I thought I'd follow up on my Award Winning article from the
last competition.
It was entitled "Legal SPAM" and related how it is perfectly
within the confines of the CAN-SPAM Act and similar
regulations to have a series of "Transactional or
Relationship" messages. It discussed using order
acknowledgements, shipping notices and follow-ups to not
only maintain customer contact, but to develop additional
sales.
I am going to build on that previous article and disclose
ways you can maintain continuing customer contact by email.
There is nothing sinister in what I'll discuss and you can
use it all to help grow your business with email, while
remaining a good guy in the eyes of your customers (or
prospects) and regulators.
I can actually define the entire article with one word -
"autoresponder". Most of you are familiar with it. Many have
one available as part of their email package. You know,
where you can go in and say "I'm out of the office today,
but will return on Monday the 27th" or some similar message.
Then everyone who emails you during the period before the
27th automatically receives the message soon after sending
theirs.
If you don't have one, or never used one, I'm sure you have
received a reply from one somewhere along the line.
Well, that's not the type of autoresponder I'm going to be
discussing. Sorry, there is actually another type of
autoresponder, one that is properly called a "Sequential
Autoresponder". It also sends out "pre-recorded messages",
but it doesn't send just one. It sends an entire series of
them, on a schedule that is pre-determined by the sender.
And an autoresponder (I'm going to use that term for the
sequential type, as that is what they are generally called)
of this type is as essential to anyone selling online as
their delete key.
Most of those messages I mentioned in the previous article
can be sent automatically by an autoresponder. Here's a bit
of an overview. You get a new order in and it's run through
the payment process. At that point your payment provider
(PayPal, etc.) is going to send an email to your customer,
acknowledging the purchase. Great! But, that same purchase
process can trigger your first "thank you" message to your
customer. It will add their name and email address to your
autoresponder and the spaced messages will follow.
Three days after purchase a "follow up" message may go.
"Thanks again for the order, just want you to know we are
actively working on it and it will ship in a few days. By
the way .........." A week later a "hope you've received
your order" message, with a new sales item. Then a week or
so later another "Is your order satisfactory, we want to
make sure you are happy" message with another suggestion of
items happy customers buy.
Now there is something common to all of these, that was
discussed in the earlier article. They all are clearly
marked as being from your company. There is nothing
misleading about the return address, in the Subject or From
areas and there is full contact information for your
company. All required by CAN-SPAM. Full disclosure, no
deception.
And, there is one more thing included. At the tail end of
each is an "Opt-Out" link for them to use to remove
themselves from your mail list. You make it clear that they
can leave any time they choose. This "keeps you legal".
Since they came to you and bought, you do not have to have
them "Opt-In", they did that when they bought. But you are
offering them the chance to leave with every message, so
staying is their choice.
Since they've chosen to stay, you can continue with your
"Permission Based Marketing." It is important to do this
because it normally takes around 5 to 7 exposures to a
product or service before most people will buy! That means
that a single message now and again will not do the trick.
A well planned, continuing marketing plan geared not only
to sell a single product, but to keep your "brand" in front
of a willing audience can result in significant sales
increases for your business.
This applies also to others who ask to be included. If you
are not presently capturing at least the first name and
email addresses of your visitors, you should begin today.
The best way to do this is a free offer of some sort. If
you are selling games, a free book on cheats.
Selling clothing, a course on color blending or seasons.
Computers, how to childproof your Internet connection,
etc. There any number of ebooks, texts, newsletters and
more that you can offer as an incentive to simply give
their name and email.
All autoresponders come with a "form maker" that will let
you make the sign up block. There are a number of templates
for adding the form to your page, or you can simply have
a block with the form inside. Sign up for our free
newsletter and you can instantly download the entire plays
of William Shakespeare.
As mentioned above, this type of sign-up will require the
Double Opt-In method where they are sent an "I agree" email,
and once they click the I agree link they are then sent to
the download site and added to your autoresponder list.
Is this complicated? Not really. You will not set up your
first series in five minutes. And, you'll stumble a bit and
end up sending yourself a dozen or so test messages before
you get it straightened out in your mind. But, once you have
an understanding of the process, the next set will come much
easier.
And there is always help available. Online help is just a
click away and helpdesk or email help is usually quickly
handled.
Quite frankly, the main task will be putting together some
good sales messages. You can have simple text messages, like
many emails are now, you can use HTML to have messages that
look like web pages and with some autoresponders you can
even have audio and / or video messages.
Quality copy writing is a must. If you are going to be
sending out messages with poor grammar, improper spelling
and bland content you will not get much in the way of
results.
However, with properly done messages you can definitely
expect an almost instant increase in sales. As mentioned
above, it normally takes 5 to 7 contacts, but you have had
some already with current customers. They are familiar with
your site and your services, so just a few well designed
messages should begin to show results.
Autoresponder services are available for as little as $ 5.00
per month. Copy writing is also inexpensive. And for those
who are intimidated by any thought of setting up an
autoresponder, the entire process can be hired out for a
very reasonable fee.
For more information on autoresponders and your business,
here is a link. You can even arrange a free 30 day trial
account, with no obligation on your part to continue.
http://www.affordableresponder.com
Wholesale Business Article Competition - Submission Thread
How to build the foundations of your online business through eBay
PayPal vs Merchant Account
