The best way to increase your sales is to think like a prospective buyer. That’s true whether you’re selling a product via face-to-face personal contact or via email marketing.
Prospective buyers are less apt to be conducive to a sales pitch from a stranger who they don’t want to communicate with than someone they know and trust. Consequently, you need to focus on a long-range strategy of finding prospective buyers who know and trust you if you want to increase your sales via email marketing.
Email marketing experts have the following tips for companies and entrepreneurs who are interested in long-term sales success:
FIND QUALITY CUSTOMERS
Finding the largest number of prospective buyers is relatively easy. All you have to do is buy a list. That’s a huge mistake, according to “6 Common Email Marketing Mistakes Small Businesses Make,” an article in Mashable, which is one of the most widely read business blogs.
The better approach is to build up your list of prospective buyers organically by, for example, sending emails to companies that have expressed interest in your company. Mashable recommends an opt-in form on your website.
SHOW YOU’RE AN EXPERT
Why would companies buy something from you when the only thing that they know about you is that you sent them a sales pitch in an email? Generally, they wouldn’t. The best long-term strategy is to begin your email marketing campaign with a “soft sell” rather than a “hard sell.” A soft sell includes convincing prospective buyers that you’re an expert in your field.
If you’re a landscaping service, for example, your first emails could focus on how-to tips that are beneficial to prospective customers rather than any mention of your services. “As customers come to rely on you as an industry expert, you will likely see a corresponding increase in sales,” according to an Entrepreneur magazine article entitled “Six Tips for Maximizing Email Marketing Campaigns.”
BE CONVERSATIONAL
Prospective customers will be more comfortable if they feel that they know you. Consequently, your emails should come across more as you talking to them than you making a formal sales pitch. “The Anatomy of a Smart Email Marketing Campaign” explains that email is “very intimate. Do it right and people get to know you like they know their favorite radio talk show host or their favorite character on TV.”
Using your subject line to ask your prospective customers a question that will engage them by making them think about the answer is an excellent way to be conversational. The body of the email should avoid technical and industry jargon even if the prospective customers are industry experts and should be written in the active tense with a lot of active verbs.
KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS
Sending the same email to all your prospective customers isn’t wise because they’re all different. Some companies might be more interested in a specific product while others might be more interested in your advice and expertise.
At the beginning of your email marketing campaign, you might have to send the same email to everyone because you don’t know them, but you should keep meticulous track of who your customers are so your follow-up emails are more specific and individualistic. Entrepreneur magazine, in fact, recommends surveying your prospective customers so you can find out what they’re interested in. “You also can gather demographic data about them through these surveys,” advises the magazine.
