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Archive for the ‘E-mail Marketing for Small Business’ Category
Saturday, February 19th, 2011
One of the most frustrating aspects of running an online business is losing a customer during the checkout process. This is often referred to as an abandoned shopping cart and is similar to an offline shopper heading to the checkout, then dumping their basket and leaving the store empty handed. In an offline environment it is relatively easy to analyze why that shopper had left empty handed. But what about the online environment?
Shoppers abandon the online process for a number of reasons. Sometimes they haven’t even abandoned the process, they may have just lost their Internet connection. Other situations include unsuitable payment options, expensive delivery fees, or self doubt. Trust can also be an issue – not so much trust in your business, but a lack of trust when it comes to revealing credit card information.
Ideally, your shopping cart process should request an e-mail contact early in the process. If it does, don’t ignore that information. It could be vital to winning back that customer, and perhaps completing the transaction. Combine your e-mail marketing and customer service skills and make contact with that lost customer. Don’t spam them and don’t add them to your e-mail marketing list. Rather, send a personal e-mail asking for feedback on the checkout process. Your aim should be two-fold – to gain feedback as to why they abandoned the shopping process, and to regain their business.
The first can be gained by simply asking a series of questions. The latter can be achieved by making an offer of some description. You may want to leave the offer to a follow up e-mail – hopefully addressing their issues. E-mail marketing isn’t always about promoting your business aggressively. Sometimes, it be used as a valuable customer service tool.
Tags: checkout process, customer service, shopping carts
Posted in E-mail Marketing for Small Business | 1 Comment »
Monday, February 7th, 2011
The Yellow Pages now have an opt-out website. Really. And that’s a good thing, right?
Not if you listen to Frank Reed.
I guess there’s good reason to be skeptical, but I have a different take on the subject than Frank does. I agree with his five talking points, of course, but I’m not so sure about his cynical conclusion. From the article:
Unfortunately, we live in a society where this kind of thing can be passed off as real action and the result is the ability of the Yellow Page industry to say “Look we are doing our part!” when they know full well that most people won’t even know the option exists.
Welcome to online America, home of the shallow. Where people can look like they are concerned and give any appearance they need to get by.
OK, I suppose it’s possible that the Yellow Pages are using the opt-out website as a smoke and mirrors illusion-creating ruse to make people think they care about the environment. Then what? It won’t change the fact that people are using the Yellow Pages less and less. I don’t see people saying, “Oh, look, the Yellow Pages are going green. Please deliver them to me so I can make fewer online searches this year.” Do you?
Rather, I think it’s probably likely that the folks at the Yellow Pages have seen the writing on the wall. They’re going to lose to online search. Period. You can’t stop the train. So, what better way to collect your e-mail address than to give you a way to opt out of print delivery? Then, they can redirect you to the Online Yellow Pages using the most effective Internet marketing available – e-mail marketing.
That, to me, seems like a much more likely strategy. What do you think?
Tags: e-mail marketing, internet yellow pages, online marketing, yellow pages
Posted in E-mail Marketing for Small Business | 2 Comments »
Sunday, February 6th, 2011
It seems that e-mail marketing is still one of the most efficient and cost effective channels available to businesses – that’s both online and traditional brick and mortar businesses. What may surprise many small business owners is that social media marketing is so far down the list, especially when it comes to two-way communications. At least, that’s according to data reported on WebProNews recently.
The data suggests that 19% of respondents rated promotional e-mails as influencing their visits to websites. This compared to only 8% for search engines and 5% for social media. When it came to communications, 64% preferred promotional e-mails compared to 25% traditional snail mail, 8% social media, and 5% for mobile phone.
Although these statistics make for interesting reading, they only tell half of the story. There are many businesses that are now finding that a mix of the two, that is, social media and e-mail marketing, to be very effective. Social media is being used not to drive traffic to a website, but to promote a brand and to collect e-mail data. That e-mail data is then used to further promote the business.
Where this research does prove helpful is that it does reinforce the view held my many that e-mail marketing does deliver highly targeted traffic. It also supports the theory that e-mail marketing delivers a much higher return than some other forms of marketing. Social media is still young in many ways and because of this, it has been hard to define effective marketing methodology. By combining the two, businesses are getting the best of both worlds – they are promoting a brand through social channels while promoting their products through promotional e-mails. If it helps your business grow, then you’re moving in the right direction, no matter what the statistics say.
