E-Mail Marketing: Don't Spam, Know Your Audience
Say email marketing, and everyone thinks spam. But it isn't the case.
If you are not communicating with people you know, and I mean clients, prospects, people you've met, then you are potentially shooting yourself in the foot.
Can I ask you a favour? Humour me. Suspend that belief for a few moments because there's so much more email can do for you without spamming, so please press "pause" on your views.
It's a medium that has one significant benefit that makes it very powerful - it's free.
Your clients want to hear from you and email is as convenient for them as it is you.
But The First Thing To Get Right And Avoid Spamming Is Knowing Your Audience
This article is the third in a series which shows you how to identify and work with your chosen audiences using email as a polite marketing tool.
So housekeeping first, you may wish to track back to the first article E-Mail Marketing For The Cash-Strapped Small Business Person, and the second, E-Mail Marketing Is NOT Spamming.
Before you even think about it as a marketing tool, you need to be able to do 3 things:
1. Firstly, think about your contacts differently - define the basis of your relationship with them
2. Be able to talk only to those people relevant to your message, what other characteristics do they have?
3. Address them all personally
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9 comments:
Creating a category is an excellent idea Ian. I made the mistake of not doing that when I made my first Rainbow mailing list.
Then I realised I was going to wind up sending the same letter to insurers, pet owners, people with kids etc etc.
I must admit, I still need to get better at actually collecting email addresses, as sending everything via snail mail is pricey.
I just wish you could add addresses you've collected to Aweber. It would make life so much easier.
I think Aweber needs alot more functionality to be truly useful.
I agree with spam the spamming limitations Aweber has - e.g. difficult to import people who have already given permission to receive emails form you - you have to get people to go through the verification process - which people don't like doing twice.
Back in the real-world, I do recommend gaining skills in manipulating and cetegorising client data.
It gives you so much flexibility.
You could for example send an email to everyone who has a favourite colour of blue because you've just brought out a blue product.
With Aweber, you have to cross subscribe etc and don't have the easy flexibility.
I could be wrong because I wouldn't call myself expert in Aweber, but I'd still prefer a little more control over our own client data.
There's also the element of 3rd party control - I've read a few horror stories about emailing applications where they have arbitrarily blocked emails which refer to former clients of theirs in links.
I get nervous handing over our client details to 3rd parties, and at least want my own copy at all times which is regularly updated.
Hi Ian - one of the massive problems with Aweber is that they keep your names.
I changed my bank account - they tried to take out the money when i was on holiday. They did email me - but I didn't get it, so they closed my account. And that was every single name on my list gone. They couldn't get them back for me.
And as you mentioned - the double subscribe thing is a pain, because a lot of people either don't realise they're meant to do it, or they can't be bothered.
I wish a system would come out where the customer details were stored on our computers, but you could still get past the spam filters like you can with Aweber.
See - there's another thing for you lot to invent.
Cath,
I agree. I appreciate legislation and systems which control really poor quality and poorly targeted messages.
The bottom line with email marketing is the results. How much do people give up for the personal benefit of automation?
It all depends upon return on investment. By spending more time on getting your data correct, adapting the message to suit the audience, the results can justify it exponentially.
Getting 1% responses, and 50% conversion to sales from every campaign may be worthwhile.
Changing those percentages just fractionally though, makes more money.
Here's the equation to work it out:
Number sent (after bounces) x Percentage (positive) responses x Conversion rate to sales x Average margin after costs of the product/service = How much you make.
Say you make £100 per sale after production costs. I'll assume because this is aimed at people doing it for themselves that there is only the opportunity cost of your time in preparing, writing and dealing with the responses.
That means:
100 x 2% x 50% x £100 = £100
So you make £100 for every 100 emails you send in a campaign.
Change the response rate because you've improved the relevance of the message, targeted people more carefully, personalised etc.
If the response rate improves to 5%, the equation becomes:
100 x 5% x 50% x £100 = £250
Now if you've taken your time building a database of 1000 names, this is what difference it makes:
Before - you made £1000
After - you made £2500
Is the extra £1500 worth your time? Using the tips and tools in this series, I'll show you how to do this arguably only slightly longer than it would take to do an Aweber campaign to your list, with full control.
These are good points Ian - but the only problem still is the spam filters. You know - mine quite happily eats emails from friends even. And god help anyone who mentions money or accounts in the title - it just doesn't get through.
Your way would definitely be worth it if the emails were all guaranteed to get through, but many bulk emails just don't, unless you're sending them through an opt in service like Aweber. I wish someone would invent a way round this.
But as you say - if fewer emails get through and you get a higher response rate - you could still be onto a winner anyway.
And profit margins are much better if you're not paying for postage.
I will start collecting these email addresses.
Ian,
This is a great tutorial. Have you thought about putting it into a pdf or e-book type of format?
I can see many using these techniques on a regular basis. You even supply the wording for them for emails. Doesn't get any easier than that.
Is this a service you offer your clients at Multi Solutions? If not, maybe it should be. If I used (or wanted to use) email marketing, I would gladly pay someone to come in and get me started.
Cath,
I know! I'm really tempted to start talking copy-writing. I'm not an expert by any means, and alot of the stuff I do breaks convention but works.
There are ways to get through spam filters to people you know. But it's counter-intuitive.
You see subconsciously, you find yourself selling even when you try NOT to.
Often it's because you want people to remember you, perhaps come back, or do whatever.
And your writing accidentally includes "selling" words that spam filters jump upon.
The trick is valuing the email address of someone you know, who wants to hear from you, and getting it into a system which allows you to talk to them. Personally.
Barriers are created.
"It takes time".
"They won't want to give it in case we spam them."
