Tag: email

Email isn’t actually dead. With the rise of social media networks like Facebook and Twitter, the thought is that no one is checking their email anymore. And while it’s certainly true that more people are living inside their Facebook messages, there is still plenty of opportunity to use email to remind people about your business.

Less is More

The clients we’ve worked with on email newsletters have, if anything, erred on the side of not wanting to send too many emails out and so send far too few. While you have to find a good balance between being useful and being spammy, when people sign up for a newsletter they are expecting to get some sort of promotion along with whatever other information you said they would get in their email inbox. For some businesses, this could mean sending out a newsletter once a week if the content is light and easy to consume – (i.e. craft suggestions, quick tips for gardening, weekly promotions at a retail store etc.) while for other businesses, it’s probably best to send out a monthly or quarterly newsletter when the content is a bit heavier or longer (i.e. financial advice for home owners, suggestions for running an efficient farm, etc.)

I’d suggest being slightly more aggressive than you initially feel you should be and ask for feedback from your readers after a couple mail outs.

Top of Mind

Even if the person on the receiving end of your newsletter isn’t in need of your products or services at that moment, by sending them a little reminder email you can keep your business or brand at the top of their mind so when it does come time to purchase the types of products you sell, your company will be the first they think of.

If you’ve ever signed up for any major company’s email newsletter, companies like Amazon, Apple, Home Depot, Future Shop, they will send an email for any one of these occasions:

• Seasonal changes
• Holiday related promotions
• New product launch
• Clearance items available for limited time
• Upcoming sale
• If it’s a day of the week that ends in the letter “y”

And maybe you delete half or more of the emails without even looking at them. But you take enough of a glance to see their name, their logo and the special announcement they have before you can hit the delete key. It costs the company pennies to send out the email and they’re able to keep their brand in your mind so the next time you need to upgrade your computer you’ll think of Apple.

It’s Easy to Start

We can help you get setup with a signup form on your website and sending out a newsletter in a matter of a few days – Contact us today and get started with your first email newsletter campaign. We have many clients that are sending newsletters out already with lots of success. I’m sure they’d be happy to tell you how easy it is and how they wish they would’ve started a long time ago!

Click here to view our October newsletter.

This month we talk about keeping up with events at the World Junior Hockey Championships, our new logo and editing video.

If you’re not receiving our monthly newsletters, feel free to subscribe in the sidebar to the right.

Click here to view our October newsletter.

If you’re not receiving our monthly newsletters, feel free to subscribe in the sidebar to the right.

A quick Monday morning quiz for you:

Q1: Do you send emails to your customers?

Q2: Do you have a website that you’d like your customers (or potential customers) to know about?

If you answered yes to both of those questions, here’s a third for the win (or FTW as the kids say):

Q3: Do you include your website address in your email signature?

There are a lot of people who send out emails without some sort of basic contact information in their signature.

You don’t have to be too elaborate or include everything – just pick the top 2 or 3 ways you’d like people to contact you or find you online and include them. I’d suggest at the minimum include your website address and a phone number, but your mileage may vary.

Here’s a couple examples from us here at YasTech:

Nothing too fancy – just the basics is all that is needed. But it gives your customers a way to find you without having to make them go hunting for the phone book or on Google – and potentially end up finding your competitor in the process.

If you’re not sure how to add an automatic signature to your emails, here are some links to instructions for some of the more popular email clients:

• Outlook on Windows
• Mail on Mac
• Hotmail
• Yahoo

Of course you can also include links to any social media sites that you are active on (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, etc.). The keyword there is active. You don’t want to put a link to your MySpace page when you haven’t actually updated it in 4 months.

Got a better idea for your email signatures? Send me an email with your signature on display and maybe we can post a roundup of some of the better ones out there.