Using Email Marketing In Your Mix

View this email in your browser

Emails The Second Part Of The 3 Legged Stool Plan More than 340 billion emails are sent daily. This figure is expected to reach 376 billion daily emails by the end of 2025. Email marketing strategies have changed over the years. What worked five years ago, now no longer works. But it's still a key player to any marketing strategy. In fact, for the very best online marketers’ email marketing is their go-to marketing channel. Why? It's because it brings in the results and delivers the best marketing ROI: Email Marketing Is The Next Step Just remember if you can not follow up with a phone call it is not worth doing. That’s right! Email marketing outperforms all online marketing strategies, including SEO, PPC, and content marketing! An email marketing strategy is an important part of any marketing strategy. Email is the most cost-effective way to promote your products, communicate with your customers and reach your business goals. And on average, for every $1 you spend on email marketing, you can expect a return of $42, if the list is right! Creating personalized subject lines in emails can increase open rates by 26%,  marketers have experienced a remarkable 760% boost in email revenue by employing segmented campaigns. Not bad, right? Here, are some of the best email marketing strategies you can use or have us use for you to achieve extraordinary results through email marketing. A few ideas we use at Larson's for better email marketing campaigns These are some of the email marketing strategies in the 3 legged stool that we use, email will become your second most important channel!   1. Segment your subscribers Segmentation is the top initiatives list this year. Do you know why it is so high? It's because when you segment your database, your email campaigns become much more targeted to your audience. Let’s take a look at an example: You're hosting a networking event for small business owners located within a 20 mile radius. How can you expect to get the best turn out for your event? The answer is to segmenent. The best way to get business owners to turn up to your event would be to create a segment of people who list themselves as a small business owner that lives within 20 miles of your event and then send them an invite by email. How annoying is it to receive an email that invites you to an event that is located on the other side of the world? The segmentation results include increased performance in: If you segment your lists, you get better open rates, revenue, leads, transactions and more customers. And according to research from Campaign Monitor, segmented email campaigns lead to a 760% increase in company revenue. Another benefit is that segmentation goes hand in hand with GDPR and email marketing. does it really work? Yes! Here's an example from our own email marketing campaigns: We recently sent out two email marketing campaigns. Both campaigns had the same subject line and the same content. The first campaign was sent to our non-segmented email list, while the second was sent to our segmented list (segmented by interest). The first non-segmented email earned an impressive 42 % open rate and a 4.5% click-through rate. However, the segmented email campaign earned a 94% open rate and a 38% click-through rate!  it’s pretty valuable, wouldn’t you? And that's why so many marketers' are segmenting their emails, right? Wrong. As 9 out of 10 email marketers' do not segment their database. So, here are a few examples for you to get started with segmentation: Segment by industry: Do you offer services and products to businesses or consumers? Knowing the industry of your subscribers is a great way to segment your email campaigns. For example, a business that sells car parts would engage at a much higher rate if they receive email campaigns on car products, compared to a business that sells software. Segment by company size: Also known as account-based marketing, segmenting email campaigns by company size or annual revenue is a great way to increase response rates. A small business that employs 5 people is not likely ready for the biggest industry conference of the year, whereas a business that employs 750 people might be a better fit. Segment by sales cycle: Early stage buyers will not be ready for an aggressive sales pitch or one-to-one demo but, they will be more appreciative to receive an industry research white paper. On the other end of the cycle, buyers who are ready to buy will respond well to product webinars or free trial offers.   Spend time creating great subject lines In email marketing, the subject line plays a crucial role. Here's why it's so important: Surprisingly, 69% of people determine if an email is spam just by glancing at the subject line. Much like how segmenting your email list improves the precision and effectiveness of your campaigns, your email's subject line is the first thing recipients see. It's your initial opportunity to capture their attention. Create subject lines that pique curiosity, offer value, or generate excitement. Pro Tip: Avoid using spammy or clickbait subject lines, as they can lead to a surge in unsubscribes and damage your sender reputation. Send your emails at the right time Another tip is to think about when you send your emails.  Why? Because people check their emails at different times.  Study your subscribers' habits, including time zones, to figure out when to send your emails. A/B testing can also show you the best times to reach your particular audience. For example, consider Tuesdays as the day in which you sent out most of your emails.  Sending emails on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, especially from 10-11 am, often yields the best results. Most emails (about 53%) are opened between 9 am and 5 pm, except during lunch. Surprisingly, emails sent from 4:00 am to 8:00 am see a strong 33% transaction rate Conclusion Email marketing continues to deliver results. But email marketing has evolved. It's no longer as simple as sending the same email to all. It's time to update your email marketing strategy. Now, you need to send targeted messages. Messages that are personalized, and optimized for multiple devices. You also need to test new elements. Trends change quickly, and what worked 12 months ago may not be successful today. Be open to testing. And when you understand what works, find ways to automate it through triggered emails. Be sure to create great subject lines and send your emails at the right time.  If you implement these tactics into your email marketing strategy your customers will be more responsive, your campaign performance will improve and your business will continue to grow. Larson & Associates We Make Good Businesses Great and Great Businesses Even Better Larson & Associates 3475 Steeplechase Way    Suite 101 Grayslake IL 60030 847-991-1294

