Email
Marketing, promotional materials, and methodology can be helpful in building a good customer base for your website, but be careful to not burn up your communication pathways.
If used properly, email is one of the best ways for a web-based business to acquire new customers and grow and build long-lasting relationships with current customers.
Start with monthly emails then slowly increase the frequency and specialization of these emails by responding to your customer’s requests — because you, as a responsible website operator, remembered to ask for feedback.
Although the spam crisis continues to affect consumer behavior online, it does not necessarily cloud consumer receptiveness to legitimate marketers: an overwhelming majority of online consumers receive offers by email and have made a purchase online or offline as a result.
It is possible to set up a list quickly, by hand, if it is small or you can use specialized software (as discussed later).
Surprisingly good response rates to target email campaigns are achieved because:
• Email hyperlinks allow recipients to go straight to your website.
• The recipient has proactively requested the information and, therefore, is interested in topic.
• The recipient can opt-out if no longer interested in receiving specific email.
With the right email tools, you can have a candid one-on-one audience to get customers to respond to an offer targeted to them. Check out iMailer (www.emailtools.co.uk), Mail Bomber (www.softheap.com) and, DoubleClick’s (www.doubleclick.com) Dart-Mail. While on the DoubleClick website, check out the latest DoubleClick Consumer Email Survey.
One of the great values of a simple email offer is that it has many of the advantages of the over-hyped push technology minus all of its complications. To effectively use an email campaign you must request an email address with each order, each new account, and each inquiry your website receives.
However, be sure to ask your customers if they would like to receive email messages with special sales information and news about any new offerings before bombarding them with email offers. If you forego this step, customers may feel that you are “spamming” them, and opt to go elsewhere, e.g. your competitors.
Marketing, promotional materials, and methodology can be helpful in building a good customer base for your website, but be careful to not burn up your communication pathways.
If used properly, email is one of the best ways for a web-based business to acquire new customers and grow and build long-lasting relationships with current customers.
Start with monthly emails then slowly increase the frequency and specialization of these emails by responding to your customer’s requests — because you, as a responsible website operator, remembered to ask for feedback.
Although the spam crisis continues to affect consumer behavior online, it does not necessarily cloud consumer receptiveness to legitimate marketers: an overwhelming majority of online consumers receive offers by email and have made a purchase online or offline as a result.
It is possible to set up a list quickly, by hand, if it is small or you can use specialized software (as discussed later).
Surprisingly good response rates to target email campaigns are achieved because:
• Email hyperlinks allow recipients to go straight to your website.
• The recipient has proactively requested the information and, therefore, is interested in topic.
• The recipient can opt-out if no longer interested in receiving specific email.
With the right email tools, you can have a candid one-on-one audience to get customers to respond to an offer targeted to them. Check out iMailer (www.emailtools.co.uk), Mail Bomber (www.softheap.com) and, DoubleClick’s (www.doubleclick.com) Dart-Mail. While on the DoubleClick website, check out the latest DoubleClick Consumer Email Survey.
One of the great values of a simple email offer is that it has many of the advantages of the over-hyped push technology minus all of its complications. To effectively use an email campaign you must request an email address with each order, each new account, and each inquiry your website receives.
However, be sure to ask your customers if they would like to receive email messages with special sales information and news about any new offerings before bombarding them with email offers. If you forego this step, customers may feel that you are “spamming” them, and opt to go elsewhere, e.g. your competitors.