Maximize your email marketing touch points

I assume your customers are important to you.

They’re how your business makes money, after all.

We all know that the basis of a successful business often lies in how you treat your customers.  Sure, an innovative product or service will get you far, but if your customers feel that they’re needs aren’t being met, that you offer poor customer service, that your employees are rude or that you just don’t value their interests – sooner or later – they walk away. 

Your email campaign is just one way you reach out to your customers, but, as with any marketing campaign, you have to consider your customer touch points.  For the most part your email recipients don’t send you any direct messages.  They receive your email and if you’re lucky, they read it.  If you’re even luckier, they click through to your site, promotion or blog.

There are, however, two touch points when their actions send you a very clear message:  When they subscribe (“Hi! You offer something I might be interested in – I want to know more”) and when they unsubscribe (“Sorry, I’m leaving”).

MarketingVox recently reported that the number of email marketers who send out welcome messages to new subscribers is shockingly low – especially as welcome emails yield the highest open rate of all marketing emails sent.  Lay the foundations of your subscriber relationships by welcoming them into the fold properly.  Send a welcome message (it’s easy to set up an automated message using TriggerMail) and if you really want to knock the socks off them, offer them a special discount for subscribing.  Getting off on the right foot makes it more likely that they’ll open and respond to your future emails.  Another idea to ease subscribers into the habit, reassure them that your emails are worth reading and nurture the relationship through the first few emails, is to set up a series of welcome emails.  Perhaps send one to welcome them, send another a few days later to offer them a website tour or link to an introductory video, and even a third to let them know that they can also follow you on Facebook or Twitter. 
Just remember to personalize your welcome emails – there’s no better way to ensure your spot in a subscriber’s inbox than to let them know they’re valued as more than just one of the masses.

So what about when they unsubscribe?
You may feel like shoving them out the back door and concentrate on getting real subscribers, ones that stick around and buy lots of stuff – but really, this petty behavior will get you nowhere.  Just because a recipient unsubscribes for the moment (perhaps they have no need for your service or product at present, or they’re simply flooded with too many email and need to cut back) does not mean that they won’t subscribe again at a later date.  It could be that they already follow you on Facebook or Twitter, and would prefer, for the moment, to rather receive updates in snippets.
Make sure you confirm their unsubscribe with a polite message and perhaps mention that they can follow you on social networks.  Keep the channel open so you can pick up the relationship at a later date.

Just as you manage your customer touch points in store, remember that email is a valuable customer contact point – so keep the relationship on good footing and you might just be blessed with valuable, loyal, long-term customers.