]]> 3413 https://www.ralphbrogden.com/smart-email-marketing https://www.ralphbrogden.com/smart-email-marketing#respond Wed, 22 May 2013 06:20:36 +0000 http://hireralph.com/wordpress/?p=12 A successful email marketing campaign makes an impact by personalizing each message with the recipients name and other features. This can be done by merging the database with the email software. It take some extra effort but the results are well worth it – you get a greater open rate and a greater click-thru rate.

One company that does this successully is Pet Smart. We purchased some flea medicine for our dog Sandy, a golden retriever. Now we’re on Pet Smart’s mailing list. But it’s obvious that Pet Smart is Email Smart, too.

First, we are automatically notifed by email when it’s time to re-order. But they don’t just say, “It’s time to buy from us again.” They personalize the message to say, “It’s time to re-order more flea medicine for Sandy!” or something to that effect.

In the last message I got they even included a picture of a golden retriever! I can’t confirm if this was another effort at personalization or simply a coincidence, but it really works. It wouldn’t be too difficult for them (since they already have the information when you order) to personalize the picture with your particular breed of pet.

Bottom line for you: build your database with information on your customers, then use it to personalize your marketing messages. How do you get the information? Just ask for it. At the very least, get a first name along with the email address so you can say, “Dear Bill” instead of “Dear Customer.” Chances are they will pay more attention to your email, and you can more effectively deliver your marketing to the right people at the right place at the right time.

Companies spend an enormous amount of time, effort, money, and energy trying to get people to make a purchase, and when they do, they completely drop the ball when it comes to customer service. This is an issue every business needs to factor into their marketing strategy. It makes no sense to spend money on advertising or clicks or direct mail or leads and then fumble the whole campaign because of inept customer service.

I have two examples that illustrate this. I won’t name any names because my purpose is not to rake these companies over the coals but to simply illustrate a point.

Both sell information over the Internet. Both heavily market themselves. Since I’m a “sucker” for marketing information and how-to products I made a purchase from both companies.

From Company #1 I paid for a subcription to a newsletter with access to all its archives. Everything was going just great, the “congratulations for your decision to purchase” email had me all excited. Then I clicked on the access link they provided and entered the username and password I had just paid for.

Error: access denied.

I did this fifty times and finally went back to the original email to find out how to contact support. Clicking their link sent me to their online trouble ticket service. I started a ticket and then sat there disappointed. I never did hear back from them.

That’s not what you want your customers to experience just after they make a purchase.

To brighten my spirits, I purchased another product from Company #2 that I had been looking at for a few days, this time an eBook. Everything looked great, credit card was processed and I received an email with a download link.

Guess what? This download link gave me a “404: Not found” error. I was incredulous! Twice in one day! Obviously this is a problem for many companies.

To make matters worse, following the customer service instructions in both cases yielded no response. I only got results when I went outside the normal procedure by posting to their forum, or finding out who owned the domain name and emailing them directly. In one case I Googled the customer service number (previously hidden and undisclosed) and was able to make contact that way.

Needless to say, by the time they worked it out I was no longer interested in the products and I asked for a refund.

I’ve sold thousands of digital products over the years and it isn’t that difficult. When the credit card is processed you automatically take your customer to a download page, and you automatically send them an email with a link to the download page. This isn’t brain surgery.

In their case they lost not just one sale, but all additional sales I could have made, plus all the sales from people I might have recommended them to. Or, think of how much worse it could have been – I could have posted my bad experience to any number of blogs and online forums and named names. That kind of negative buzz can kill a company.

You don’t want that happening to you. When you craft your marketing campaign be sure to factor in your customer service functions. Poor customer service will derail the most brilliant marketing strategy.

Being frugal we went online to look for coupons. Chicken Website #1 was a real bore from a design standpoint. We clicked on a couple of links that looked promising but couldn’t find any coupons. So we went to Chicken Website #2. There we found a nicely designed website with a large COUPONS graphic. Two clicks later we printed out our coupons and the decision was made.

On the way to Chicken Place #2 I heard a radio ad for Chicken Place #1. That’s when I realized that the radio ad wasn’t enough to get me to go to Chicken Place #1. At that moment the lowly coupon was what decided it for me, and my business was not going to the people who had a great radio ad, but to the ones who offered me a coupon.

You may not think a website would have that much to do with where people get their fast food from, but never underestimate the consumer. In this case, all things being equal, the company that offered the coupon got the business. But not just a coupon – a coupon that is prominently displayed on their website. Maybe the other people had a coupon, but I couldn’t find it fast enough due to their poor website design.

Bottom line for you: If you want to offer something of value as an incentive to get business, don’t bury your offer three pages deep into your website. Make it obvious so people can find your coupon or freebie in six seconds or less. That simple little distinction can give you an advantage. Who would’ve thought a coupon could make the difference?

