BizEngine Blogger Dave Choate is taking the 16-part Inbound Marketing University online course. He’ll share what he learns from each lesson with readers over the course of the next two weeks.
Thanks to the site migration, some of these posts have gone the way of the dinosaur. We’ll be re-posting them so you can have access to the great advice we’re getting from IMU.
E-mail marketing is among the most widely-used ways to reach customers. It’s also arguably the one fraught with the most danger of completely turning people off from your company, given that it can be morph at any time into an annoying blitz campaign.
In this, the ninth video from Inbound Marketing University, instructor Eric Groves is adamant about e-mail’s efficacy as a tool. The senior vice president of Constant Contact, Groves knows a thing or two about delivering consumers e-mails that draw interest to a company, as his firm specializes in building e-mail campaigns for just that purpose.
It’s about “grabbing your brand and your essence and delivering it along with a very powerful message,” according to Groves.
Taking Advantage of E-mail
It may be tempting, to paraphrase Crusades-era monk Arnaud Amalric, to e-mail them all and let God sort ‘em out. But that approach misses the mark, Groves said.
The emphasis when building your list should be on quality over quantity. You can hit disinterested customers with e-mails all day long and succeed only in alienating them. Instead, Groves recommends building your list around customers who have a genuine interest in your business and would benefit from your newsletters or promotions.
Knowing your customers and your company can also help you determine how frequently you should be sending out blasts. Maybe it’s a monthly newsletter, a weekly promotion or a daily collection of relevant links and news snippets, but it should be tailored to customers first and foremost. The more frequent the use, the more likely you are to fatigue your customers, so bear that in mind.
That’s not to say a monthly newsletter is clearly the way to go. If you’ve got 14 excellent pieces of content, Groves notes, it’s not necessarily a smart idea to blow all of them on a single newsletter that’s stuffed to the gills. Instead, it’s better to use the content on several newsletters spread out over time, easing the workload on your marketing department.
Timing And Format Are Key
Two other important factors need to be highlighted for e-mail campaigns, Groves said.
At the top of the list is timing. While it may seem like a good way to build buzz for a giant sale or other event, sending out an e-mail notifying customers about it two weeks in advance is unlikely to have the desired effect. Groves said nearly 80 percent of responses to e-mail campaigns come within 48 hours, making that a target for anything time-sensitive.
In general, that’s a good philosophy to carry with you as you build campaigns. The very nature of e-mail is that they draw an initial response and then are forgotten under a pile of fresh e-mail. Target an immediate response to an immediate marketing effort and you’ll have better results most of the time.
Format is also important. Groves suggests grabbing attention in the subject line by spicing up the language you use, as well as using a clear, easy-to-navigate format and an effective call to action. Anything that compels a customer to open the e-mail and potentially click through to the site is critically important, he added.
“They need to care,” he said.
Comment on your own experiences with e-mail marketing campaigns in the comments.
Subscribe via RSS
Follow on Twitter
Connect on LinkedIn
Connect on Facebook
Loading ...
31 Comments on "Making Inroads To Customer Inboxes"
Its like you read my mind! You appear to know a lot about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you can do with a few pics to drive the message home a little bit, but other than that, this is wonderful blog. A fantastic read. I will certainly be back.
Thanks for that, Bernie! Glad to have you reading.
Interesting post. You have a interesting opinion on the matter and I shall be subscribing to your feed and will hope you shall write frequently on similar matters. But I was curious on what your sources for the article are? Thanks
I was taking the Inbound Marketing University course through HubSpot and posting about each video I watched. Thanks for the comment!
Wow! This can be one particular of the most beneficial blogs We’ve ever arrive across on this subject.Actually Excellent.I am also a specialist in this topic so I can understand your effort
I’ve bookmarked http://www.bizengine.com/index.php/2011/03/making-inroads-to-customer-inboxes/ at Reddit.com so my friends can see it too. I used Business Guidance, Managing Your Business, Sales & Marketing | Making Inroads To Customer Inboxes : BizEngine Blogger Dave Cho | BizEngine so it was a good title.
Okay article. I just became aware of your blog and desired to say I have really enjoyed reading your opinions. Any way I’ll be subscribing in your feed and Lets hope you post again soon.
Thank you!
Do you have any idea why I receive Java error messages while loading your site in Explorer?
I don’t, but let me look into that!
Hey would you mind letting me know which web host you’re using? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 different web browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot quicker then most. Can you suggest a good internet hosting provider at a reasonable price? Many thanks, I appreciate it!
Your weblog seems to be incredible – complete with excellent content.. and so on. I believe you may get even greater good results with including some a lot more video clips and photographs. What do you feel. Even though I’ve bookmarked it. Many thanks.
All I can say is it’s truly, really great. I would not alter a thing.
Thank you so much for providing individuals with an exceptionally splendid opportunity to discover important secrets from this website. It can be so fantastic plus full of a lot of fun for me and my office colleagues to search your website at minimum thrice per week to read the latest tips you will have. Of course, I’m just always happy considering the striking concepts served by you. Certain two ideas in this posting are particularly the most efficient we’ve ever had.
I have been browsing online more than three hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It is pretty worth enough for me. Personally, if all website owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the net will be much more useful than ever before.
It’s really a cool and useful piece of information. I’m happy that you shared this helpful information with us. Please stay us informed like this. Thanks for sharing.
I landed on your weblog by way of Bing and was checking out some content articles. You have a great blog but you need to think about including a characteristic or two like a subscriber list for your members. I’ve this on my blog and people really like it.
I really appreciate your writing style. This is a great post! Thanks!
good post, Great Site ! youve been bookmarked.
Thank you very much, Suzette!
i’d love to share this posting with the readers on my site. thanks for sharing!
There are some interesting points in time in this article but I don’t know if I see all of them center to heart. There is some validity but I will take hold opinion until I look into it further. Good article , thanks and we want more! Added to FeedBurner as well
An impressive share, I just given this onto a colleague who was doing a little analysis on this. And he in fact bought me breakfast because I found it for him.. smile. So let me reword that: Thnx for the treat! But yeah Thnkx for spending the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love reading more on this topic. If possible, as you become expertise, would you mind updating your blog with more details? It is highly helpful for me. Big thumb up for this blog post!
Hrmm that was weird, my comment got eaten. Anyway I wanted to say that it’s fine to know that somebody else furthermore mentioned this as I had trouble finding the same info elsewhere. This was the first position that told me the answer. Thanks.
Great blog here! Also your site loads up fast! What web host are you using? Can I get your affiliate link to your host? I wish my web site loaded up as fast as yours lol
Thanks for the post, I liked it’s content and style. I found this web site upon Yahoo and have right now added it to my bookmarks. I will be certain to go to once again soon.
Howdy blogger, thank you for providing this article.. I found it first-class.
Great stuff as usual…
One other issue is when you are in a circumstance where you would not have a cosigner then you may really need to try to exhaust all of your money for college options. You will find many grants or loans and other scholarship grants that will offer you money that can help with education expenses. Thanks for the post.
Your site is top-notch I will have to read it all, thank you for the diversion from the books!
Trackbacks for this post