10 ways to show customers love with email marketing

Using email marketing as more than a 1-way announcement can do wonders for your bottom line.  By enhancing the communication channel with your website visitors and subscribers with better targeted & more relevant emails, you stand to gain a lot more than your basics like how many opens, clicks, and unsubscribes.

Here’s a list of the top 10 ways you as a company (no matter how big or small) can use email to interact, engage, and show your customers or website visitors that you’re human and that you care.  Utilize all, some, or just one of these, but however many you choose to use can make a huge difference to your customer satisfaction, which goes hand-in-hand with your company’s overall success.  Remember: the extra effort you take in crafting the right email can positively affect the way a recipient sees and interacts with your brand, product or company.

1. 1. Birthday email – Simple enough to overlook, but a birthday email can make your customers feel appreciated. They should be, they pay you money that pays your salary. The least you can do is wish them a ‘Happy Birthday’.  Why not throw in a discount off their next order?
2. 2. Welcome email – Assumed and expected, this might be one of the most overlooked and important communication pieces sent out with your company name. Just like in real life, first impressions last. Make this email stand out and really make an impact on your new customer and enjoy a great relationship.
3. 3. Double opt-in confirmation email – Just like the welcome email above, this email is usually overlooked and underpaid.  Often a basic quick and dirty text email, you should make the most of the real estate (should be customizable in most ESPs) and tailor a nice message for the subscriber. They have just extended their hand to you to start a communication, so keep it going as you want it to continue.
4. 4. Cart abandon email – They were so close to buying, but something happened. Earthquakes, ovens left on and hair washing are all likely stories, but really they left because they didn’t find what they wanted.  If you use a login-based shopping cart, you have their email address. In a polite and friendly (read: Non-Big Brother) way, ask if they found what they were looking for, offering suggested products they might like based on their past behaviour, or direct customer support.  You’d be surprised how many shoppers just needed some help or couldn’t find what they needed.
5. 5. Inactive for XX days/wake up email – All good CRM systems should track new customers from the day of sign up to the day they (hopefully never) leave.  Within that time customers might leave your product and possibly flirt with the competition. It happens. Sending a polite ‘nudge’ (or ‘poke’ these FB days) can help to rekindle the lost romance and keep that customer on the straight-and-narrow.
6. 6. Transaction confirmation email – Sounds basic right? People pay you for a product or service you’ve made, spent their hard-earned cash on it, and you’ll send them a basic old transactional email for their ‘records’.  Why not jazz it up a little? Add some character, personality, and what about a discount for their next purchase, or a type of loyalty/points scheme? Just because you made a transaction, doesn’t mean you can rest on your laurels – keep them coming back for more and make it a win-win.
7. 7. Service/product cancellation – For technical reasons too far from the scope of this article (port numbers and EasyPHP if you must know) I had to uninstall Skype from my PC.  After the uninstall I was automatically redirected to a ‘sorry to see you go’ page online. Great idea, and one that should be done with email as well.  Knowing why your customers leave can keep current ones, or even get them back if you resolve the issues.  Show your (soon to be ex) customers you care, and they might change their mind.
8. 8. Pre-expiry notification email – In the Skype example above, an email would be sent once the service was cancelled. Head the customer off at the pass and prevent them from cancelling or expiring in the first place by sending a well-worded, timely email notifying them that their account/product/service is about to expire. This would also be a prime time to offer a discount or similar perk thanking them for their loyalty.
9. 9. Customer survey + prize email – Send the customers who already love you (the loyal 20% who do 80% of the stuff you want them to do) and ask them to take 5 minutes to fill out a survey.  Offer up a prize, and everyone wins.  Use the survey results to fine-tune your product/brand/service/etc, and get more customers who love you. Repeat steps above, and wowzers, you’re doing well.
10. 10. Event/launch invitation email – Show your customers you love them by inviting them (or at least those who live in the same city) to an event you’re putting on/hosting/attending.  Segment your list by geo-location, and send away.  Invitations for face-to-face meetings can have huge long-term benefits, and open channels of communication and feedback that aren’t possible over mediums like email or phone.
11. 11. Bonus** Thank you email – Why adhere to a schedule at all?  If you appreciate your customers, think they’re great, and want them to tell their friends about your great customer service/retention skills, why not just openly thank them?  Sure, you could use a pre-determined occasion for it, such as the non-religious holiday season, or any other occasion (company anniversary, new year, end of financial year), but either way, a simple ‘thank you’ to your customers goes a long way.  They’ll thank you back.

Have any suggestions of your own? Let’s hear them!