Then he added: "But we've been collecting email address for a while and compiling them on a spreadsheet." Oh, excellent, I replied. So is there anything I can do to set your data to work for you? "Oh, I don't think so," he said. "I don't think our customers use email very much..."
Why it hadn't occurred to him that anyone who could supply an email address is, by definition, using email, is odd. Thankfully, I found a way round putting this too bluntly to him, and now we're planning the company's first email campaign.
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| We think before we delete |
Email marketing is deeply misunderstood by most SMEs. The first thing they'll say is that it doesn't work. The evidence they have for this statement is that they spend a little time every day deleting unsolicited spam which has wormed its way through the filters. And they remember simultaneously emailing 20 customers with Outlook and getting no response.
So let's look at the spam issue first of all. The fact that we are offered penis enlargements and vouchers for American retail chains in blanket-bombing exercises by spammers, and delete them all, isn't evidence that email marketing doesn't work. It's evidence that we choose the emails we want to open. If you have a mailing list of previous customers, you know they have bought your product and may buy it again. So they are interested in your product.
If the subject line they see listed gets straight to the point, and seems to offer something they want, they will open it. Period.
Building 'To' lists 200 prospects long in an Outlook email, and sending it is doomed to fail. Many spam filters automatically filter multiple addressees if the sender (you) isn't in the recipient's address book. And if you haven't done the right thing anyway, and made yourself the 'To' and the prospects the 'Bcc' (blind carbon copy), you'll have just irritated the Hell out of your prospects by sending them a list of 199 email addresses they don't want...
So here are my four emailing 'must dos' and the explanation below.
- Get a good list
- Write a great message
- Make it look good
- Track the results
Secondly, the message in the email is crucial if you want to get a response. The subject line is absolutely paramount, and I sometimes spend ages rewriting this for clients until I am sure it hits the spot.
Thirdly, the way the email looks is really important. Anything that looks like you knocked it up in Word suggests you aren't very serious. Good design isn't easy but great designers work fast and are thus great value. Don't wreck a great message for the sake of £20.
Finally, there's no point sending email if you don't know what happens to it. Good email marketing tracks every single email and can tell you not only how many people opened it but who they were, and whether they clicked on any of the email's active content.
