Use Email to Drive Traffic
Think about how many times you’ve checked your email today. More than likely, it’s probably a significant number. People are constantly opening up their inboxes and strategic marketers know to take advantage of this open opportunity of engagement. Email marketing is a highly effective way to reach prospective and/or existing customers and when done correctly, has some serious ROI for your business. Using email to drive traffic is almost free of charge and is a direct way to nurture your customer relationships, acquire leads, solicit sales and increase awareness. If you’re not utilizing email, now is the time to start. Check out below how you can be using email marketing to benefit your business!
Get your foot in the door.
The first step to building an effective email marketing plan might also be the most important. It takes two to tango and acquiring your customers contact information can be challenging for many businesses. How do you obtain the data you need to form the channel of communication between you and your customers? The answer – don’t make it tricky, ask for it! You have to ask for what you want, right? Whether it’s online or in store, provide opportunities for customers to provide their email addresses and be proactive about it. Formalize your processes to make it easy for customers to provide their information to you and make sure you have an organized way to store your data.
Give the people what they really want.
Now that you’ve acquired their email address, your customers expect something in return. When sending out an email, there needs to be some sort of incentive for customers to interact with you. With many other things pulling at your customers throughout the day, your message needs to matter in order to break through the clutter. Send out info that is relevant to them such as promotions on the products they buy or on complimentary products. Offering perks such as subscriber discount codes and/or coupons increases customers likeliness to engage and remember your business.
…. And cater some more.
The capabilities of technology today are endless and the ability to personalize emails is a huge score for marketing! Personalization is a great way to speak directly to your customers and cater to a specific target audience. You can refine your customer data based on buying habits and send emails that include personalized recommendations and are in turn mailed something relating to their needs. This gets the right message to the right audience and your customers will appreciate you not spamming their inbox with irrelevant content. Personalization builds loyalty and has huge returns.
BUILD your branding.
Emails are a great way to showcase your content and communicate with your customers exactly what you want them to know. Every email you send out is an opportunity to reach your customers and enhance your brand. By sending out consistent messaging with specific attributes to your business, you enhance awareness and improve customer’s brand recognition.
Do Your Homework.
You know your business best so creating content to promote it will likely be the easy part. What you may not know are the rules and regulations surrounding email marketing. Fear not – there are plenty of online resources to help you navigate your way. You can learn more about email marketing and the CAN-SPAM act on the Federal Trade Commission’s website here.
