Making the Most of E-mail Marketing
January 5, 2008 by samuel · 1 Comment
With the technology boom we’ve experienced in this past decade, marketing is being revolutionized. While traditional direct mail campaigns are still in practice, many businesses have turned to e-mail marketing campaigns. With new gadgets like the iPhone, people constantly check their e-mail vs. mail they get at home, which they may not get to for days. So if you’re targeting the younger, tech-savvy generation of today, here’s a few tips of how to make your e-mail marketing campaign a success.
- Know Your Recipient: this is one-to-one communication between you and your recipient, so it should feel like it came from a human being and not some generic mailing list. Stylize it so it feels exclusive to the recipient. Some ideas: add your recipient’s name to your e-mail, use a tag line that fits the personality of your recipient, remind them of something they’ve done/enjoyed.
- Create Relevant E-mails: there is no worse thing to do then sending pointless e-mails. Eventually that gets you the spam button. So remember to be timely with your messages and make them worthwhile. Make sure your e-mails connect with your recipient. Remember: Don’t overdo it and make it relevant.
- Pay Attention to the “From” Line: think of whom you’ll recipient want to receive mail from. Is it Josh Who or is it a name they trust? Depending on your campaign, it’s also a wise idea to make your e-mail come from a real person, after all, you want to build relationships with your recipients and relationships only exist between people. So sign off your e-mail with your name and contact information. Not only is it personal, but it will also let your recipient know that even though you may be part of a large company, they can get the individualized attention they need.
- Pay Attention to the “Subject” Line: Relevant subjects make a difference. Make sure that your subject line is relevant to your recipient. If you’ve heard the saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” you know that that’s exactly what people do when they get e-mails.The subject line is like the title and cover of the book, if it does not grab your attention it gets deleted. So make sure that your subject line is relevant and attention getting.
Next time you are getting ready to launch your new e-mail campaign, make sure you remember these four basic rules before hitting the send button. A little extra thought can get you the results you want. To learn more about our email marketing solution, email us at: info@oneims.com
Direct Mail Marketing vs. E-mail Marketing
January 4, 2008 by OneIMS · 1 Comment
One might say that we’re part of the E-generation, that is, the electronic everything generation. Yet, many are still skeptical of going electronic with their marketing campaigns and prefer the good old direct mail alternative. While they both yield results, your ability to track, manage and review your campaigns is completely different when comparing direct mail campaigns and e-mail campaigns. Here’s some food for thought.
| Traditional Direct Mail | ||
| Cost | Direct mail campaigns can be very costly. You have to calculate not only the design of your direct mail piece, your data source and printing costs, but also shipping it as well. With postage rates increasing every year, direct mail is becoming more expensive. If you are dong a direct mail campaign, make sure to ask your post office for bulk-mail rates. A direct mail piece can cost anywhere from $1 and up for each individual piece. | Fairly inexpensive. A piece of e-mail marketing can cost you a couple cents. |
| Tracking Capability | Very little. While there are new services offered by the postal service that will let you know where in the postal service your piece of direct mail is, you never have the guarantee that your direct mail got to the intended recipient. | Extensive. For small additional fee, you can track just about anything you want: when your e-mail was opened, how long it was open for, if it was deleted, saved forwarded (and to whom), which links within it were visited, how many times the original e-mail was opened and how many times the links in it were visited. All this information makes it easy to evaluate the results of your campaign. |
| Reaching your Recipient | Again, it’s impossible to know whether the right person received your piece of direct mail or not. Perhaps they no longer live at that address. While addressing your pieces to a person and adding “or current resident” to your mailing label will ensure that they get delivered to that address, it does not guarantee that the person you intended it for will receive it. Also, remember that things do get lost in the post office –or sometimes arrive too late. | An e-mail address goes everywhere your recipient goes. It doesn’t matter if they move from one state or another, they will probably still keep their same e-mail. |
| Evaluating the effectiveness of your campaign | While new things like personalized URLs allow direct mail campaigns to track people who have actually received/taken action, it’s very difficult to assess the effectiveness of your campaign. Unless people take action, by redeeming and offer or coupon, evaluating the penetration of your campaign is hard. | Since you are able to track who opens your e-mail and what they do with it, it’s easy to know if your campaign accomplished the goal you sought to accomplish. |
| Expanding your reach | Direct mail can be a dead-end in terms of reaching new customers. Rarely will a piece of direct mail lead you to a completely new customer. They also cannot be duplicated easily—making it harder to pass on to others. | The ability to forward and e-mail can allow you to reach many more customers you didn’t even know existed. With a click of a button, your e-mail could be sent to hundreds of other people in a split-second, getting the word out faster than a piece of direct mail. |
| Time | A direct mail piece can take months to get off the ground. Take a week for a finalized design, up to 2 weeks for printing, couple of days for addressing, 2 days to deliver to the post office, 3-5 days to arrive to the target address, that’s over a month already. And remember, you can only work on business days—weekends don’t count. | With e-mail marketing campaigns, there is no printing time and no need to get to a post office. Your e-mail can be sent as early or as late in the night as you want it. No batches, it’s sent to all your recipients simultaneously. The beauty of it, it’s in your recipient’s inbox within seconds. |
What does your website say about your business?
January 3, 2008 by OneIMS · Leave a Comment
While many business owners realize that having a website is a step in the right direction, the quality of that website can be a double-edged sword. In this technological, internet-driven age, having an online presence vital, but having a website simply for the sake of having a website can turn your customers away. Imagine yourself on the worldwide web looking for a specific product or service. You use your preferred search engine and type in your search keywords. Eureka! You’ve found the website that you need.
While your online website may tell the customer that you offer that specific product or service, the way it is presented, or the amount of information they are able to receive goes a long way. A website that lacks aesthetics, functionality and professionalism will most likely turn potential customers away. First impressions are crucial and sometimes definitive.
Your website should be an extension of your business. Even though it is found somewhere out in cyberspace, you should treat it as your front window. What do you put in your front window? Only the best to attract your customers. That is exactly the same thing that your online website should be. By providing a functional, professional and aesthetically pleasing website, your potential online customers will be intrigued and will most likely purchase your product or service or even come in to your store. On the other hand, if you have a poorly constructed website, lacking important information and looking like a high-schooler did it for a tech class assignment, that’s exactly what your customer will think. And why would they take you seriously?
Before launching yourself into the internet marketplace, make sure to seek out professional help. While cost may be a factor, being cheap may hurt you more than you think. Below are some tips to help you prepare once you have decided to join the internet marketplace.
- Seek out professionals in the field who specialize in web design and development
- Ask to see samples of their previous work
- Browse through websites of competitors and carefully study the characteristics of their sites
- Clearly define the goals for your website, including your business philosophy and the message you want to get across to potential customers
- Meet with both copywriters and designers, make sure they both know what you want
- Develop your vision for your website
- Review all content and design ideas
- Stay in close touch with your web design and development team; remember that they are creating a custom product for you, so don’t settle for anything you don’t like
- Make sure your website is tested to remove all bugs and errors
- Keep your website current and up to date
Your website should not thrown together. Remember that this is your business, and it is open 24/7 for everyone to visit, so make sure it’s a true reflection of your business and let professionals handle it. So next time, before you jump at a cheap and quick offer, remember that your first impression can me a difference.
Let our web development experts at OneIMS who have been in the business for years, create the right impression of your business online!
