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Email Marketing 7
Ways to Improve Your Website with Email Marketing
by Charlie Cook
©2007 In Mind Communications, LLC, all rights reserved.
"How can we get better results with
our email marketing? We sent a test email to 100 prospects who had
expressed interest in our services and only got one response! We
have a list of over 40,000 people who’ve contacted us and
we want to follow up by email."
- John from Atlanta
Whether you want to improve your email marketing
or use the Internet to keep communication going with prospects
and clients, you want your emails to get a specific response.
You want people to open your emails, read them,
and then take action. You may want them to fill in a form or pick
up the phone or go to your website and buy, but essentially your emails
should prompt prospects to contact you and prompt past clients to
buy from you again.
Is that what happens when you send out emails to
the people who have given you permission to email them?
If you’re getting a limited response to your
web site marketing emails, its time to figure out what’s wrong.
The first problem could be your mailing
list itself. I can’t emphasize enough that you should
only send email to people who’ve indicated that they want
your emails, either by signing up for them or by indicating their
interest through a previous purchase. It’s illegal to
send Spam, unwanted emails, it’s a waste of your time and
theirs, and its a great way to alienate potential customers. Don’t
do it.
Want to build your own mammoth legal email
list that converts prospects to buyers? I’ve detailed exactly
how to in Creating
Web Sites That Sell at >>
Ready to tune up your email campaign for maximum
website marketing results?
There are 7 elements to an effective email
campaign that include:
1. The subject or title,
2. The sender address,
3. The first sentence,
4. The first paragraph,
5. The perceived value of your offer,
6. Your call to action and
7. The landing page (the page on your website that the links
in the email go to).
Want to know which of these elements are
working and which aren’t in your company’s emails?
If you are using tracking software, as John was,
you can tell how many people opened your email, how many clicked on
the links in the email and how many either filled in the form linked
to the email or made a purchase. With this information, you can pinpoint
which elements are working and which need fixing.
I use the ad tracker provided in my shopping
cart system. John, uses software from SalesForce.com
Open Rate
John knew that 22% of the recipients had opened his email.
In this case, he was emailing people he hadn’t contacted in
as long as 12 months. An ‘open rate’ of one out of five
is respectable, and indicates that the title of his email was working. There
is room for improvement, though, and with a better subject line
he could get an open rate of at least 30%.
Clickthrough Rate
Only 15% of the people that opened John’s email used any of
the links in response to his call to action. While 15% isn’t
bad, it’s reasonable to expect a 30% or better clickthrough
rate. The key is to use the copy in your email to leverage people’s
innate curiosity, to reaffirm your credibility and to clarify the
value to the reader of taking the action you want them to take.
Credibility + High Perceived
Value + Curiosity = High Clickthroughs
Want to use email to sell more? You
could just keep running in circles without a map and hope that you
sell more, or you could get a step-by-step guide to improve your web
site marketing that shows you exactly what to do to reach your goals.
Discover
the insider secrets to making your email and your web site sell
with this link >>
Sales
An email message is successful when prospects open it, read
it and clickthrough to your sign up or go to your sales pages. Then
what? They should take the action you want them to take.
Only one of John’s prospects filled in the
form at his website. Since only three people reached this page, though,
it’s hard to tell whether this particular page is doing what
its supposed to or whether there is some other problem.
If you’re offering something for free, you
should be able to get 25-35% of the people who reach your sign-up
page to fill in the sign-up form. Sales page results will vary highly,
depending on the product or service and your pricing.
Still not sure how to fix your emails? Take
these 7 steps to improve your emails and convert prospects to clients:
| 1. |
Write a title for your email
that describes the content, implies a benefit and makes
the reader curious. |
| 2. |
When the recipient gets your email, make
sure they recognize the sender. Use your company email
address, which they should recognize. |
| 3. |
Use the first sentence of your email to
grab your prospects’ attention. Don’t start
with ”Hello, did you miss us?” but with a
sentence that will immediately get them reading. Speak
to their problems and concerns. |
| 4. |
The first sentence should propel your
readers into the first paragraph. Then, give them more
information about their problems and concerns. |
| 5. |
Clarify the value of your offer. Even
if all you want the reader to do is sign up for your
free report, they’ll need to know why they need
it and how it will help them. The more clearly they understand
its value, the more likely they’ll be to take the
action you want them to take. |
| 6. |
Include a call to action. Tell people
what to do next. For example - Click here to discover… Use
this link to get the details …, Find out how to… |
| 7. |
Make your sign-up page or sales page simple
to understand and easy to follow. Keep it focused on
the action you want your readers to take. |
Take all of these 7 steps and soon more people will
read your emails, click on the links in them, reach your sign up and
sales pages and buy from you.
There is an easy way to attract more clients with
your email and your web site marketing and avoiding wasting time and
money. Want to know what it is?
When
you have the right email and web marketing system, your sales
will soar. Get all the details by clicking here >> |