They're just two examples of many that you (sorry!) or others will often create.
Now, try turning those sentences upside down. For example:
"It only takes 30 seconds to write down an email address (and check the spelling - important)"
"They want to give us their email address because there is a very good reason to do so."
Your business and your follow-up process can answer and adapt those questions accordingly.
And find the opposite questions to any barriers.
Why?
Because you'll make exponentially more money. And that isn't an idle boast.
Mailings are good and shouldn't be dropped. Emailing is free once you have those "gold dust" addresses.
Half of nothing is still nothing. 30 seconds to gather is still not alot of effort. It takes longer to gather a postal address.
When people think "it takes time", I agree. You hav to double those 30 seconds to 60 when you consider it takes time to create an Outlook or database record with the address too.
And we're all busy so we say to ourselves "email isn't free, it takes time and effort".
I agree with that too.
But flip it again. What if we really mean "I don't like spamming" and that's how our mind deals with it and email marketing (even just to clients) is dismissed because of it?
NOW flip it once more. How long does it take to data-enter a postal address?
How much does postage cost?
How long does it take to print even just a 1 page letter to every customer?
How much time do you lose because your printer is churning away and you can't print off your invoice?
How much ink are you using?
How many pieces of paper, and how much does that cost?
Or how much are you paying for someone to design and print for you?
Do you include a brochure?
How much is a brochure per item mailed?
How much time do you spend stuffing the envelope?
How far away is the nearest post box?
Does it cost in petrol or lost time just walking to the post box?
etc.
Going back a step or two, how long did it take again to get the email address?
It takes the same amount of time thinking of words and copy regardless of whether it's email or post.
But it takes just a few minutes to send 1 email or 1000 or more.
When it's mailed, it takes an awfully lot more. And there's the additional costs I suggested above.
I really, really, really apologise for that answer!
Sorry! I've got alot of passion about this series and the stuff I've written or is still in my head bursting to get out has just done so.
I don't care in some ways. The same amount of passion people have against spam, I have in abundance because the grandfater of the internet age, email, has been spoiled for many by the evil spammers.
If spammers hadn't arrived, I speculate that many of the media and rules that have proliferated since would not (yet) have started.
The rules in social bookmarking etc are built because of the fast-buck merchants.
Some of us just want to talk, politely, to people we like (customers or otherwise) without barrier.
And the idiots have spoilt it for us.
That's why we're still stuffing envelopes with paper, petrol, energy in printers and our own legs. And therefore ruining the planet when a small business just wants to talk to its customers.
How dreadful is that?
Barbara,
I have thought about it! Too much.
I can't get this across in any other way than just saying it.
Since June 2006, I've got it wrong.
I started the blog as a resource for people who wanted to avoid the mistakes I made.
And I really, really mean this. I didn't have money-making as part of my remit.
The initial energy sprang from a desire to stop this happening to other people.
As time has gone one, I've had money-making thoughts from this blog - but that's changed of late.
I just enjoy it.
And I really, really want it to help anyone who has even a sniff of the same sitaution I was faced with and find a way out of it because of it - with or without comments!
And every small business can turn things. Even if the situation is NOT desparate.
The NO cost or LOW cost school of thought is fine. Why let your business suffer because it costs you more to speak to your clients?
I'm not bothered at all if semi-sucessful business find this and apply some of the experiences.
I'm sorry Barbara, I'm rambling now.
Yes, I'd love to write a PDF summarising everything.
And I could feasibly offer a service for getting people started but only to a few. I have to make sure the employees and future staff of the resurgent business are secured as a first priority.
This may come across as slightly arrogant. And I apologise if it does. But I write good copy. I break conventions that other e-marketers would cringe at.
But I'd really recommend someone like Walt. He is the consumate pro.
His challenge is that many think he's offering a service which will open them up to accusations of spamming.
I know enough to know he won't.
He's got the same problem as many, but from what I've read, he'll take extraordinary care of anyone who needs to know they can grow their business without being a spammer.
All I am saying as an enthusasiatic amateur is USE EMAIL MARKETING.
Multisolutions don't offer this service.
I will for just you or Cath. For free because I'd get more than you would out of it because of the thrill of simply seeing the results.
And I'd hate you to deny me that privelege.
But I would strongly recommend a copy-writer like Walt.
There is a huge difference between copy-writing for bogs, social bookmarking etc and email marketing.
I can help you (time-zones allowing) with getting things set-up.
And Walt is an honourable guy, so he won't pitch you on this I'm sure, but he can coach/do/help you get a strategy together too.
Feeling guilty with my liberal and almost telepathic theories on Walt, I'd better shut up.
But because I'm effectivey talkign to Cath, Barbara and Walt who are all in my estimation worthy people, why don;t we think of some way of wrking together - for free - in return for a bit of interesting material which we could all use?
1+1=3
1+1+1+1=107 (unless I got my math wrong).
Hi Ian - Barbara's idea of an ebook is a good one. If you don't want to write one you could even put this series into an ebook and give it away. In fact, give it to other bloggers to give away, but put in links to this site(and maybe some affiliate links.
I will give some of them away for you and I know many others will.
As for the spam - I see what you're saying, but many things go in the spam folder just because they're sent in bulk - that is the problem.
What I used to do - before Aweber was to send no more than ten at a time, to ensure they got through. It can take a while if you're sending to a big list, but at least they get there. I used to send thousands this way - every Friday years ago, from my Disney site.
Probably it would be best to outsource it.
I hate the way the spammers have screwed it up for all of us tho.
Life would be so much easier if they didn't get to spam the Internet and we didn't have to learn how to write blogs to please the search engines or emails to get round spam catchers.
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