Over the last two weeks, we’ve been talking about the first R: Reputation and why it’s important to build a good one (you can check those posts out here and here). Today, we’re going to focus on the next “R”: Relevancy.
You might be sending out well-written, beautifully designed emails every week, but are they resonating with your customers? Are you sending generic, one-size-fits-all emails, or are you segmenting your list and sending specific, relevant messages to each group?
You can probably guess which of the above choices is going to get you the best results.
If you want your messages to have impact—and if you want that impact to translate into sales—then you must make them relevant to your audience. How? By really getting to know your customers and prospects. This requires going beyond basic demographics like age, location, income, etc. For example, are you tracking how and/or why the subscriber signed up for your list? Was it in response to a contest, or a free download or discount of some kind? That customer is going to be interested in a different message than someone who signed up because they’re requesting a demo. One is probably mostly interested in getting free stuff; the other is more likely to be genuinely interested in your company and/or product. So it makes sense to start thinking about communicating with each of these customers differently.
Another factor to consider is your sign-up form. If you’re only asking for basic information, like name, email address, company, etc., their name and email address, or other basic information, you’re missing a great opportunity to learn more about them. That said, you don’t want to overwhelm your subscriber with too many fields to fill in, but adding a field where they can make their interests known is a great way to gain critical information that will help you communicate better with them.
We hope these tips have gotten you thinking about how you can make your emails more relevant to your customers, and we’d love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to share them in the comments below.
You might also be interested in reading How to build great relationships with dialogue marketing.
Sources: In a white paper presented at the 2013 Email Evolution Conference in Miami, Karen Talavera, owner of Synchronicity Marketing, states that there are four essential “R’s” to good email marketing. That paper was the inspiration for this email series.
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