GROWING EXISTING ACCOUNTS

 

EXISTING ACCOUNTS Existing accounts are the most valuable thing in your business! Well maybe tied with employees because I think after the last year or so our employees and associates are the absolute most important we have to work with and to grow or even sustain your business . . .  Yet, when asked that question in a general survey, business owners often look to the bottom line listing off expensive things like equipment, buildings, etc, equating value with costs. Not even thinking about the intangibles such as good will. But dare I say the most valuable thing to your business are your customers!  You can lose your equipment. You can lose your best employees and team members. You can loose your office or building. You can loose all your money. It might hurt but you can replace each and every one of those things. But there is one thing that a business absolutely cannot lose in order to remain viable: your customers.  So ask yourself: How can we better understand the needs of our customers? How can we stay top-of-mind when our customers are ready to order? How can we build and maintain trust and credibility with our audience? How can we leverage our existing customer relationships for more sales? How can we position our customers for a successful future for them with us? How can we exemplify our unique selling proposition (USP)? UNDERSTAND THE NEEDS OF YOUR CUSTOMERS Customers are the lifeblood of any business, my business, your business any businesses. Loose your focus on that and poof your gone faster then the speed of light. And and did you also know that 76% of those same customers expect a company to understand their needs? This means that to succeed in selling more of what you do, you need to ask yourself how your company can better help and understand your current customers needs.   That is one of the reasons Larson & Associates exists. If you don't have the time, the talent or the training to keep in consistent contact with your customers WE do. With a Larson & Associates 3-legged stool marketing method for customer retention you can keep what is yours. If you don't have a customer follow up system: We do! If you don't have a new customer follow up system: We do! If you don't have a customer survey system: We do!  We can help you keep what you already have! Call me at 847-991-1293 and let's have a conversation. It is what we do best! Larson & Associates We make good businesses great and great businesses even better.  Target Marketing, Teleprospecting & Sales Professionals for New Account Acquisition

