What do you really know about me? What do you know about any of us? What do you know about our experiences or what's really important to us?
The reality is that most business owners and CEO's answer to the questions above is, "nothing." Assumptions can be made about what it is that your customers are coming to you for, but the reality is that your customers, like snow flakes, are all very different.
When mapping out an email marketing strategy, one of the most over looked practices is to go through the customer experience yourself. Far too often, owners overlook the experience that their customers go through when they decide to receive your content. So, here are the 3 most important things you need to investigate to ensure that your customers won't leave you in the dust.
1. Content
Be honest, how valuable is the stuff in your emails. Is it fluff? Are your customers better off then they were before they read it? When you get one of your own emails, what new ideas do they bring you to?
It's often overstated that "content is king," but the reality is that if what your delivering to your customers doesn't mean much to them, they'll go elsewhere.
2. Cadence
Whether you're referring to sales or marketing efforts, persistence is key. In order to find a qualified opportunity you must stay top of mind with continuous content like I referred to above. The key thing to remember is that there is a fine line between persistent and pestering.
So, subscribe to your email list and get a feel for the cadence that your customers are taking in. Are you filling your inbox so frequently that you would rather archive or delete that email? Is there no method to the separation between emails? Maybe one is sent two weeks after the first, then the next one month later?
If either of these are the case, your customers are likely exhibiting behaviors much like your own. So, the key is to establish a consistent cadence that your customers can rely on. If you decide that you're going to post bi-weekly then do so, but take that one more notch. Send bi-weekly on the same day every other week. This makes your emails predictable to your customers, and if you're doing all the right stuff with item number one, they will begin to look forward to receiving your emails.
3. "Know Me" marketing
In today's online/social media driven world, there is no excuse for you to have a canned group of emails that you send to all of your customers. Each of your customers is individual in their likes, dislikes, and reasons for subscribing to your list. So, the question you have to ask yourself, is why wouldn't you use that to your advantage? Your customers want to feel that you "know them."
Let's say for example that you have multiple products or services. Now, there's a good chance that they are related in some way shape or form, but not all of your customers truly care about each offering (or at least they don't right now). So why not use what you know about your customers to provide them with the most relevant material for them? This can only lead to positive results, wouldn't you agree?
If you run an online fitness program for men and women, does it make sense to send your male clients articles on how to get ret of baby weight (then again my understand is men often gain weight along with their spouses....)? Why not use the information that they provide you with through their engagement with your emails and/or website to dictate potentially powerful content for them? Or, perhaps you can find anyone on your list who likes cooking on the social media pages to market your new health conscious cookbook?
Summary
So in closing, one of the best ways to really get an idea of what your customers are going through is to become one of them. This makes the entire experience real for you and allows you to go in with a different mindset of how to best market yourself.
Now go out there, click around, document your experience, and make that money.
Be well,
Jay
