What do your subscribers want from you?

Article from October, 1st, 2003.

You probably heard that the customer is always right. But too often e-mail marketers don't consider the recipients of their promotional materials or the newsletter subscribers to be their customers. But this is exactly who they are. And the way you build your relationship with them determines how much business they are going to do with you. As a business person, your goal is to keep them happy and to cater to them. Did you ever ask your subscribers what they want from you? Well, you should. Meanwhile, these are the answers the other marketers got.

1. Permission based subscriptions. That means the subscribers don't want to start receiving messages they did not sign up for. The reality of mass-mailing is that often it is not an option. You just buy or rent a mailing list and hope that it's "a double opt-in". So, you should always provide clear instructions about how to unsubscribe.
   
   
2. Provide relevant content. There are hundreds, even thousands of newsletters and other forms of promotional mailings that people eagerly anticipate. The secret? These contain new, relevant, valuable information. If you sell something, offer the price lower than that of a nearby store. Make sure you provide information that is not easily accessible otherwise. "The news is what they are hiding from your. The rest is advertisement."
   
   
3. Interactivity. Make your messages interactive. The simpliest way of doing that is to split your mailing into segments with different topics. Then let the subscribers choose which segments they want to receive and which ones they don't. Also, offer short and long versions of the newsletter.
   
   
4. Give your subscribers a voice. People who buy your goods or services form their own opinions about them. They get ideas about how things can be changed or improved. Let their voices be heard in your mailings. This will make your newsletter much more natural and friendly
   
   
5. Personal attention. Your company may send out hundreds of thousand, even millions copies a week. Some people will get back to you for one reason or another. Don't set up an autoreply system or some other surrogate of person-to-person communication. Try to use regular, simple and personal language to address the needs of your customers.

Next week: How to improve your conversion rates.
Prev week: How smart is your e-mail marketing campaign?

 

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