I received this article by email today from Gail Geronimos, the co-founder of Achaeus. It is an excellent summary of how email can assist businesses to make sales. Well worth the 4 minute read as it’s not your standard advice that I’ve read elsewhere.

Most business people I speak to don’t understand that using emails is one of the most cost-effect tools for generating leads. The key to a successful email campaign is recognizing that the format of the email and the messages included must be optimised to get the email recipients to open the email and motivate them to click on the intended links.

The power of email as a marketing tool depends on whether or not you use it correctly from the start. Whether you are emailing to 100 people or a 100,000 people, developing a solid strategy for success in email marketing is a necessity.

So how does one use the email advantage to their business advantage successfully?

There are four basic tactics that can help you implement the major points of your business in an email marketing campaign.

1. Calculate the Purchasing Cycle of Your Customers
Every business operates differently and when it comes to purchasing, especially large ticket items, each company will follow certain protocol. If you can get a clear picture of how your customers operate between the period of browsing to the period of buying, you will have the upperhand for developing your email strategies.

2. Do Not Group the Old and the New
Many businesses make the mistake of simply adding new contact emails into an already-established prospect list. This can be a big mistake because the new potential customers have not had the benefit of receiving your previous welcoming emails which typically contain introductory information about your product or services.

If you are adding new emails into your list, these people may not be able to follow recent emails without a background on your product. By creating a standard set of emails that all new people receive your prospective customers will have access to all of the information about your product.

Providing customers with informational emails is a great reinforcement of what you have to offer. Invite customers to free webinars or podcasts or send out a white paper that is of benefit to your prospects. Don’t just promote your business.

The more proof you can supply of your expertise the better chance you stand at keeping the attention of your customers.

3  Regain Interested Customers
It is likely that a large percentage of your email contacts will be non-responsive to your email marketing campaigns but it is a big mistake to ignore that list completely. Regardless of whether or not they click through on your emails or not, it is wise to work instead on trying to reenergize their interest.

By continuing to let them remain inactive without some special attention, you will eventually start to devalue your email marketing campaigns and will find you will have a large amount of undeliverable mail.

When working to win back these customers, it may take several attempts to find out which works best for your business. One such tactic may be to offer exclusive deals only for email list recipients. By providing extra services to your list and not just offering them the standard services, your customers may be more inclined to take action.

You can also put together a simple survey to find out what they are interested in. Also you could ask for feedback on your services or products and what it is you can do better. Go back to the original reason your customers are on your list and use that information to create your win ‘em back strategies.

4. Maintain an Email Calendar
One thing you don’t want to do is become a nuisance. There is the possibility that you can send emails too often and turn off a lot of potential customers. By creating a calendar for your marketing campaigns, you will have an outline to follow to ensure you are moving forward.

Creating a list of seasonal promotions, you will have the opportunity to keep customers in the know about what is happening now and what is coming up. Sending monthly newsletters is a great way to give your customers free information while still promoting your business as effectively as possible. The calendar can serve as a simple visual for planning fresh ideas for each new month.

CALL TO ACTION
Develop a draft email marketing campaign. Talk to an internet marketing expert, get some feedback and start your emails. 

Gail Geronimos
Co-Founder
Achaeus