Communicating with Consumers Through Email

Thanks to the Digital Age in which we live, businesses now have the opportunity to reach their customers through a variety of different online platforms and channels. With just a few clicks of a mouse, you can now easily connect and engage with your existing, and prospect, customers at a more personal and meaningful level without having to dive deep into your marketing budget dollars.

While there are numerous ways to communicate with your customers online, email continues to be a highly effective, and highly utilized, channel to proactively reach your target audience and enhance the overall customer experience. People want to be in the know and email has the ability to play a multi-faceted role in informing consumers while at the same time actively building trusted, long-term relationships. If you’re looking for ways to directly connect with your customers, don’t miss out on the powerful opportunity provided with email marketing. Make the effort to properly invest time and resources in your next email strategy as a vital tool of communication with your customers and see the impact it has on your business. Here’s how.

Create your vision.

It’s no surprise that one of the biggest obstacles marketers face is how to stand out in the inbox. As we are all aware, consumers are flooded with different emails from different brands each and every day. When curating your email content, make sure you are promoting messaging that is informative, impactful and resonating with your customer’s needs. Your emails need to be worth your readers time so everything you send out should serve the purpose of delivering some type of value to your audience. Before sending out your next email, ask yourself this…What is the end goal of this email communication with consumers? More store trips, larger market basket, more loyalty program sign-ups? When promoting any offers or promotions, your emails should always be a consistent representation of how you want to present your brand. Work towards sending emails that connect, not blasts that repel.

Create your plan.

Once you have your vision, it’s time to create your plan. Like everything else in business, you should always be looking ahead. Establish what email content you want to send out, to who, and when. Draft a timeline for each of your campaigns that allows you enough time to create content that is rich and engaging while also meeting the interest of your subscribers and relating to your overall message. Email is an essential component of any business communications platform and should never be frivolously thrown together. Try tackling your plan in quarterly chunks. Establish your focus for each quarter and define what you will do to support it.  Set the cadence and think about the marketing platform you want to use to tackle your plan. Many can make life easier for you, especially if technical work isn’t your strong suit. Do your research and make sure to work with a partner that you know can meet the needs of your vision and plan.

Measure and adjust.

Once you’ve put your plan in motion, it’s vital you continuously measure and track the success of your email campaigns. The best way to know if something is working is through avid research and reporting. By tracking key metrics, such as open and click rates, you can see the types of content your subscribers respond best to and make adjustments accordingly. Doing so will help you provide your consumers the relevant information they are looking for and effectively build a loyal customer base.