Email Programs

Email Program Suggestions
The key to effective email programs is relevancy to the recipient. While your complete message may be contained in an email, it will have much greater impact if you combine your email with a page on your web site. (See Email Writing.) We recommend you read Email Etiquette before implementing your email programs

Here are some Email Program suggestions…

1. New products and services
Use your email list to send information about new products and services. Keep your email content short. Emphasise benefits. Include an active link to your web page that contains the detailed information.

2. Emailed Newsletters
The key is content relevancy to the recipient. Use your email as a content summary of your Newsletter with individual links to the articles on your web pages. Keep your summaries to about two lines per article. Enough for the recipient to decide whether they are interested in the article.

Don't send out your Newsletter too frequently. How often depends on the nature of your content and your communications objectives. Eg. If its purpose is to enhance company or brand awareness, quarterly may be sufficient. If your product or service is frequently purchased, then you may want to devise a monthly program.

3. Action Reminders
Does your product or service require post purchase service? Perhaps you have software that requires upgrades. There are many situations where a timely reminder will be appreciated. Particularly if the reminder contains a link to a web page that makes it even easier to take the required action.

4. Special Offers
An extensive customer email list will distribute your special offer to your customers faster and less expensively than any other form of communication. Link your offer email to an online order form to make it even easier for the customer to act.

5. Price List Management
Do you have an extensive price list that changes frequently? Maintain your current price list online and email your distributors when changes occur. You will save money on printed price list updates and you will reduce pricing errors.

6. Invitations
Do you hold trade nights or attend trade shows? Use your email list to distribute your invitations. If you have an online form where they can book in, all the better - make sure you include an active link in your email to your online form.

Email Etiquette
You should always adhere to the unwritten rules of Internet etiquette when you implement your Email Programs. If you do, your programs will be seen by your clients as useful communications, if you don't, you risk alienating them.

1. Opt-in and Opt-out Email Lists
Get permission from your clients to add their email address to your Email List and always offer them an easy and visible method of removing themselves from the your list. (See Building Your List)

2. Don't "spam"
"Spamming" is the sending of unwanted, mass emails. If you don't get your client's permission to add their addresses to your list, you risk being classified as a "spammer". Informed Internet users know what action to take to curtail "spammers". As a result, your ISP may cancel your dial up account and your Email List service may also be cancelled.

3. Be consistent with your promise
If you adopt an opt-in policy, you will have explained to your clients what sort of information they will receive from you. Don't change the nature of your communications without re-offering an opt-out option. A promise of product information that suddenly becomes "hard-sell" commercial emails will really turn clients off.

4. Privacy Policy
Don't offer your email list to third parties. Respect your clients' privacy and tell them your Privacy Policy.

5. Don't overuse
Don't email your list too frequently or clients will start to opt-out of your program. For most recipients, a monthly email should not be too frequent but of course, it must be relevant to them.

Building & Maintaining Your Email List
A large number of your customers are already online. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, over 33% of Australian households had accessed the Internet in the year to May 2000. When Internet use from work is included, nearly 50% of all adults had access.

Building and maintaining your email list will be a continuous process. Not only will you need to add customers as they go online for the first time, you will also need to amend existing email addresses as these will change more frequently than phone records.

But the benefits will be worth the effort…

Some suggestions on building your email list:

1. During customer visits
Brief your sales staff to advise your clients what you are doing with your email programs. They can seek client's opt-in permission and collect the email details for you.

2. Online subscription form
We make an online subscription form that you can link to your website. Tell your customers they can subscribe to your list on the web and give them the address of your form.

3. Your web address in print
Add your web site address to all your business stationery - letterhead, fax, business cards, invoices, receipts, newsletters, etc.

Print a slip to include with any routine customer mailing. On it, tell your customers what you are going to do and invite them to subscribe or update their email address online. Print the full address of your online subscription form on it to make it easy for them to find.

NB: Check that your web form address is correct before you print and mail it.

Email Writing
You will create the email for your email list in your Personalised Message Composer. This will address your emails to the "preferred name" specified for each customer. However, you need to remember that all other copy is "generic" and will need to read correctly when received by male or female, etc.

Following are some tips to help you create emails with more impact.

1. Personalisation
A personally addressed email gets more attention so we have included automatic personalisation in your emails. Your Message Composer will automatically include your client's preferred name in the email subject and in the message text.

When your clients view their email "in box" the Subject of any emails from you will read:

"Mrs Smith, (then the subject text you wrote)"

"Mrs Smith" being the Preferred Name you specified for this client in your Email List.

The body of your email message will start:

"Mrs Smith,
(Your copy will then commence below the greeting.)"

2. Keep Email Text Short
Less is more with emails. Keep your text short and where possible, stick to one topic.

If you are implementing an email Newsletter program, you should have a better response if you add your Newsletter to your web site, then email the newsletter article headings with an active link to your web page(s).

3. Link your email to a web page
To make an active link in your email message to a web page, simply type the full web page address into your Message Composer. Your page address in the email should look like, http://www.yourdomainname.com/newsletter.htm. To avoid typing errors, go to the web page you want to link to then copy and paste its full address from your browser Address or Location box into your Message Composer.