I evaluate the effectiveness of their marketing and determine what makes the winners win and the losers lose. Then I ask myself two questions: 1) What about this can I learn and apply to my own projects, and 2) How can I communicate this to others so they can benefit as well?

That’s the idea behind this blog. When I look at television commercials, listen to radio ads, read the mail, visit websites, or walk into a business I just can’t help but notice the things they’re doing right and the things they’re doing wrong. It’s a force of habit now. I guess that makes me a natural consultant. I’m a fixer and a helper.

Fortunately I have figured out a way to do this for a living, else I would drive my wife crazy. I realized that people will pay me to show them how to do things more effectively, more powerfully, and more profitably. For example, if I can help you convert more prospects into customers, or help you increase your response by 200%, 500%, or 1000%, or help increase the size or the frequency of every sales you make, or how to reach more people with your marketing message, that could be worth hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars to you over the course of your business.

This blog is my way of investing something of myself into those of you who want to work smarter, not harder. If you want superior results you need a superior strategy. If you want more sales, more clients, or more profits then you’ll get loads of free tips just by reading my critiques of what everyone else is doing wrong and how it could be done better. Even though I consider myself an expert (and I have the portfolio samples and twenty years of marketing successess to prove it, both online and offline) I still learn something new everyday. Sometimes you can learn a lot just by watching other people’s mistakes. It will save you a lot of time and money if you don’t have to make all those mistakes on your own.

I thank you for reading and I hope this turns out to be a profitable and educational experience for all of us.

I’m beginning to think that inept customer service is the real reason why companies have problems with marketing. I could devise a brilliant marketing strategy, write some killer copy, and give their website an extreme makeover – but if I don’t help them address what happens after the sale is made then the result is a lot of one-time sales, no testimonials, and no referrals. Repeat business, testimonials, and referrals are major components of your successful marketing strategy. Screw up the customer service and the whole campaign suffers.

This is particularly true with online companies. Many people are already reluctant to do business over the Internet with someone that is unknown to them, and many of them are still reticent to give out credit card information over the net. So you have to go over and beyond the normal call of duty if you intend to do business online.

Be that as it may, the online companies are the absolute worse when it comes to customer service. One thing these companies know how to do right – the credit card process works like a charm! Beyond that it’s a crap shoot. Most of them hide behind a computer. If there’s a problem (and there usually is) getting in touch with someone is nearly impossible.

Case #1: Yesterday I purchased some software online that I had an immediate need for. The credit card was charged in two seconds. I got a confirmation email which was supposed to unlock my trial version. I got the email, but the message said there was an “error” in producing my code. Someone would contact me. Yet another example of failing to deliver what the customer has paid for. Had I been an e-commerce noob I might have panicked and called the credit card company to report a fraud or a scam. Instead I sent some nasty emails and about twelve hours later someone finally sent me the code I paid for. I had to have the software so I had to put up with this ineptitude. If it had been a discretionary purchase I would have said forget it, give me back my money.

Case #2 – This morning I sent an email to Yahoo customer service and got the following auto-response:

Hello,

This is an automated message regarding your recent request for Yahoo! Postmaster Customer Care Support. We have received your message but due to a temporary problem we wanted to let you know it could take up to a week until you receive a response. We apologize for this inconvenience. Thank you for reaching out to us. We look forward to helping you!

Sincerely,
Yahoo! Customer Care

**Please do not respond to this message as no one will receive it.

Why am I not surprised?

Bottom-line for you: you spend a tremendous amount of time, effort, energy, and money trying to get customers. Doesn’t it make sense to spend at least an equal amount of time, effort, energy, and money trying to keep them? It’s a lot easier to keep a customer than to get a customer, and it’s a lot more profitable.

For example: a large hardware chain in my area advertises how friendly and helpful their smiling employees are. But when you actually go visit the store the salespeople are exactly the opposite. If this has happened to you then you can appreciate how annoying it is. That’s sales and marketing dissonance.

The sales clerks in these stores are so bad we started making jokes about it:

“How many of their employees does it take to help a customer?”

“Twenty-one: One to say, ‘I’ll be with you in a minute’ and twenty to turn away and look like they’re too busy to help.”

Now imagine our reaction when we watch television commercials that show smiling, friendly, helpful employees who go out of their way to help you find every little flibbityjibit you may need. Our reaction is to laugh hysterically. Believe me, that is not the kind of response you want your marketing campaign and advertising dollars to generate.

This kind of problem is simple to solve: get your sales people to start acting the way marketing describes. Lowering marketing’s expectations is unacceptable. Sales has to figure out how to carry out the marketing mission. Hire, fire, or re-train people until they can do it right.

We were forced to visit this store today and found something encouraging – no less than half a dozen different employees smiled, greeted us, and asked if we needed any help. The difference was shocking. It will take a long time to undue their reputation but they are making steps in the right direction. Perhaps someone is reading my blog.