The buzz around email marketing circles at the moment seems to be about how to ensure that a visitor to a social media site where your business is active (e.g. Facebook / You Tube to name just two) is added to your email program.

This sort of issue is really only a problem for larger businesses where there are different people looking after different communication channels to your client base. But it raises three interesting questions for any business:

1. Connecting through email with a visitor to a social media site sounds dangerous. Wouldn’t the visitor only want to be participating in the social media site? Why would they want to be added to your email list? Why isn’t business happy to just communicate solely in the social media site?

   The fact that businesses are talking about the issue of connecting in a meaningful ongoing way with visitors to social media sites demonstrates that there is a need for greater connection. However, you need to be very careful in communicating through email, that you don’t destroy the fledgling connection created by the social media. Your communications would have to be very soft sell, and very much about adding value and adding connection / relationship.

2. Is this just a problem in the area of social media or are there other touch points to your customers that are also not connecting to your email marketing efforts?

   I believe that this is an area of concern for all areas of business, which is why many businesses invest in CRM (customer relationship management) software to keep track of all their communications - from enquiry to purchase to invoice - with each customer. As an initial exercise in considering this problem, map out all the different ways that you communicate with your customers or potential customers, and think about how you could be promoting your email marketing initiatives in those other communications. Do you promote your email list on your invoices for example? (mental note: not yet implemented for eNudge)

3. Are the results of your email marketing efforts also being distributed back to the other areas of your business?

   Of course, it’s a two-way street.  When there are trends demonstrated through your email or sms marketing activities, they need to be fed back into the other marketing efforts of your business.  Of course, this assumes that you are paying attention to the trends.

Before I talk about the little known clause, let me first give you an extremely brief summary of what the Australian Spam Act requires:

1. Consent - this can be inferred or explicit, but the onus is on the business sending the email to ensure that they can prove they have received consent from the recipient to sending emails or sms messages.  With regard to inferred consent, the Act talks about “an existing business or other relationship, where there is a reasonable expectation of receiving those commercial electronic messages”.  ACMA then gives an example of a relationship where you could infer consent as: strong business relationship with the holder of an electronic address – for example, the address holder is a member of a club, a subscriber to a service, or a client it deals with on an ongoing basis.
2. Identify the Sender - your messages must identify who is sending the information, including your name, business name, phone number, address and ABN.  That’s why we have this information included at the bottom of all your eNudge emails.
3. Ability to be Removed / Unsubscribe - this should be an easy process for a person receiving your emails or sms messages.  This is why eNudge places an unsubscribe link at the bottom of all eNudge emails, and instructions for unsubscribing by replying included at the end of all eNudge sms messages, automating the unsubscribe process for you.

Please note, the Australian Spam Act applies wherever there is an Australian link - if the message was commissioned in, sent from, or sent to, an Australian location then it applies.

So, what’s this little known clause?  It also relates to consent: that consent can be inferred from conspicuous publication of a work-related electronic address.  There are some key rules around using a conspicuously published work email address:

1. You can’t use the email address (e.g. from the person’s website, telephone directory or brochure) if they also state next to it that unsolicited commercial emails are unwelcome.
2. The email you intend to send must be directly related to the person’s line of work.  An example given by ACMA is that if you sell washers (for taps) you can’t say that every person needs a washer because everyone has a tap in their home!Instead the example given is that the Purchaser working for a bathroom supplies business could be considered to have a job directly related to the line of work of selling tap washers.

In summary, AMCA states that there must be a strong link between what you are promoting and the recipient’s role or line of business. You cannot infer someone’s consent just because you believe your product would benefit them.

Warning!!  As this is a little known about clause in the Spam Act, that means that the people receiving your emails don’t know about it either.  So if you are relying on this clause when sending a particular email campaign, please make sure that you explain to the recipient, right at at the start of your email, how it is that you have their email address, and why you are able to email them.  I strongly recommend that you approach such an email very politely and professionally to ensure that you do not damage your business reputation or annoy people.

Like to discuss this topic further?  We’re on standby to talk with you via our blog.

