Emails Sent to a Happy Customer
   By Craig Huey

If your email inbox is like mine, every day you are inundated with emails. Each vying for your attention. Email is undoubtedly the most competitive marketing medium. Far more so than space advertising, television commercials or even direct mail.

Because of this, it is critical that when communicating with your customers and prospects via email, you take the opportunity to build and strengthen your relationship with them.

Creating relationships and increasing value
Make your emails valuable to your customers. Speak to their needs. If you have any past information regarding gender or age, relate that information to your product or service when sending them your email.

For example...
Gap, a men’s and women’s retail clothing company, frequently sends out gender-specific emails to its customers. The email does not direct them to the company’s website, but instead offers exclusive sales on items that are similar to items they have purchased in the past.

Give them what they need
If you make your email more valuable by offering a special sale or premium, you will increase the value of your email list. However, if you simply sell and pound your product or service to your customers, you are not using your email to its full potential. (See his article on Sizzling Premiums in this issue)

Think of it this way: depending on what you do, the value of your email list either increases or decreases, so why not do everything you can to increase it?

The value of speaking to your audience
You build relationships and earn trust with a good email promotion. But remember, to do that you need to speak specifically to your audience. Make it worth their while to open up and respond to the email you’re sending them.

- Craig Huey is president of the CDM Group and InfoMat. (craig@cdmginc.com)

Expand your marketing opportunities. Add email addresses to your consumer database!