Tips for making your bulk email marketing campaign more effective. Part 2

Article from May, 21nd, 2003.

In the first part of this article we discussed some of the ways to make your bulk e-mail marketing campaign more successful. If you read the article carefully, you probably noticed these are standard sales techniques, they work well both on and off line. But sometimes your marketing campaign still yields low results, even though you've done everything right. Hey, it may not be your fault - may be it's the goods or the services you are trying to sell.

Try to analyze all promotional e-mails you received within past 1-3 months (this may not be possible for everybody, since some of us receive dozens of these e-mails daily). Now think how many of these goods and services you really need yourself. About 50% of the messages I've received recently offer me life insurance, mortgage, ink refilling gadgets, sex toys, MLM programs, vacation offers and other things I DO NOT NEED. So, if you want to make your campaign more effective:

1. Analyze your sales history - see what goods or services sell better than others. Ask yourself and your friends and relatives what products they bought after receiving a promotional e-mail. Keep in mind that some things can be sold online successfully (books, for example), while others can't. Selling furniture over the Internet is a very tough thing to do, as the recent history have demonstrated.
   
   
2. Find goods or services that are not easily found in the area where your target audience is. French wines, expensive cognacs, collectible items are some of the examples.
   
   
3. Always leave a personalized e-mail address that you can be reached at, should your clients have any questions. It is also a good idea to have a FAQ section at the bottom of your messages that answer the questions about money back guarantees, shipment terms, maybe even some testimonials from the clients.
   
   
4. Offer sweepstakes and giveaways for your audience, and always include the name and location of your most recent winner. People love free things.
   
   
5. People frequently are afraid to by goods from online retailers because they are afraid of fraud. If you leave your mailing address and a telephone number (a photograph of your store is a good idea, too), this will assuage the fears that your prospective clients may have.
   
   
6. If you sell expensive goods, offering a rebate can be a very good way to increase your sales. Do offer a rebate to a particular person, even if the purchase has been made for an organization. Some software retailers are able to successfully sell 10K software because the send a check for a few hundred dollars to a person, who initiated the transaction.
   

Next week: Delivering email to @AOL.COM
Prev week: Tips for making your bulk email marketing campaign more effective. Part 1.

Relevant links:

    • Software to send personalized mass email
    • The message. The Does and Don'ts

 

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