EXISTING ACCOUNTS Existing accounts are the most valuable thing in your business! Well maybe tied with employees because I think after the last year or so our employees and associates are the absolute most important we have to work with and to grow or even sustain your business . . .  Yet, when asked that question in a general survey, business owners often look to the bottom line listing off expensive things like equipment, buildings, etc, equating value with costs. Not even thinking about the intangibles such as good will. But dare I say the most valuable thing to your business are your customers!  You can lose your equipment. You can lose your best employees and team members. You can loose your office or building. You can loose all your money. It might hurt but you can replace each and every one of those things. But there is one thing that a business absolutely cannot lose in order to remain viable: your customers.  So ask yourself: How can we better understand the needs of our customers? How can we stay top-of-mind when our customers are ready to order? How can we build and maintain trust and credibility with our audience? How can we leverage our existing customer relationships for more sales? How can we position our customers for a successful future for them with us? How can we exemplify our unique selling proposition (USP)? UNDERSTANDING THE NEEDS OF YOUR CUSTOMERS Customers are the lifeblood of any business, my business, your business any businesses. Loose your focus on that and poof your gone faster then the speed of light. And and did you also know that 76% of those same customers expect a company to understand their needs? This means that to succeed in selling more of what you do, you need to ask yourself how your company can better help and understand your current customers needs.   That is one of the reasons Larson & Associates exists. If you don't have the time, the talent or the training to keep in consistent contact with your customers WE do. With a Larson & Associates 3-legged stool marketing method for customer retention you can keep what is yours. If you don't have a customer follow up system: We do! If you don't have a new customer follow up system: We do! If you don't have a customer survey system: We do!  We can help you keep what you already have! Call me at 847-991-1294 and let's have a conversation. It is what we do best! Larson & Associates We make good businesses great and great businesses even better.  Target Marketing, Teleprospecting & Sales Professionals for New Account Acquisition Copyright © 2022 Larson & Associates, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Larson & Associates 3475 Steeplechase Way Suite 101 Grayslake IL 60030 847-991-1294

How Many Clicks Does It Take

Just How Many ‘Clicks’ & Views Does It Take To Get In?

We are living in a very ‘noisy’ time. Crowded markets vie for our limited attention, each crying louder and longer. We are being constantly bombarded by sounds and images that promote ideas, products, and beliefs.

This constant disharmony makes it increasingly difficult to focus on any one thing. To weigh choices, make informed decisions and to choose. Each day as we make our way up the ladder we are surrounded by the frenzied, howling masses scrabbling for our last dollar or last bit of attention. We learn, whether by choice or necessity, to tune the bulk of these distractions out, to not hear the clamoring and the crying, we minimize our attention and move on. If this is a result of self-preservation, a product of our environment, how can you reach your client? How do you make the sale? How do you ‘touch’ the customer so that they remember you and your product?

We’re all busy people. We all know what it takes; Emails, texts, post, social media – these and other combinations all working to get our attention.

What you may not know is that research has shown that it takes, on average, seven instances of receiving a marketing ‘touch’ before you remember a company’s product or service. So, it not only ‘makes sense’ to ensure that you put together an integrated marketing campaign, it is an essential aspect of being remembered.

When it comes to lead generation, whether you’re targeting new business or maintaining current clients, you need to be creative with your marketing. According to Dan Cadieux from 360 Leads  there are many ways to perform Lead Generation but there are 4 Key Principles that apply to all Lead Generation Activities, they are:

• Find your target audience~ determine what group you want to attract with your lead generation activities.

• Communication is key in any relationship- do not just tell them what you are selling/offering. Tell them a relatable story that demonstrates why they NEED YOU. Your message must be loud, you have to be heard over all the “noise”.

• Data collection is vital for a successful lead generation. Collecting data is part 1, then all your activities must incorporate the collection of prospect data.  Once these steps are done then, it is then possible to go move to the next stage.
• The final key is to nurture the leads. This is the most crucial stage, this where leads are converted into customers.  You have the leads, now don’t just treat as a feather in your cap, build relationships so they are no longer leads but are now clients.

As an entrepreneur or business owner, you already know that it costs more to bring a new client in then it does to keep an old one. Why then after your investment of time and resources to generate new business would you risk the loss of those clients because you haven’t kept them engaged? Because you haven’t nurtured your leads? As an award-winning marketing agency Larson & Associates understands the importance of developing effective strategies to do this and we stand ready to share this knowledge with you.

Research has shown that businesses can expect an ROI of $38 for every $1 spent on email marketing, 

There are literally hundreds of examples of different marketing strategies that you can choose from to target customers, move your Find your target audience~ determine what group you want to attract with your lead generation activities.