Tags: e-mail marketing, promotional e-mails, social media marketing
Posted in E-mail Marketing for Small Business | 16 Comments »
Thursday, December 30th, 2010
Online and offline marketing often are looked at as separate channels and in reality they are. However, they should operate together under the umbrella of integrated marketing. Frank Reed at Marketing Pilgrim makes this point quite well:
If companies are serious that revenue generation is the number one objective for e-mail marketing the idea of supporting every marketing effort, both offline and online, should be a very close second in importance.
He said this in response to a survey that revealed that 25% of respondents thought that e-mail marketing supporting offline marketing efforts not very important. I have to agree that this is head-scratching data indeed.
So what are the areas of importance for e-mail marketing? According to data provided by MarketingSherpa, in order of importance, they are:
- Increasing sales revenue
- Improving customer relations
- Increasing lead generation
- Increasing website traffic
- Building brand awareness
- Increasing size of e-mail opt-in lists
- Supporting offline marketing programs
- Engaging social media audiences
So Frank’s contention is in reconciling the most important (increasing sales revenue) with the support of offline marketing programs. If you believe that the most important thing for your e-mail marketing campaigns is to increase your revenues, then shouldn’t it stand to reason that you’d place support of your offline marketing programs in high regard? You’d think so.
Here at Small Business Mavericks, we believe that e-mail marketing should support your offline marketing programs. Your online and offline marketing channels should be mutually supportive. If they are, then you’ll meet all of the other goals that are mentioned above. You’ll have the whole shebang.
I don’t know about you, but e-mail marketing to me means integrated marketing. And that’s how we do it.
Tags: e-mail marketing, integrated marketing, marketing channels, offline marketing, online marketing
Posted in E-mail Marketing for Small Business | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, December 21st, 2010
 E-mail scams are nothing new. They’ve been around as long as e-mail marketing itself. And you can bet that if there is a website that is popular, then e-mail scammers will use its reputation to snooker people. It’s happened to eBay users, Amazon users, Google users, MySpace users, and now it’s happening to Facebook users.
The image to the right is a screenshot of a Facebook e-mail scam I recently received (and almost fell for). Click the image to see a larger copy of it.
Notice how suave this is. It’s an imitation to participate in a Facebook survey. Harmless, right? You’d think so, and the people behind this are hoping you’ll think so. But the reality is once you take the survey you have given someone else permission to spam you to death. You’ve basically agreed to receive marketing materials from them – for life! So don’t fall for it.
One reason this works so well (and I’m sure there will be people who take the survey) is because the e-mail scammers went through a lot of trouble to ensure their e-mail looks like it came from Facebook. Upon closer scrutiny, I discovered the e-mail came from a .cz.cc domain name. The .cz extension represents the Czech Republic and .cc is Coco Islands. Since Facebook isn’t headquartered in either of those, this is obviously a scam.
When you click the link to take the survey, you’ll see this:
Here’s the disclaimer at the bottom of the e-mail:
If you get this Facebook e-mail scam sent to you, delete it. Don’t respond!
I didn’t see any evidence of malware or anything nasty attached to this, but if you respond you’ll receive a lot of spam e-mail from its creators. Some of those could contain viruses or malware. Just don’t risk it!
Tags: e-mail, e-mail marketing, facebook, scam
Posted in E-mail Marketing for Small Business | 3 Comments »
Saturday, November 13th, 2010
It appears that Facebook has been holding a secret – they’re going to start offering e-mail services. That explains the recent tizzy Google got into about Facebook’s non-reciprocal data sharing policies.
What this move really does is make Facebook and Google more direct competitors. Since Facebook hasn’t actually rolled out its e-mail client yet we have nothing to go on in terms of what to expect. I’m sure that there will be those users who opt for Facebook’s product and then the Google loyalists. We’ll likely have pretty clear lines of demarcation and it will likely happen fast.
Frank Reed has already made his preference known. He’s a Google man. In fact, he’s got some pretty harsh words about Facebook and, I hate to admit it but, he’s making a good point. Should Facebook be trusted with your data?
