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Email marketing can be quite effective. According to a report from the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing returned $51.58 in sales for each dollar spent. This compares to $17.07 for newspaper ads and $15.64 for direct mail.
The good news is that there are cost-effective email marketing tools, such as from Constant Contact (NASDAQ: CTCT).
But what are some useful strategies? Well, I had a chance to talk to Trynka Shineman, the senior vice president of North American marketing for VistaPrint (NASDAQ: VPRT). Let's take a look:
Getting Action: Try to cross-sell customers, such as through an order confirmation email. You can provide a special price and a link to a splash page to a relevant product offer.
"It's also important to create a sense of urgency," said Shineman. "Customers need to know not only that they are receiving something targeted to them, but a date encourages them to act quickly versus delaying the decision."
In the mood: Create a campaign that is tied to certain times of the year or specific events, like President's Day.
"During these times, consumers are in the frame of mind for shopping so the emails fit with their pattern of behavior," said Shineman.
Time of the day: When does your customer have time to read your emails? Basically, you need to understand the patterns of your customers.
In the case of VistaPrint, its customers are primarily small businesses. As a result, email campaigns are usually conducted during work hours or early in the morning.
"If your customers are homeowners that need landscaping work, consider when they are most likely on their home computer," said Shineman. "Saturday mornings or early evenings during the week are good bets."
Referrals: Try to encourage your customers to refer new customers. You can offer bounties or just make it easy to forward an offer.
"You can also work with similar/complementary partners whose customers are opted in for partner offers," said Shineman. "If they send an exclusive offer from your company to their customer base it can feel like the partner is endorsing you, which can in turn generate results."
Tom Taulli operates SmallBizMix.com.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-24-2007 @ 10:55AM
Jim said...
Thank God for the Direct Marketing Association, the folks who brought you cheap junk mail subsidized by the high cost of postal stamps to the little people.
I get all kinds of "partner" email, and "partner" telephone solicitations. I report them all as the illegal, intrusive crap they are.
12-24-2007 @ 1:03PM
David said...
What happens when a political party invests heavily in America's defeat and America ends up winning in Iraq? Well, they lose politically. The democrats are now synonymous with defeat.
12-24-2007 @ 2:12PM
George said...
the system works very well with my monavie distributorship....livingberrygood.com
Happy Holidays,
George
12-24-2007 @ 3:06PM
LEO said...
Video e mail is even better. Check it out
www.helloworld.com/leohazell
12-24-2007 @ 5:24PM
Ed Tazelaar, II said...
I just started using Constant Contact for my own businesses e-mails, prepaidlegal.com/hub/edwin9 and my Illinois health insurance business, EdTazelaar.com and have to say, that as long as you respect the privacy of those that are on the e-mailing lists, it works great! What I like most is the fact that those that truly have an interest opt in and those don't, which means that I save time and money in only contacting those individuals that have an interest in health insurance quotes here in Illinois and/or those individuals that have an interest in ID Theft issues and/or the free legal services that they can get for less than a cup of coffee a day! Because of the e-mails my business is growing and I'm getting referals as well!
Happy Holidays,
Ed Tazelaar, II
12-24-2007 @ 6:48PM
Chelsea said...
This is such good news email marketing returning $51+ in sales for every $1 we spend! Excellent!
I remember doing six figures in advertising 2 years ago and did not see any change in "sales" numbers from the stores that carry our "GET SERiOUS! Product" (getseriousproducts.com) we did actual full page print ads in several different magazines. Can’t wait to test this theory. I am looking forward to learning a lot from other responses on this blog from small businesses that are already doing this. We manufacture a product that helps keep pets out of shelters and it’s important that we find the right path to spread this awareness to pet owners, shelters, (getseriousproducts.net) etc, to save our lovable pets’ lives! Anyone with expertise and proven pass of marketing this way we’d greatly appreciate hearing about it.
Happy HOlidays!
12-24-2007 @ 8:49PM
chris said...
Email marketing is great and sometimes it can save and enhance your relationship with your spouse or lover. Heres something we all need with a built in Hawaiian vacation.
www.revivesexualjoy.com
12-25-2007 @ 1:03AM
Johnny Afro said...
I am hesitant to email market my Hip Hop music to avoid intrusion. I will try marketing cdbaby.com/bassway/all or Johnny Afro songs on Itunes. My most popular to day is "Happy Birthday"