• Communication is key in any relationship- do not just tell them what you are selling/offering. Tell them a relatable story that demonstrates why they NEED YOU. Your message must be loud, you have to be heard over all the “noise”.

• Data collection is vital for a successful lead generation. Collecting data is part 1, then all your activities must incorporate the collection of prospect data.  Once these steps are done then, it is then possible to go move to the next stage.

• The final key is to nurture the leads. This is the most crucial stage, this where leads are converted into customers.  You have the leads, now don’t just treat as a feather in your cap, build relationships so they are no longer leads but are now clients.

Email These don’t have to be long and drawn out, just short and effectively direct and to the point telling the reader what they need to know and how it can benefit them. That’s what successful email marketing is all about.

• In a business so much is done via email but often times email is not used to just keep in touch.

• Email has replaced pen and paper, use it to write personal notes to prospects.

• A company should use the email addresses of prospects it has collected to provide them with valuable information, newsletters, whitepapers, etc.

• Automated email software can also improve the nurturing process if used properly

Whether in a series or a single carefully crafted email about your offer, product or service, it’s vital that the email gets noticed before they have a chance to hit ‘delete’.

Larson & Associates development and design team provides the specific direction and content your business needs to get noticed. We work with you to develop strategies that make the difference!  

Direct Mail If you’re looking for a way to get yourself noticed and get your ‘foot’ in the door then direct mail quite literally opens those doors. This time-tested tool of client-based communication is still a stand-out in today’s technology-driven world.

Many times, the humble DM is the only ‘touch’ opportunity you get to make, so make it count! Creating an engaging copy with a ‘hook’ is the key to catching your customer’s eye when your DM campaign hits their mailbox. Once again, making the message relevant to your clients and their needs is what is important. Larson & Associates team of creatives is ready to suggest ideas that will give your product or service the ‘hook’ you need to stand out.

Data from HubSpot shows us that businesses that blog around 16 times or more per month get 3.5 times more traffic and 4.5 times more leads than businesses that blog less than 4 times a month.

Social The word Nurture means “to care for and encourage the growth and development of someone”. Nurturing in a business context is “encouraging a prospect to develop into a customer”. Prospects will be encouraged to become customers if they have a need that you demonstrate you can fill.

You can do that by further demonstrating your expertise and putting yourself in your prospects shoes, showing you understand their needs.

• On social media sites like LinkedIn and Twitter you have to Nurture & develop a relationship

• Comment on and Like the LinkedIn posts of your prospects

• On Twitter re-tweet your prospects tweets, show that you care about them

• They will then watch you and give you a chance to further demonstrate your expertise

At Larson & Associates, we take the time to understand you and your needs. We help you develop the strategies that keep you and your customers satisfied. We help you implement the plans that make the difference.

Telemarketing With the right approach and the right team, telemarketing is maybe the most effective way to connect with your clients, as well as generate new leads in any marketing campaign.

One approach is to just call your customer base using it as a ‘Customer Courtesy call’ strategy. This has the advantage of keeping your name on the clients ‘radar’ and provides updates about current products and promotions. It also allows you to explore potential needs and circumvent nascent problems. Additionally, this ‘one-on-one’ time provides opportunities to discover more about your clients – who they are, what they want and what makes them ‘tick’. This also a great technique when integrated into your existing program, a follow-up call may be used as a part of the email and/or direct mail strategy.

• Don’t forget what you carry around in your pocket, a phone

• Most people use their phones for everything except talking on it

• Pick up the phone and keep in touch with prospects, nurture the relationship

• Companies might need a reason to call,

• Do a survey: a customer satisfaction survey for customers

• For prospects do a research-based survey finding out their challenges in relation to your industry or product

• Share the findings with them, it’s a way of showing you understand their needs

• Make appointments for your sales reps, have a company call your prospects and try to set up appointments for your sales reps to meet with them.

At Larson & Associates, we take steps to understand your business and your needs. We can provide the logistics and the information, keeping you in contact with your current and future clients. 

