Email marketing is your best way to connect to your customers

Email remains an effective strategy to give your customers more value, beyond selling them a product or a service.

It can improve sales, prospects and interest in your company, if you put the effort into sending emails that are relevant to your customers.

You can do this by sending emails that give your customers more information about your product, tips on how to use it, or a company contact if they want to give a call.

Think of event invitations via email more like networking or learning opportunities for your customers instead of advertising for your brand. The touchpoints that create value for your clients build trust for a time when they need something related to your products or services.

How many emails should I send?

There are no set and clear rules. The best way is to set expectations for your customers when you offer your email newsletter or program on what kind of content (e.g. sales, new arrivals, services, tips) they will receive and how often (e.g. not more than once a week).

To set a number and frequency, start by understanding how much content of value you can re-use or create. You will be able to monitor the reach of your emails by analyzing data related to your emails and how they contribute to your business goals.

It’s all about your customer

Make it personal to make it count. Appeal to customers as individuals.

First, if you are operating in a multilingual environment, send emails according to the customer’s language preferences. It is typically a cause of frustration for the receiver of the email, especially if you have that information already.

Pick a topic that you know your client is interested in. Furthermore, be sure to send the emails with a name the person recognizes, for example, the company’s name or their account manager.

What if you don’t have an email list?

Start by signing up to one of the free to low-cost providers. They are essential technology solutions to ensure that your email reaches the mailbox of your customer and avoids being flagged as junk.

You must have consent from customers to obtain their email addresses to start building your list. You can also collect business cards at tradeshows or networking events to build your list.

If your business has a website where customers can leave their email addresses via their comments or place online orders, you can also use this to build your list. It could be a matter of adding a check box to collect their consent (see the legislation applicable to the countries you operate in; for Canada, see the Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation).

Keep collecting data and act on it

It can be tempting to ask everything from your customers. It is unlikely that people would spend the time to accurately complete a form with too many fields. You should only collect what you need, such as name, industry, email addresses and postal codes.

You can also use the data you collect about their transactions, their preferred products, what products they viewed on your website, their demographics and their average spend to send your customers relevant email in more advanced scenarios.

Build a relationship with multiple people with the same effort

The time and cost to send one email to five people is the same as sending one email to 50 people.

With the right effort, email marketing can help you build a relationship with your customers. This can be done by first understanding your customers and their interests.

Over time, these relationships can translate to new opportunities, sales or partnerships for your business.

I am interested in your thoughts on email marketing and marketing automation.