The last thing anyone needs these days is one
more useless email to hit their inbox. We are all overwhelmed with the
constant deluge of emails. We sign up for this or that list to get access to a
great deal or some incredibly useful piece of information, and usually do not
give much thought to the continuous stream of emails that will follow now that
we have given our permission.We are all given the same hours in the day, so at some point there is a choice to be made. We cannot simply open and read them all. Some must be deleted. Sometimes unsubscribing is the right choice. These choices that we are making are the same ones the contacts on our own lists are making. Our open rates are evidence of these choices. If your email list open rate is "average" you are probably barely hitting a 20% open rate, and your click through rate...well, that is another story.
So, is email marketing even worth it? Absolutely! Email marketing can be a gold mine for your business, but you have to do it the right way. Here are three keys to creating a strategy that will boost your email marketing efforts and conversion rates:
1) It's a conversation. Be real. Be a person. You have a brand, but people do business with other people. With all of the choices we have today, it comes down to how your customer/prospect RELATES to you and your team.
2) Skip the fluff. Here's a good rule of thumb: If you don't have anything valuable to say/give, then you really need to consider whether you are going to say anything at all. Your email marketing plan should not be about creating an electronic sales flyer, but rather it should be about building that relationship. One of the best ways to do that is to give them valuable content. It needs to be worth their while to spend their precious email time reading YOUR stuff.
3) Have fun with it! Create a catchy subject line--one that makes them so curious that they cannot help but open it up. It does not matter how great the content is, if it does not look like it is going to be worth reading, then they probably will not even open it to see. Give them an inkling of what you will be sharing by infusing the personality into that subject line, and you will be more likely to grab their attention right away.
The bottom-line is that your email marketing is
not about the "selly-sell", as Chris Brogan likes to call
it. It's about the relationship. Build a rapport with your customers
by sharing more, selling less, and they will buy more.