Before acting on the above information, please first refer to: The Spam Act Frequently Asked Questions (ACMA)

Email is a one-way conversation which is definitely far better than no conversation at all!  However, if you can move it towards a two-way conversation, then it becomes an even more powerful relationship building tool.  Linking through to a blog is a very simple and cost effective way of achieving a two-way conversation. 

Here is a quick step-by-step guide on how to setup a free WordPress blog and link to it from your eNudge emails.  You may need some help from your web developer for the WordPress installation step, but that shouldn’t take them more than an hour or so, with a little more time if you need them to configure it and create a customised blog banner for you.

1. Download the WordPress blog software from http://wordpress.org/ and install it on your webserver following the Famous 5 Minute Install provided by WordPress (if you have no idea what this means, best to get your Web Developer to carry out this step for you).
2. After going through the installation, WordPress will have generated an Admin username and password for you to get into the administration section of your new blog.  Go to the admin page which will most probably be located at: http://www.yourwebsite.com.au/blog/wp-admin and login using the admin username and password.
3. Go to the WordPress dashboard, and click on Write Post.  From this screen you can create your first blog entry.  WordPress allows you to enter text and format it with a basic text editing tool.  Then save your post, allocating it to an appropriate category.
4. In the WordPress dashboard you can control all of the settings the govern the way your blog operates including who can post comments, and whether these are moderated or not.
5. Linking to your blog in your eNudge email is then simply a matter of providing a link to the “root page” of your blog, which will most likely be: http://www.yourwebsite.com.au/blog - this is the link to the Contact Point blog for instance: http://www.contactpoint.com.au/blog/ 

Providing a link to your blog from within your eNudge emails will allow people to read something in your email or your website, and then post their own comments.  Other visitors reading these comments can then comment on the comments, and a conversation takes place amongst your readers, potentially creating a mini-community.

So, now’s your chance!  Was this short guide interesting / useful?  Post your comment and see how easy it will be for your readers to contribute and start a conversation and a mini-community in YOUR blog.

Did you ever start a newsletter, send one edition, and then decide because you didn’t get any feedback or sales that it wasn’t worth doing?  Often one email is enough to just whet the appetite of your contacts and reminds them you are there; it’s the ongoing communications that:

• enable your contacts to get a good feel for the products and services you offer
• establish you as an authority in your field
• keeps your business top of mind
• ensures that your email arrives at a time when your contact is actually looking for your product or service. 

On a rare ocasion, a once off email will elicit a great deal of response as it has done for a number of our eNudge subscribers.  The key factor in each such case is always that the contact list is highly targeted and almost fanatically interested in the topic of the email.

So don’t be disheartened if your first email doesn’t seem to achieve very much.

I read a presentation given by a top sales trainer, whose name escapes me, about a year ago. In a nutshell his presentation was about gaining a sale through cold calling by building a relationship with potential customers over the long term, via a series of short and useful connections, rather than a hurry to jump in and close a deal.  It’s a slower process, but it also means that both parties get the time to understand each other better and when the deal is finally made, the customer is very comfortable and has a relationship with you.  Therefore they are much less likely to be unhappy and much more likely to refer you to others.

I recommend that you take a long term approach and plan a series of communications to your contacts, as well as implementing strategies to build your list such as those suggested in our last eNudge News.  You should then see your business grow steadily and strongly over a longer term.

We’d love to hear from you - does this ring true from your experiences?  Share with us by adding to this post.

Most businesses start without a list of email addresses or mobile phone numbers of their customer base - because most businesses start out with only a handfull of customers.  But take heart if you are starting out, because from our experience many businesses that have been in operation for years also do not have email addresses for much of their client list.