It’s possible, I guess, that Facebook could roll out an e-mail client that does have a privacy feature and that the company will go through great measures to protect your privacy, but based on past actions Frank is saying it isn’t likely that Facebook will respect users’ privacy. Is he right? What do you think?
Can Facebook compete with Gmail on e-mail services? Will it be useful in other ways? Will Facebook’s e-mail client have natural social features that Gmail has tried to incorporate unsuccessfully? Tell us what you think.
Tags: e-mail, facebook, google
Posted in E-mail Marketing for Small Business | 1 Comment »
Saturday, September 25th, 2010
People who know me know that I put a lot of emphasis on e-mail marketing. Why?
It’s real simple really. E-mail marketing helps you develop relationships. It gives you a basis for a relationship in the first place. And it starts with information gathering.
One of the first things you hope visitors of your website will do is give you their e-mail address. If they do that then it means that you’ve built some trust with them. No one is going to give you their e-mail address unless they trust you to some extent. But that doesn’t mean they trust you enough yet to buy from you. That’s where your e-mail marketing strategy comes in.
E-mail marketing allows you to build trust among people who have only dipped their toe in the water. They’re curious, but they aren’t ready to buy. So you begin to build their trust by sending them e-mails periodically. Over time, if you are effective in your marketing strategy, they will come to trust you enough to do business with you. But a lot of things have to happen before then.
The value of your e-mail marketing isn’t in your message. Let me repeat that. The value of your e-mail marketing strategy is not in your message.
It’s in the list.
This is very important. Your e-mail marketing strategy is only as strong as your list. If you have 10,000 untargeted names and addresses of people who may or may not be interested in product or service then you don’t have much of an e-mail marketing strategy. Chances are, your conversion rates are low. However, if you have 3,000 targeted names and addresses of people who have purchased from you or bought similar products in the past then that’s a strong list. It says those people
- Do buy
- Have an interest in your product or service
- And aren’t afraid to spend their money
The rest is up to you. Build trust, convince them that your offer is worth their time and money, and close the deal. If you are effective with your e-mail marketing strategy then your conversions should be higher. The money is in the list.
Tags: e-mail marketing, trust
Posted in E-mail Marketing for Small Business | 3 Comments »
Sunday, July 18th, 2010
Staying ahead of the competition is always a hard task. You need to spend time on your business and any time taken to watch your competitors is time away from what you need to do. E-mail marketing has become a popular marketing channel, especially for small businesses, and it can be a real time saver when it comes to watching your competitors. How so? Become a subscriber.
It sounds simple, and it is. Select the most important competitors in your market and subscribe to their offerings. You gain an inside seat to what products they are promoting and how they are promoting them. You can also pick up a lot useful information related to products, especially products that occasionally have issues.
Newsletters are one area that have become popular for publishing ‘how to’ tips and you will be surprised how many times you discover something new, even if you have been in the business for years. What is slightly amusing is that this information is not only free, but your competitors really cannot wait to hand it all to you. Subscribing to blogs is another way to gain information and it’s certainly faster than visiting each blog each day to see what is new.
Turn the tables on your competitors and subscribe to what they have to offer. If they are smart, they are probably already subscribing to your newsletters.
Tags: competitive information, newsletters
Posted in E-mail Marketing for Small Business | No Comments »
Saturday, June 26th, 2010
I’ve written about it before – e-mail marketing going social. Now, it seems, eMarketer is agreeing with me.
There was an interesting survey conducted by Aweber. A good number of small business owners are looking for ways to make their e-mail marketing more social. And it’s no surprise to those of us who have been doing it awhile that it’s a fairly easy thing to accomplish.
I was really excited to see that small business owners want to offer e-mail list sign ups on Facebook and other social media outlets. That’s a good idea. But equally good is the idea that your e-mail marketing messages can have the social sharing buttons that you see on popular websites. Wouldn’t you like your e-mail readers to be able to more easily share with their friends on Facebook and Twitter?
Of course, many big businesses have been doing this for awhile, but small business owners are a little behind and I think 2010 and 2011 are the years that we will catch up. What do you think? What are you doing to be more social with your e-mail marketing?
Tags: e-mail marketing, Social Media
Posted in E-mail Marketing for Small Business | 4 Comments »
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