Email - It's Higher Better Use

Everyone knows what email is for in small businesses – its to blast out random emails to random customers and prospects at random intervals in hopes of consistant revenue.  You’ve experienced enough examples of this strategy to know that it is more commonplace than we would hope.

Or worse even, businesses that are afraid of falling into this stereotype avoid using email as a marketing tool altogether.  THAT won’t increase the bottom line.  So while email is not a marketing strategy all by itself, it can be an incredibly important peice of your whole plan.

So where to start – and do so in a good way?  With the low hanging fruit of course.  And for many of you, this fruit can be found in the form of abandoned shopping carts.  Even at the biggest and best online sites, people get part way through a purchase and then unexpectedly leave before making the sale final.  So close!  Yet so far…

That’s were email comes in.  Maybe they left because they changed their mind.  But maybe they just got distracted, and a little nudge from you will remind them of how excited they were to be ordering that shiny new ___________ from you.

In my experience, thankfully reinforced by this article, there are several key steps to adding this strategy to your business to help pull back some of these “lost” sales.

1. Timing is everything.  As a general rule, the longer you wait the less successful you will be.  Although, jump them too soon and you’ll appear a little like a stalker.  The goal here is to determine the right timing and then build a system that supports your ability to reach these prospects at this optimal time.
2. Learn how personal is appropriate.  Do you include a list of the items they had selected or just a general reminder?  What’s appropriate for one business – or one type of customer within a business – may not be ideal for another.  The great thing about the internet is you can measure nearly everything.  So test this variable with your customers.
3. Message design is important.  This should go without saying, but it is so important it needs to be included here.  This email should align with your brand.  Colors, fonts, pictures, etc. of course, but also the verbiage itself.  All of this should look and sound like any other conversation you have with your customers.
4. Are Incentives Necessary?  This is another important test for you to make.  Some businesses will do well in picking up these sales with just a simple reminder.  Others will need to offer a little something to bring the customer back into the fold.  Others still will have to get very aggressive in order to keep the sale.

So what do you think?  Ready to boost your bottom line by reeling in a few of the ones that almost got away?  This process is learnable through trial and error, but if you want a short cut through all that to quickly adopting strategies that have already been proven we should talk.  Having been down this road with multiple clients, I’m happy to share with you which tools are best suited for your particular needs.

Already doing well on this front?  Feel free to share your insights with the rest of us.