Below we have described a number of strategies for building a robust client list from the very beginning of your business:

1. If you have a website, ensure that the contact form on the site:
   1. requires an email address from people submitting an enquiry
   2. at least provides the option for receiving a mobile phone number
   3. includes a tick box question regarding consent to keep the enquirer informed of changes to your site / new products and services / valuable information about your niche area…
   4. ensure that you add the above information to your client database immediately that you receive the enquiry (preferably automatically)NB. your enquiry form can be integrated with your eNudge account to make this an easy process for you
2. Ensure that the page of your website allowing visitors to subscribe to your email / sms list is promoted prominently on all pages of your website, especially the front page.  This is an important call to action, especially where the visitor may not yet be ready to buy from you, but may consider receiving some regular information as a way of getting to know you before making a bigger commitment.
3. Whenever you attend networking events, meet people interested in your product, and exchange business cards, make sure that you ask that little question “Would you like to receive information from me every x weeks / months about xyz?” (of course replacing x and xyz with the appropriate words!).  Getting into the habit of asking this question will ensure that you are building your list regularly, and that you don’t get tempted to add people to your list who haven’t actually consented to receiving your electronic messages.
4. If you have a physical store or office, have a bowl at the front counter inviting visitors to drop in their business card for a chance to win “xyz” and also to be kept informed of special offers / valuable information about xyz. Ensure that you then action these business cards on a regular basis.
5. Whenever a person is newly added to your list, ensure that you send him / her a personalised welcome message as soon as possible (preferably automatically and immediately). This welcome message is very important to remind the person that they have subscribed, build expectation for the next message, confirm how often they can expect to hear from you, and set the tone for the messages they will receive in future.NB.  As part of your eNudge integration, we can ensure that a standard personalised welcome message is delivered immediately to the newly added person immediately.
6. Provide valuable information resources to your website visitors at the same time as asking your visitors to subscribe to hear more about your business.
7. Include reference to your regular communications and how people can subscribe on your offline marketing material e.g. on a flier that you hand out to potential clients.

If your client database is already well underway, but lacking email addresses these strategies may assist:

1. Send a text message or a letter to the contacts for whom you have a mobile phone number or physical address, providing an incentive for your client to visit your website or ring you or complete a physical form and send it back in order to provide their electronic contact details.
2. Have a staff member call all of your customers to seek the information you are missing from your database.  This can be used as a valuable opportunity to touch base with your customer again, and also tell them about changes you have made inside your business.
3. Promote your regular electronic communications to all your existing customers to ensure that they are aware of this service that they are not receiving.

If you have any additional ideas for building your list, please tell us in a post.

Using your email campaigns to educate your clients/customers, on a relevant topic, will help to ensure that they stay on your mailing list. If you continually email your list with special offers and sales, some will eventually tire of the emails unless you have a huge product range and always have something that they would want to spend their money on.

Obviously the type of your business will determine what you can educate your customers about. But don’t constrain yourself to the obvious. Here’s just 2 tips on how to add further value to your customers:

1. what do my customers do prior to needing my product / service? Can I provide education to help my customer reach the point of needing my service more easily or more quickly? e.g. a travel agent could provide tips on how to prepare for a holiday so that you arrive relaxed.
2. who in my network of contacts could write something for my email campaign, helping my contacts with a related need? e.g. an Accountant could have a document image storage firm provide information about how to store documents electronically, saving storage space.

Businesses talk about providing value to their clients through their communications, but unfortunately so few do it. Instead they simply resort to specials and sales announcements, probably because they are daunted by the task of creating useful information. That’s why I’ve suggested that you ask a contact in your network to provide some valuable content, creating a win-win-win for you, your customers and the business writing the contact - they get to promote themselves to your contacts.  The business you ask to include content in your email campaign is likely to already have the information written - you will just need to tailor it for your communication.

Feel free to post to this blog if you need some ideas for adding value to your customers in your business communications, or if you want to share your ideas / experiences?

I’ll admit that I’ve had this debate with numerous people: are people completely turned off by the long copy, and label you immediately as a con man / woman, or does long copy actually help to encourage the reader to take action because it provides enough information to remove their fears and answer their objections?

By long copy, I’m thinking of the website pages or emails that take you about 10 minutes to read right through and are interspersed with regular calls to action, all taking you to the same destination link. The text will always include appeals to the emotional reasons why you would want the product / service, and will attempt to cover off all the facets that might put you off the purchase, as well as addressing all the benefits.

Here’s a great article that helps to explain the concept of long copy and why the statistics show that it out performs short copy: Long Copy versus Short Copy Face-Off by Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero.