One of the biggest misconceptions we see in the use of CRM packages to connect with customers is that e-mail marketing is a cost-free way to reach out. You build a template; you build a list; you push the button and in a matter of minutes your message is reaching your customer. What’s not to like about that?
Here are a few gotchas in e-mail marketing efforts we commonly encounter in our travels and ways to combat them.
Gotcha 1 – Sending just to send something
Would you send a mass-produced email to a close friend in order to keep in touch? Hopefully not. The same holds for your customers. There are a few rules I always follow when I’m going to send an e-mail campaign out:
1) Target your audience
2) Have a specific message
3) Only send if you have something worth saying
Gotcha 2 – Ignoring the “Less is More” rule
Expanding on the last point, sending an e-mail a week may or may not be right for your customers. If you’re bombarding your customers with specials once a week, human nature tells us that we’ll become desensitized to those messages. Sending only when you have something important to say will help prevent your emails from landing in the Deleted Mail or Junk Mail folders.
Gotcha 3 – Shooting in the dark
Users of our CRMSender product tell us that they don’t know how they handled e-mail campaigns before. The product allows you to not only send easily, but also allows you to actually view statistics on your campaigns. Here are some of the questions you should be able to determine from your efforts:
1) How many people opened my email?
2) How many people deleted the message before reading?
3) How many people actually clicked through the message to get to your landing page?
4) How many people unsubscribed as a result of your effort?
5) How many sales can be attributed to each effort?
If you can’t answer these questions, how do you know if your emails are effective?
Gotcha 4 – Not knowing who you’re sending to
Recently, I got so frustrated with a particular company’s excessive e-mailing that I unsubscribed from ANY information that they had to share. The company’s products no longer had a place in my life, but if the messages had not been so frequent, I might have stayed in the queue to learn about new products or specials I could pass on to friends. One week later, guess what shows up in my inbox? You guessed it, another e-mail from my favorite company. I unsubscribed again. Two days later, another message arrives.
Knowing how pulling lists and e-mail campaigns can work, I had no sympathy for these guys. After sending an e-mail to customer service to please remove me, I got yet another message the following week. I can’t tell you how common this is due to one thing – companies don’t know who they’re mailing to.
Using a system like CRMSender to manage subscriptions can help with two things:
1) Understand what’s driving people to not want to hear from you
2) Avoid driving a person to the point where they want absolutely no contact with your company
Gotcha 5 – Not connecting the dots
Having a customer relationship management system is truly essential these days. Technology is accelerating many things related to customer experience. Knowing who your customers truly are - what they want, what they need, and what makes them buy your products - is not just nice anymore, it is essential.
It’s not just about e-mail. Seeing all communications with a specific client in total can really take your relationship with that customer to another level - a level in which competitors are quickly sent away when they come knocking.
You’ve got a great product or service. Manage your client database and client communications the same way you manage your product and it will pay dividends.