You have a new product or a promotion or a research report or you’ve added a new location and you can’t wait to email your customers about it. Get set go… NO STOP. As a small and medium business, chances are that you are the jack of all trades running pretty much all departments of your company yourself or with a small team.
According to The Radicati Group, an average user transacts over 126 business emails per day. Drowning in a flurry of emails, why should the recipient pay attention to your email? Below are ten housekeeping rules to follow as you begin ideating on an email campaign.
1. Think about “What’s in it for me” from your recipient’s perspective
Be clear about the objective of your email and does that objective fulfill some need gap or knowledge gap for your recipient.
2. Which email marketing service do you use?
Email marketing platforms are multiplying by the day. How do you select what’s best for your business. A few parameters to keep in mind include: cost, ease of use, design options, campaign reports, social media integration, contact list management options, and open rates. Check out this link for the best email marketing platforms Best Top 10 Email Marketing Services Here is another resource for selecting email marketing platforms Best Email Marketing Software for Small Businesses
3. Is your email mobile friendly?
According to Marketland.com nearly 68 percent of emails are viewed on mobile devices and 52 percent of those are opened on smart phones.Does your email display optimally on all devices – mobile, desktop, laptops? Is the design crisp and content precise?
4. Do you have an explicit call to action button in your email?
Be explicit about what would you like your readers to do, for instance do you want them to claim an offer or register for an event. The call to action button should be prominently positioned in your email.
5. How long is your email?
According to Marketing Sherpa, the average reading span of an email is 15-20 seconds. Your challenge is to balance content and creative and get your prospective customer to act upon your email in that time limit. So don’t go overboard, keep it short.
6. Is the content consistent in your email?
Does your subject line reflect the key objective of your email? For instance if your subject line says “5 signs you need a new pediatrician” your email body copy should focus on that and not any other subject.
7. Are all links in your email working?
Check, check, check. Before scheduling an email campaign ensure that all links – both website and email links are working. For instance, if your call to action is “To download dental hygiene tips for toddlers email tips@abcdocs.doc” ensure that it is an active email regularly monitored by someone designated in your company.
8. Is there a “Forward to a Friend or Forward this Email” option in our email?
Email forwards is an effective way to increase subscribers and expand campaign reach. Make sure to include “Forward to a Friend” option in your emails.
9. Which day of the week and what time is your email scheduled for?
In managing email marketing campaign for B2B clients, we have found success in sending emails on a Sunday evening. Experiment with a few different days and times to identify what generates the maximum response rate to your emails.
10. Are you analyzing email campaign reports in detail?
After every email campaign, block time to analyze the campaign report. What was the response rate, which links did the recipients click on, how many did not open, how many unsubscribed? Look for trends and patterns and work on identifying what could have been done better to improve the response rates.
In summary, before launching an email campaign think from your recipient’s perspective, put yourself in their shoes. What emails interest you and which one would you like to read amidst the many emails you receive in a day. If you follow these basic housekeeping rules, half the battle is won already.
Need help with your email marketing campaigns, check out our customer engagement services or email us at info@chimemonitor.com
Do you know your review universe?
When an irate customer goes online to vent out or when an elated customer takes the trouble to write you a few words of appreciation, both merit an acknowledgement and a timely response. But you can only respond if you know that a review has been posted on a certain online platform. As you work tirelessly to build and guard your reputation both online and offline, a fundamental step is to proactively identify and monitor your digital review universe.
The who’s who of your review universe
Identify your review universe i.e. the online review websites and social media relevant to your business. Depending on the nature of your business, you can identify websites specific to your industry. For instance in the apartment industry some of the relevant websites include ApartmentRatings.com, Apartments.com, and Google Reviews. You should also investigate the city pages, and local listings relevant to your geography. These are some good sources to begin with:
Hubspot
Business News Daily
Digital Current
Listen and record
Track your review universe on a daily basis. You could do this internally or by outsourcing review monitoring to a third party. Maintain a daily and weekly log of all your reviews. The log should include— Name of the review website, review, date, name of the reviewer, and response.
Search for trends
Review the reports with your team on a regular basis to analyze and call out trends as reflected in your reviews. What are people saying? Do you have multiple people complaining about the wait time at your restaurant or residents complaining about the delayed response by your maintenance staff? If you are consistently getting a stream of negative reviews then chances are that there is a loophole at your end. Is there something wrong with your product, its delivery, your customer service representatives, some external factor, or some management policy issue?
What’s up with competition?
In building and guarding your reputation, it’s also important to monitor the chatter about your competitors. Know your three biggest competitors, identify their review universe, monitor their reviews across all review platforms, and dissect their highs and lows.
Benchmark
Once you’ve identified some notable trends about your business and your competitors business do some benchmarking of your business v/s competition. Review your high notes, low notes and where you are completely missing the boat.
Step by Step Guide to Identify Your Review Universe
Managing your reviews online requires meticulous thinking and planning, coupled with a ton of patience and perseverance. Identifying your review universe is rudimentary to the whole process. With 97 percent of consumers reading reviews about local businesses and 90 percent being influenced by positive reviews, you really need to keep your eyes and ears open to your business reviews across all review sites frequented by your customers.