Use E-Mail Marketing to Stay in Touch with Customers

Did you know that it takes on average at least six visits to your website before most prospects decide to buy? Most visitors find your website through a search on Google and only visit once, briefly. Then they click off and they’re poof-gone.  You’ve lost your opportunity to persuade them to buy from you. Or have you?

Obtain prospects’ email addresses by offering a free, premium piece of content.

Capture Their E-mail Address

The way around this problem is to capture their e-mail address while they’re on your site so that you can reach out to them in the future. Should you use some sort of software to do this?  No, you want them to volunteer their information. Ideally, you’d like them to want to hear from you again.

Try offering visitors something that they would enjoy like a free newsletter or a free report on a topic related to your business — whether you’re a healthcare provider, plumber or psychic. If you can’t write, hire a professional copywriter to create these marketing pieces for you.

These free reports or newsletters are known as “lead magnets” — exchanges of value for information. HubSpot Marketing says they can be “ebooks, free email courses, webinars, etc. Essentially, it’s a piece of premium content you can use to entice someone to sign up for your list,” thereby giving you permission to contact them again.

Offer an Informative Freebie

If your website is selling skateboards, for example, offer a monthly e-newsletter titled “Skateboard Tricks.” If your website is selling first-aid kits, offer a free report titled “First-aid Tips for the 10 Most Common Injuries.” To get the free newsletter or report, the visitor has to sign-up by providing his e-mail address.

When visitors sign up, you can use email them to increase your sales.

Of course, that begs the question, should you ask for more information than just their e-mail? Wouldn’t it be useful to know more demographic details about your prospect?

Yes, it would be helpful. It would be nice to know their full name, address, age, what they do for work, how much money they make, if they’re married or single, how old they are, etc. But do you dare ask?

Unfortunately, it’s not about what’s useful to YOU.  It’s about what’s useful to YOUR VISITOR. What purpose does it serve your visitor to provide this information to you? All that your visitor wants to know is: What’s in it for me?

Think about your own behaviors when you go to a website that is asking you for information. Do you like taking the time to fill out a detailed form? Do you feel comfortable telling them where you live or how much you make? Do you give them your phone number?

The answer to those questions for most people is “no.” The less information you ask, the more sign-ups you will get on your website or blog.

“In fact, every step you can take to make the form simpler will help you build your audience,” says marketer Neil Patel. “The fewer steps between a consumer being interested and them subscribing helps you grow.”

Provide Useful, Relevant, Timely Information

Now that you have the prospect’s e-mail address, what should you do with it? Start marketing! Provide a steady flow of interesting information that will get the prospect to trust you, like you and eventually buy from you.

Create a value-packed monthly or weekly newsletter to encourage interested prospects to connect and stay in touch with your brand.

Establish a relationship with your subscribers. They need to get to know you. Build rapport with them via your e-newsletter or e-mails. Impart good, useful, relevant information and at the same time tell them about your new products, services and upcoming programs. You can also promote special programs and sales.

“The tone of your email should be conversational,” according to Adoric, a digital marketing firm. “Drop the overly technical language and speak as you would to someone that is sitting next to you. When subscribers feel like they’re in the same room with you, having a conversation, they are more likely to respond favorably to whatever you have to say and do what you want them to.”

As your mailing list grows, so will your profits. Recognize that your website is not the end-all. Rather it’s only the beginning, your chance to introduce yourself to a prospective customer. It’s in those targeted follow-up e-mails that you will eventually convert a prospect into a customer.

Need help creating a lead magnet or e-mail marketing campaign? Get a free quote.

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