Fact is every time you touch a prospect, every channel you use, when you send out and interconnect and entwine your message the odds of engagement and success increase and when think you’re done, make one more follow up phone call to your list.

So, how many clicks does it take? short answer, all of them. Like your business, it is an ongoing challenge that when done right grows, grows exponentially with your business. You are limited only by your imagination when it comes to finding ways to overcome the obstacles to your success. There are no magic formulas or secret codes that can guarantee success in marketing or in business. There are tried and true methods, paths taken and lessons learned by others who blazed the trails ahead of you, we here at Larson & Associates want to be your guides through this noisy and frenetic wilderness. We have the tools and the technology to lead you in the right direction, to succeed. Let the journey begin!

Know Your Numbers And The Sales Funnel

A friend of mine, Aki Jackson is always asking the question, Do you know your numbers?

In my business, target marketing and telemarketing for lead generation, I deal with 2 kinds of numbers.

The 1^st are what I call the “Magic Numbers” These are the key figures that tell you ahead of time if your business is going to grow or shrink. These could be anything from how many inbound inquires you have, to how many new proposals you put up this week, to how much junk mail your company got. Ok that might be a stretch but some of these magic numbers can be that off the wall.

The other number I am going to talk about here are your ratio numbers. The numbers of sales in your industry and your company that it takes to convert to a sale. How many raw leads does it talk to get a prospect, how many prospects does it talk to get an inquiry, How many inquiries does it talk to get an appointment. How many appointments does it talk to get a quote or proposal and how many quotes does it take to get a sale or project. And last how long or short is your sales cycle?

This brings us to the sales funnel. A sales funnel reveals to you how many prospects you have in each part of your sales cycle, and also details the conversion rates for each stage. This will tell you whether you have enough deals in your funnel to meet your goals, and whether you need to give special attention to certain areas of the sales cycle.

This number differs with each kind of business and each business within a specific industry. So Do you know your ratios?  Do you know your industries base line ratio numbers?

If you had 100 raw leads and started contacting them how many prospects would you get? Figure it out.

If you got 1 out of 20 you would have 5%, 1 out of 15 6.66%. But you need to understand that each of us have different and unique ratio numbers. They are ours and ours alone.

You can only manage what you can measure. If you have just 12 deals in the first stage of the and you KNOW you need 20, then it’s a clear sign that you are in trouble and need to find and add at least 8 more new prospects in order to achieve your numbers

If not there are 4 different things you can do:

1) Get deals from stage one to stage two quicker. Moving projects though the funnel faster.

2) Increase the size of the projects

3) Increase the size of your projects by up-selling
4) Practice and learn the art of salesmanship

 The challenge for most companies is to generate enough good quality sales into the funnel and to keep adding enough leads on a steady basis into the sales pipeline. Telemarketing and teleprospecting, when used in conjunction with other forms of marketing such as Blog, Social Media Marketing (seo)Content, SEO, E-blasts, Website and Analytics can be an effective means of communicating with your target market.

It is essential that you are set-up for success with your telemarketing and teleprospecting activity, by having good quality content on your website (people often visit your website after they have been called), a dedicated landing page to measure the success of your campaign and follow-up materials that can send to people that are interested in receiving more information.

A good quality database is vital to the success of any telemarketing and teleprospecting campaign.  Once you know your ideal client you need to find the correct database based for your target market and decide on what qualifies as a qualification lead. Then carry out the telemarketing and teleprospecting campaign. If required, you need to be make adjustments on the fly in order to ensure the best possible results. These types of campaigns typically generate some sales ready leads but many are marketing qualified leads that are not yet ready to convert and nurturing. So starts the sales process

Larson Notes & Satire:  Easy and hard all in one. So do you know your numbers and ratios?

And for better lead gen in telemarketing, teleprospecting and lead generation call Larson & Associates at 847-991-1294 or email me at howard@larsonassociates.ws .  One call is all it takes to start getting sales leads into your funnel.

