketing is spam has become common. It’s not the same thing at all, in fact, it’s like comparing apples to oranges.

I’m not talking about spamming, I’m talking about relationship building. Use email strategically.

If you’re an email subscriber to Inside Line, you’re a viewer who comes to us through the services of AWeber. This is one of the most effective ways to reach your previous clients and new prospects at the same time.

Every company offers specials, combined deals, or even reduced bulk rate products or services during strategic marketing periods. If you aren’t currently doing this, take a good hard look at your offer and see where you can spearhead choice ideas and get them in front of your customers in an affordable fashion. Don’t miss out on advantages that specials can make to your bottom line. Email campaigns will let everyone you work with know about them.

AWeber Makes it Easy

Get Started Today For Only $1! – AWeber Communications

AWeber provides a sign up box for you to add to your website, and then you use one of the several template forms they offer to broadcast an e-mail special, regular newsletter, birthday message, or tips that are useful to your readers. You can even feed your blog to your subscribers, building your list as you do.

AWeber takes the subscriber information and sends out an ‘opt-in’ message that gives you permission to send your e-mails. You create the thank-you messages, the content, and schedule when they go out. Everything else is automated. Several different messages can be scheduled at the same time to different lists. Your readers also have the ability to ‘opt-out’ whenever they wish.

Take advantage of email marketing. If you want to learn more ideas to build a successful campaign, sign up for my Email Success Series, complete with audio tutorials. This series will walk you through the beginnings of development all the way through to more advanced retention campaigns. It’s free with no strings attached, sign up today!

Your relationship with your subscriber is very important. Are you growing it?

Email marketing is a two-way street. Your primary directive, besides the actual sale, is to get subscribers to communicate with you, to respond to you. As you interact over time, your relationship grows – and so does your credibility. You’ll be much more convincing as a trustworthy source.

Here are 7 ideas to get your wheels turning:

• Create shareable content, using humor, video, audio, and images.
• Offer something helpful and have the link to it inside your email.
• Use surveys to find out if your information is making the impact you wanted.
• Make them feel like they are on your ‘exclusive’ list.
• Using registration data, segment your list according to pre-determined factors associated with that information and specifically target them with ‘first-to-see’ language.
• Always include your email address and encourage their comments and suggestions.
• Also make it clear how easy it is to unsubscribe, and let them know you’ll be quick to respond.

If you’d like more information on email marketing, why not sign up for our free Email Success Series? There’s absolutely no obligation, and this valuable information will really help you put the pieces together for your own campaign. Sign up today!

Do you have any questions about email marketing? Leave us your comments, we’re happy to help!

Here’s to all the great information on business email list marketing we enjoyed reading this week, now it’s time to share it with you. Please take some time to check out these links this weekend.

(PT2) We want our relationships with our customers and readers to be actual relationships, and that requires two-way conversation. We want to encourage them to call, sign up, or click on a link. We want them to tell us what they thought of our products or services. If you read my earlier post on the value of influencing customer response, it’s time to start asking the questions and posing the statements that engage dialog.

Or you can just wait and see if your schedule fills up. (See pic for emotion that follows waiting for your schedule to fill up).

I suggest being proactive by adding these messages to your campaign:

• Has this helped you? We’d love to hear about it. Please email your comments to info@xxxxxxxx
• Please leave us your comments, is there anything you would like to learn about in the future?
• Please take this survey. It will only take 30 seconds of your time.
• Sign up for this promotion using this code: xxxxxxx
• If you purchase during this week’s promotion, every second item will be reduced! Buy now!
• Did you enjoy the last service call or sale? If your friend schedules and keeps an appointment between now and the end of the month, get $$ off of your next appointment.
• I want you to feel great about your purchase and to be totally satisfied because I know you made an excellent choice.

Notice how every one of these suggestions specifically asked the reader or customer to respond in a certain way? Did you notice the persuasive mechanisms at play? Believe it or not, these types of messages increase your response rate and conversion astronomically. You can’t go wrong inciting a positive response, but you can go terribly wrong not doing so.

How Do You Track Your Response Rate?

How do you know if your methods of engagement were successful? Using a customer code as a link to a page on your Web site that is unrevealed in regular navigation is a great way to know that the traffic you’ve encouraged is responding. Set it up and use your Web analytics to find out how many are making it to that page.  Surveys available through a link can really narrow down your information, and offering a discount or coupon for taking the survey is a helpful way to get the highest response rate. If your specials are only offered to those taking the time to respond to the survey, you’ll know exactly how successful your promotion was. Follow our  link to AWeber for the easiest way to track promotions using email marketing that lets your customer opt-in and opt-out, avoiding the spam implications entirely.

Take this advice and your readers will be EXCITED to open, read, and click on most anything you send, and look forward to more. How are you encouraging your customers’ response? Let us know what you would like to hear more about and we’ll be happy to respond to YOU.

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Can YOU Influence Customer Response?

