By Tess Wittler
My business, Tess Wittler Writing Services, recently announced that it has joined the Constant Contact Partner Program as a Solution Provider. As a Constant Contact Solution Provider, TWWS clients can gain access to easy-to-use email marketing, event marketing, social media marketing and even online survey tools to help them build stronger, lasting customer relationships. (And you know I am all about helping my clients build strong relationships with their customers.)
One of the benefits of becoming a Constant Contact Solution Provider is that I can share with my clients the “best practices” in the industry. One that often hangs up even the best marketers is building an email list.
Before you begin compiling your email distribution list, you must, must, MUST select an email marketing provider, such as Constant Contact. (Other popular providers include Aweber, MailChimp and iContact.) The days of sending emails to dozens of contacts (or more) using Outlook, Gmail or AOL are over. There is no quicker way to get labeled as a “spammer” by your email hosting company than by doing this. Plus it is unprofessional. So don’t.
Now, to get off my soap box about the imperative importance of using an email marketing service, let’s move into the heart of this article – building your email list.
The best place to start when building a better email list is with your House List. This is a list of your customers, clients, and individuals with whom you have a business relationship. These can include:
- Current customers
- Individuals who have requested information from you
- Survey respondents
- Customers who have called in for support and/or repairs
- Local media members with whom you have an established relationship
- Members of professional organizations that you have met and established a relationship
Your email list needs to be “permission based,” which means it comprises the names of people you have a pre-existing business relationship with.
Often when speaking with clients, this “permission based” topic leads to the question, “So if I am at a networking event and I gather business cards, does that mean that I can add them to my list?” And my answer is always, “It depends.”
Some questions to ask yourself include: Do you feel comfortable adding them to your list? Did you have a “real” conversation with this person? Did they express interest in hearing from you again? If you answered yes to one of these questions, then add them to your email list. If you can’t remember what they look like or one important fact about them, then my recommendation is to leave them off your email list … until you know them better. You aren’t going to build a strong relationship with a potential client if your first move is to annoy them with email.
(Personally, I use a scrupulous checklist of criteria when adding someone to the Jottings email list. I don’t add people onto my list unless I feel extremely comfortable, and that feeling usually doesn’t happen after one conversation – sometimes, but not always.)
Remember one of your key goals with your email newsletter is to build stronger relationships with your clients and prospects. As long as you keep that in mind, most likely you will not go wrong.
Another no-no: Don’t purchase an email list. For one, email addresses change constantly, which usually makes purchased lists a bad investment, yielding poor results. Secondly, the individuals on purchased lists will more than likely consider your email “spam,” and spamming is just bad for business.
Furthermore, don’t scour the Business Journal or LinkedIn looking for emails to add. (This happened to me last week with one of my LinkedIn connections, and it drove me mad!)
To reach individuals you don’t know, a separate marketing strategy should be developed – to introduce your company and services/products to them. Don’t slap their name onto your email distribution list and call it good. Don’t be one of those companies … please!
The bottom line is this: When customers are satisfied about receiving your email newsletter, complaints decrease and deliverability improves. Additionally, an engaged customer is one that also feels closely connected to your company and this results in a stronger relationship. And a stronger customer relationship is a lasting and profitable one.
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