Howard Larson

Larson & Associates

Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition

Making good businesses great and great businesses even better

847-991-1294

howard@larsonassociates.ws

http://www.larsonassociates.ws

http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans

http://www.linkedin.com/in/larsonassociates

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. We make teleprospecting for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 10 hours a week. Maybe you should add teleprospecting into your marketing mix call today and find out.

What is in store for 2015

Marketers received a healthy portion of companies' budgets in 2014, and that might be increasing in 2015. According to the "Presentation for CMO Survey 2015: Eye on the Buyer” report by research firm Gartner, companies spent, on average, 10.2% of their annual revenue on marketing activities in 2014. And now half of the companies that were surveyed plan to increase their spending in 2015, which translates out to a budget increase of 10.4%.

But there is devil is in the details.  Bigger companies are getting bigger budgets. As an example, companies with revenues of $5 billion or more anticipate using 11% of their money to marketing, while companies with revenues between $500 million and $1 billion ONLY plan to allocate 9.2%. 46% of respondents plan on spending less than 9% of their revenue on marketing and 30% intend to allocate more than 13%, and 24% plan to use some percentage in between. Now I know most of you if not all are not this size or even close but it does not hurt to pay attention to where the Big Boys are playing and what they are playing with.

So where is all this extra money going? One work: DIGITAL! According to the report, 51% of these companies plan to increase their digital marketing budget in 2015. The average boost will be 17%. That increase will give digital a significant hunk of the overall marketing budget. More so when we considering that companies used about 25% of their marketing budgets on digital in 2014.

For some marketers budget allocation is a tough one to crack because not all companies have separate digital marketing budgets. Sixty-eight percent of companies do, according to the report. But marketers waffle on what a digital marketing budget encompasses. Thirty-two percent of respondents consider digital a single line item of the overall marketing budget, while 36% itemize each digital activity. In addition, 23% have incorporated digital marketing into each function of the marketing budget and 8% have done none of the above.

Larson Notes & Satire:  I hate to say it (no I don’t) but if you don’t keep your spending on the traditional ways of marketing you’re going to be really lost. Digital is not a stand alone marketing channel. Well maybe to some but to most of you out there, you need the support of email, web site, content, direct mail, trade show and of course TELEMARKETING. And now with our new service offering of INBOUND call answering and ACT social media software we at putting more of what you need  together for you.

For the answer to your sales and lead generation problems call Larson & Associates at 847-991-1294 or email me at howard@larsonassociates.ws .  One call is all it takes.

Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-1294
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://www.linkedin.com/in/larsonassociates

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.

Multi-Channel Marketing Program

What is a Multi-Channel Marketing Program or Cross Channel (different kinds or marketing and advertising like telemarketing, direct mail, social media marketing, content or blogging, etc.)  Marketing Plan? Think about it. What is it and how can your company use and put one in place? Simply a Multi-Channel Marketing Program is one part of a cross channel marketing plan.

When done right a Multi-Channel Marketing Program will include strategies for telemarketing, print, web, email, direct mail, PR, order fulfillment, charitable interaction and other internal and external pushes. A Multi-Channel Marketing Program focuses on internet and offline marketing activities. Creating an online marketing strategy and cross channel marketing plan also requires a bit of analysis; to figure out what channels your company has used in the past (if any) before and which of those was most and least profitable.

Why is a Multi-Channel Marketing Strategy and Multi-Channel Marketing Plan Important?

If you’re like most businesses, at least the ones I know of, you don't have an endless supply of money to work with. So it is important for you to decide what marketing channels they'll spend money on based on the ROI (return on investment) and how much to allocate to each channel. It's also very important to make sure that your marketing efforts go across channels so they are supportive and reinforcing towards each other so that the prospects you are going after receives a consistent message, in any of numbers or ways they connect with you. But you need to create a plan that details what activities will be executed, when they'll be launched, across what channels they'll be launched, how frequently they'll be used, what customer segments they'll be targeting, how long they'll run for, what products will be promoted, what message will be communicated, and what the sales or customer acquisition goals will be. When you businesses executes your marketing efforts "in the dark" you get a lot of wasted money, confusing and inconsistent message and low conversion rates.

