In today’s world, “Don’t Blink” marketing tactics and nanosecond technology are not only becoming the norm, they are here and now. We have the ability to provide sales tools and information to our clients by just clicking the Submit button. And we can do this 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The opportunities are amazing!
But so are the traps. If we fall into the trap of trying to move at the speed of sound (or close to it), we quickly lose sight of our core values and what is most important to our business: our customers.
So how do you nurture and meet your customers in this fast-paced world? We have the opportunity to use email marketing as a positive tool to gain customer trust and information. If you do email marketing right, your customer will receive the specific information they were looking for and gain valuable insight into your customer’s needs. If you keep pressing Submit with information they don’t need or want, you’ll see your customers opt out in quick succession. Let’s look at the ways you can encourage your customers to sign up for your email campaigns, without asking too much of them or sacrificing your desire to learn more about them.
1. Make it easy to register leads and prospects. Create your forms to be easy and not time consuming to complete. Are you going to call or email your prospects or clients? Ask for their preferred method of contact. In this way, you will communicate with them in the way they want, not what you want, and show respect for their time and preferences. Do you really need the physical address of a company? Maybe you just want a location so you can determine where your interest is coming from geographically. Don’t ask for the full address if you don’t plan to mail anything (this is an email prospecting tool after all). Customers give you their information and trust that you will give them what you say you will. Give too much and you have broken their trust. Too little and, well, they will quickly become disinterested and move on.
2. Give your customers control of what they want. Like building a traditional CRM database, you want to be able to segment into who wants what lists. Did the customer sign up to receive HTML newsletters or just rich text information? Want your weekly e-news bursts or just special promotions that are advertised randomly? Keep track of the information your customers request, and then give them what they want, when they want it.
3. Be personal. Always personalize your emails. This could be even the recipient’s name at the beginning of the email. Or it could be information in the header of your email that is specific to the customer’s business, needs, and interests. Ultimately, you will increase the value of your email message if you can demonstrate that you are speaking directly to the recipient.
4. Give them something every time. Perceived value can go a long way toward building excellent customer communication and loyalty. Make sure each piece of communication offers something of value to your customer. Expert advice on the latest innovation? Or maybe a special promotion exclusively for your online customers? Whatever the offer, be it monetary or informational, your customers must perceive value in it; otherwise you will be of no value to them and you are just wasting their precious time.
Email database CRM is really no different than traditional customer relationship management. Your ultimate goal is to know the needs of your customers. However, by collecting this information in any way they choose, you have the ability to build trust with your customers at the same time. And this will also allow you to build a loyal following.