Build Your Email List – Jump Start Your Marketing

Can what you say or write about your product, service, or message really influence a response from your customer? Can you inspire a reaction?

Are you a parent? Maybe you’ve noticed a response from your child that you didn’t see coming, but later realized was a direct response to a marketing message. We’re always being incited to respond, and kids are infamously receptive. No doubt you recognize these attempts on you and your children:

• RT this
• Sugared cereal on child’s level at grocery store
• Buy one, get 1/2 off of the next item
• Sign here for additional warranty (authorizing additional charge)

How Can This Work For You?

This type of marketing has been around since marketing began, but few small businesses take advantage of this tool for add on sales. It’s surprising how often we’re not encouraging a reaction. Not every response from your customer will be a sale, this time, but every attempt you make at a dialog is an investment successful companies know will eventually return positive results. So what responses would you like to encourage?

• Do you want your message to ‘go viral?’
• Do you want comments and feedback?
• Do you want your potential customer to purchase?
• Are you working on a larger sale from a previous customer?
• Are you testing an offer to check the response rate?
• Do you want more customers?

All these questions and many more can be answered by simply asking the uncomfortable. And actually, success often requires taking your comfortable self out of your comfort zone and doing the uncomfortable. In this case, I want you to think about what it is you want your reader, potential client, or previous customer to do, and then go about the business of encouraging that response.

That’s actually as simple as adding text to the bottom of your email campaign, newsletter, blog, or direct mail. You know the average, “contact us today,” message, (which is important because it really needs to be instructed), but how can you specifically target the response you’re after?

First of all, you’ll need to make sure your potential client enjoyed hearing from you. Are you adding tidbits to your regular messages that they enjoy? Is your tone pleasant, and do you offer what your readers are after? Do you offer a free anything? (freebies = good)

Once you’re convinced that your customer is looking forward to hearing from you, it’s reasonably certain that you’re conditioning that response. You must be doing something right. How would you ever know? You’re going to have to ask and use some tracking to see if your investment is yielding favorable results. In my next post I’ll go over some simple ways that you can influence customer response to find out information, add to your client list, and sell your product or service to an otherwise lethargic customer.

Are You Losing Profits Due to Inconsistent Follow-Up?

Following up with leads is more than just a process – it’s an art. In order to be effective, you need to design a follow-up system, and stick to it, EVERY DAY! If you don’t follow-up with your prospects consistently, INDIVIDUALLY, and in a timely fashion, then you might as well forget the whole follow-up process.

Follow-Up Through Email List Marketing Increases Your Profits

Following up with each lead individually, multiple times, but at set intervals, and with pre-written messages, will dramatically increase sales! Others who use this same technique confirm that they have all at least doubled the sales of various products! In order to set this system up, though, you need to do some planning.

Develop Your Follow-Up Messages

First, you’ll need to develop your follow-up messages. If you’ve been marketing on the Internet for any length of time, then you should already have a first informative letter. Your second letter marks the beginning of the follow-up process, and should go into more detail than the first letter. Fill this letter with details that you didn’t have the space to add to the first letter. Stress the BENEFITS of your products or services!

Your next two or three follow-up messages should be rather short. Include lists of the benefits and potential uses of your products and services. Write each letter so that your prospects can skim the contents, and still see the full force of your message.

The next couple of follow-up messages should create a sense of urgency in your prospect’s mind. Make a special offer, giving him a reason to order NOW instead of waiting any longer. After reading these follow-up messages, your prospect should want to order immediately!

Phrase each of your final one or two follow-up messages in the form of a question. Ask your prospect why he hasn’t yet placed an order? Try to get him to actually respond. Ask if the price is too high, the product isn’t the right color or doesn’t have the right features, or if he is looking for something else entirely. (By this time, it’s unlikely that this person will order from you. However, his feedback can help you modify your follow-up letters or products, so that other prospects will order from you.)

Watch the Timing of Your Follow-up E-mail Messages

The timing of your follow-up letters is just as important as their content. You don’t want one prospect to receive a follow-up the day after he gets your initial informative letter, while another prospect waits weeks for a follow-up!

Always send an initial, informative letter as soon as it is requested, and send the first follow up 24 hours afterward. You want your hot prospects to have information quickly, so that they can make informed buying decisions!

Send the next two or three follow-up messages between one and three days apart. Your prospect is still hot, and is probably still shopping around! Tell him about the benefits of your products and services, as opposed to your competitors’. You will make the sale!

Send the final follow-up messages later on. You certainly don’t want to annoy your prospect! Make sure that these last letters are at least four days apart.

We recommend AWeber for automation of your follow-up email list marketing campaign. Learn more about it on our DIY Business Email Marketing page.

Following up effectively seems complicated, but it doesn’t have to be! So many potential customers are lost because of poor follow-up;  don’t you want to be one of the few to get it right?

Image Credits: Osbock on flickr and Hummingbird by Images by Hawkeye

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