Larson & Associates will work with you to learn what your company has done in the past (what works and what doesn't) including a return on investment analysis if the sales data is available, what your current company strategy is and what your goals are, take a review or your current marketing efforts, and together we'll create a plan that will be executed, tracked, and measured, and adjusted as need be.

If you really need more prospects call us. It is not a problem.  We simply take the target we have created and make connections for you.  It’s almost that simple.

Call Me, Howard Larson, now, at 847-991-1294, for a free consultation.

If results are what you need and expect contact us today. We do what others only promise

Larson & Associates / We Make Good Businesses Great & Great Businesses Even Better

www.larsonassociates.ws

847-991-1294

All associates located in the United States

Remember, you can ONLY get the Larson advantage at Larson & Associates

Email: Triggers To Up Your ROI

Whether you're a small business or an international company with lots of branches "People do business with the people they know, like and trust." And your success is based on building relationships.

The larger your list of the 3 F’s (friends family and friends), the more daunting the task of sustaining one-on-one communication. Fortunately, today's online relationship marketing technologies give marketers the ability to join together the things they know about their 3F’s with the capability to automate specific types of messages that are based on a customer action.

With behavior-based marketing you can actually shorten the time and effort, while at the same time build trust, increase engagement and creating new possibilities. But, to do this, you must have some major elements in place to have success.

Common Reference points
According to the Direct Marketing Association's Email Experience Council, directed email campaigns have 96 percent higher open rates and 125 percent higher click through rates than other kinds of emails, yet sadly they only comprised 2.8 percent of the total email sent. The most common types are the "Welcome" emails you get that are sent right after your sign-up has been completed, and the "Thank you" email, sent when someone has just made a purchase. If you've at least got these kinds of customer communications automated, you’re at least on the right road!

But there are so many more functions you can automate. Things like like birthdays, anniversaries and abandoned shopping carts and the like. But what are some lesser-recognized opportunities that organizations can take advantage of?

Product Lifecycle Emails
Using a campaign that involves the lifecycle of a product or service is a very powerful way to cross-sell and build a customer relationship.

"What is a lifecycle email campaign?" simply put, it is one that is based on predictable future as to the needs or desires of the prospect or customer, as shown by a previous action. This then activates a series of emails designed to be sent out at prescheduled intervals. These kinds of campaigns can also be based on certain behaviors or changes of status as well

For your prospects that are not easily targeted, you can look at their data to better understand the way they wish to be communicated with. Ask yourself how do they want to hear from you and what do they want to hear? In looking at their unique preferences, share offers, competitions, events, product information and other details that will effectively elicit a response.

Status Change Events
Another often overlooked chance to touch your customer base revolves around changes they make. This could be one that indicates they have become even more attached to your brand, for example, if they started following you on Twitter.

A change based on these types of actions taken is a great way for a relationship to build and follower retention. It shows your customer that you are listening to them and that you care respect them and what they like and, don’t like.

In today's challenging economic climate, every customer matters. According to Adobe's 2012 report, "The ROI from Marketing to Existing Online Customers," 40 percent of revenue comes from returning or repeat purchasers, who represent only 8 percent of all visitors.

Keep consistency and frequency in mind: When done right a targeted campaign should seem perfectly natural. Make sure all of your data is integrated and up to date: When you make the choice to build a relationship with your customer this way, you need to keep your data up to date. If a customer suddenly receives something that makes no sense, it can totally take away any trust you've worked to build.

Larson Notes & Satire:  If you work at it it will happen. As in all things it’s about being consistent. This kind of an email attack can only help you in that consistency. Keep it constant, keep it focused, keep it directed and you will get results.

If you need help we could make you an email star!

“We don’t sell lists, we find customers.”

Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-1294
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://www.linkedin.com/in/larsonassociates

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.