Know-How Exchange : E-Marketing

I'll basically second what Vince has said. (No points being sought.)

I'd stop using the BCC method right away. Check out eitherhttps://www.constantcontact.comorhttps://www.verticalreponse.com. The cost is very low, and you'll be able to personalize your mailings, not to mention you'll be able to manage your removes much more easily.

As for frequency, 1X/week is probably the limit. I can't see any situation (the exception being where people are buying from you many times per week) where you'd want to mail more than that.

Also, just a friendly reminder from one salesperson to another: Don't completely do away with talking on the phone. It's very easy to fall into the habit of communicating to everyone by email, but sometimes you just have to pick up the phone and say "Hello."

Good luck!

Paul

Greetings Julie!

You raise a great issue . . . it's kind of like 'Prunes' . . . how many (prunes or emails) does it take to do 'the job' you want and when do you 'cross the line' (and generate consequences you don't want!) LOL

Forgive my analogy to prunes, but the issue is pretty much the same.

Too many (or, too frequently sent) emails and you risk turning off your recipient. Too few (or, too infrequently sent) and you risk losing your 'postion' in the mind of someone you're cultivating for business.

Julie, it IS a dilemma. But it's not impossible to address effectively!

OK, four (4) quick suggestions for you:

First . . .Relevance Enables Frequency
If you can, break up the 'total readership' into smaller groups based on their acknowledged interests. Why? Because then you can provide increasingly RELEVANT information to them based on their 'needs-to-know'. If you do that, you can increase frequency without (well, with a lot less!) risk of turning off your readers.

Second . . .Shorter & Sweeter = Better!
I'd go for shorter rather than longer messages. An Email Labs study done recently indicated that 'opt-in' email recipients only view a 'permissioned' email for 15 - 20 seconds on average. That's only about 50 - 75 words! So shorter is definitely beter.

Third . . .Outsource!
The use of a commercial email delivery service not only makes your workload easier, it can also help you to 'automatically' manage the people who want to 'opt-in' or, 'out' and that alone makes a nominal cost for such a service a real bargain.

As noted above, MarketingProfs.com has a growing list of companies that you can use to do this . . . easily and affordably.

Fourth . . .Keep Their Mind Open!
If you talk to someone at a party and they only talk about themselves, we think of them as boorish. But, if they focus on us and what we want to discuss, we love them. Same with email. While the medium allows you to 'message' me about your business, sales, etc. you may want to send information that has nothing to do with you, but everything to do with what interests your readers.

For example, if you learn what they care about . . . you might send them a link to an article on the internet, etc. This can keep the 'freshness' in your relaltionship with your readers, makes your readers more likely to open your messages because there's occasionally a 'Free Prize Inside' . . . something about THEM, not you . . . on a non-specific basis.

Personally, I send out a brief email twice a month on topics related to marketing, selling, management, and customer service. These are of interest to my readers. Once a month (OK, maybe twice) I send out an email with upcoming events -- workshops, promotions, sales, etc. (of interest for me!) which help generate response and revenues.

朱莉,你看,我比me-to-thee content is about 1: 4 . . . i.e. I send 4 messages about what my readers care about before I send 1 message about what I want them to know about me and what I care about . . . that will help me generate revenues and 'go to the bank'.

I find this allows me to:
• get & stay 'in their mind'without'getting in their face'
• get more people optting-in, referring their friends, etc., and
• enjoy a better-than-average response to the messages I'm sending which lead to what I care about . . . generating business!

希望这对你有所帮助。Continued success!

All the best,

Bill

Julie, never be afraid to ask. Sometimes, as sales people, we don't want the negative response so we fail to ask "How often would you like to hear from me?" "Would you prefer a phone call, e-mail or fax?"

Always provide an opt-out and since, forwarding newsletters is supposedly a federal offense, give them a way to invite others into your contact system.

On a similar note from what Bill said, look for some partners that you can work with on complementary promotions. Example: My wife is a Homemade Gourmet Director (Network marketing) but she also sends e-mails about things like picking the right gift baskets. The gift basket store also sends stuff about Homemade Gourmet. It's very profitable for each of them.

Michael

julie.warner

If you are going to begin sending out emails or already are on a regular basis, then I would recommend something like constantcontac.com for several reasons:

1. You need an automated opt-out method for your emails
2. You want to track the open rate or your emails so you know who's actually opening - to further target these folks
3. You want to try to figure out which message is working - place the main copy of a web site and have a teaser in the email and track the click-thru

Hope that helps.