So... as it turns out, we still need people doing normal things and buying normal stuff, but not much about right now is normal! So... as the saying goes, If you always do what you always did, you end up with you always had! Meaning, you have to switch it up some to break people into new habits. So I ask you again... How good is your email campaign game?
Do you have... and currently use... an email campaign software? If you do, you are ahead of the game! You may have heard me say that before! Now, we need to make sure that you are using it to its potential. One of the first items is to understand audience segmentation. Are all of your clients and guest the same with the exact same interests? Is there a way to divide them up? Most email campaign applications allow you to do what is called "Tag" your contacts within their software. This will let you send certain emails only targeted to some of your clients. Depending on what info you have on your clients is how you can separate them. You can slice and dice them up in any way that it makes sense to sell to them by the commonalities in how they have used your services before. They can be separated into buckets that are based on time, gender, homeowners or renters or whatever makes sense for your business.
Now that we have all of your clients in neat little buckets let's think of some ways to target them. You can try the cross-sell. Meaning do you have any complimentary services. Borrowing from Amazon here, but, those who bought this... also enjoy these items! If someone bought a widget, you offer them 50% off on widget holders. Another
method is to target people on their timing. Are they a weekly visit, monthly, semi-annually or annual? Reach out ahead of them and offer something for their next service. You will be keeping yourself top-of-mind and giving them a reason to reach out. When you think of a target, typically we are looking at hitting the bullseye. Instead, here I want you to think about hitting each of the different color rings once. Each color ring represents one of the neat little buckets of your clients, base that we segmenting we did above. Target them specifically and often. They have already proven to use your services... reach out to them and get them to use you again. Educate them! Make sure that they know all that you offer. I can't begin to tell you the number of times I have heard clients say something like... "I didn't know that you did that too! We just had the done" or something to that effect. There are too many ways to communicate in this world for that to be happening.
Now we look a bit at messaging and design. There is but one rule here... the classic K.I.S.S methodology. Keep it Short, Keep it Simple, Keep it Selling! The other S you can fill in for your self... trying to keep this whole thing positive! You likely have a logo and colors and maybe event a particular font. Use them here and stray too far from home. Make sure that you are instantly recognizable and easy to read.
You really need a good subject line, and then your offer and then some of your Branding. Then the single most important thing is that C2A, or the Call to Action. Tell then EXACTLY what you want them to do! Click Here for 50% off! Click Here to register for a free widget! This is generally referred to is directing them down your sales funnel. Send them to an email that is filled out already, send them to a way page to buy or schedule with you. Lower all the barriers to conversion as much as possible.
There is almost an art to all of this. It's part sales 101, part design and part technology. Keep it simple, don't bore us... get to the chorus and tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them and tell them what you told them! Whichever you prefer, but for Pete's sake... get to the point! That is all any email campaign really needs. Think about receiving this yourself objectively... if you can! Would you open this? Would you use up some of your valuable time on this or this an immediate delete key? Red Lion Media is here to help walk you through this! This is, at best, a 30,000-foot view of email campaigns and a lot of this may seem like "no kidding" style information. But oftentimes in small business ownership, its the little things and the tweaks and not the major overhauls. What is the most impactful, next thing that I can do? I'll give you a hint... its a well thought out email campaign!
