Okay, so you have a solid email marketing campaign in place, one that is efficient and showing every sign of increasing your returns and profitability. Time to take it to the next level. This may include a number of low volume high return on investment automated messages. How are these created? What will they say? How will they be received? These messages are designed to solidify your customer base, to increase loyalty to your brand, provide a measure of education, and move other prospects a step or two closer to a sale.
So how do you best go about taking this next all important step? Ask five separate questions, and the answers should tell you which direction you should go in.
For starters, evaluate your relationship with the customer. Different clients have different needs and as such they require different kinds of content. Consider using some combination of reminder e-mails or cross sell messages and incentives for your high value customers and a different one for those prospects who are on the hook, but have yet to make a purchase.
Some of those messages may focus on features and benefits of a new item, while focusing on the price for another group. You could even break up the message into segments, a two part message for those who are close to a decision, or a four or five part message for those who still need some prodding. Determine where your relationship is with a given client and tailor your content to those audiences.
Where is a given customer in the purchase process? It’s impossible to make a slam dunk unless you first have a concentrated, targeted run up to the basket. Consider focusing on reminder e-mails with content on a given item that a customer has indicated an interest in. The more education you can provide, the more likely they will eventually be reeled in. Provide them with product reviews, price comparisons, how to video tutorials…anything to help them in their decision.
What devices are being used to read your emails? Knowing what your customers prefer goes a long way towards determining the type of content you will provide and the method through which it is delivered, such as content style, layout, and length. With mobile devices becoming more and more common, it is highly recommended to keep such trends in mind when composing e-mail campaigns. Smartphones are another rising technology star, which means some of the more sophisticated elements of your message should be scaled back to ensure a high level of mobile engagement and conversions.
Where are you getting your content? In many cases, what you need is right in front of you, in the form of product manuals, catalogs, white papers, and various other sources. Make use of what you already have to compose your messages and content and customize it for email scenarios. Some of this content may be inserted dynamically from third party sources, which enables you to better customize the content that is needed for a particular demographic.
Real time release or scheduled? Immediacy is important here. Messages going out in real time need to have a much different style and overall tone from those that are scheduled in advance or those that have a different purpose in mind. Make sure you come across as authoritative and trustworthy, not creepy and overbearing. Few communications mediums are as misinterpreted as email, so it is important to make sure that your message comes across the right way, at the right time, and for the right situation.
