Why Your Business Contacts Ignore Your Emails

The strength of your company and career is dependent upon the relationships you've built over the years. Even so, most people let important contacts fall off the radar, often for years at a time.

Then something happens and suddenly you want to get back in touch with a somebody you've neglected because (let's face it) you had better things to do than keep the relationship alive and well.

In my free weekly newsletter (in addition to providing links to my most recent posts), I offer free critiques of reader emails. Based on what I've seen, here's how most people attempt to reactivate a neglected contact:

SUBJECT: Long time no see

Hey, John,

I hope you're doing well!

I've started selling mcguffins and I would love to explain to you why our mcguffins are the best in the world!

What's the best way to get on your calendar? You can reach me at 888-555-1234 or check out our website at www.mcguffinsRUS.com.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,
Jim Jones
McGuffins Inc.
1234 ABC Blvd.
Central City, OH, 44130
888-555-1234
www.mgcuffinsrus.com

Email like this almost never get answered, primarily because the hidden message is: "The only reason I'm contacting you is because I want something from you."  Beyond that, here are some other reasons such emails go unanswered:

1. The email is all about the sender and what the sender wants, which is irrelevant to the recipient. 
2. The tone of fake friendliness is insulting and even faintly disgusting.  The capper is the "sincerely" at the end when the email is obviously self-serving.
3. The request for a meeting, and therefore the expenditure of the other person's time (and thus money) is completely out-of-line.
4. The Subject line is irrelevant to the recipient and actually reminds the recipient that the sender has neglected to maintain the relationship.
5. The email makes the common error of having multiple calls-to-action, which tends to reduce the response rate (too many choices).
6. The final sentence is not only self-centered but presumptuous.  After this shameless display of "me me me," why would anyone want to respond?

To be clear, the example I've provided above is much better than average. Many such emails actually contain feature lists, biz-blab, and other gobble-de-gook guaranteed to make the recipient hit the delete key.

Ironically, it's easy to reestablish contact with a neglect business contact. In fact, I have an almost 100% response rate to my "reactivate a contact" emails.  I'll explain exactly how to do this in tomorrow's post.

Meanwhile, though, I'll tell you the secret (which I'll explain in detail tomorrow). The secret is 1) get over yourself, 2) put aside your own agenda, and 3) get curious about the other person.


Again, I'll be going into more detail tomorrow, so stay tuned.

Source: http://www.inc.com/
Image Credit: Getty Images




ABOUT WNFP
Westchester Networking for Professionals (WNFP) is a business networking association dedicated to helping small businesses and entrepreneurs develop, expand and grow. We offer affordable opportunities to help create a positive impact and advancement in your business interests and personal quality of life to take you to the next level.
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4 Things Your Welcome Email Must Do (and Probably Doesn’t)

As a small business, you know how important a first impression can be.

Whether it’s the first time someone walks into your store, the first time someone calls your office, or the first time someone looks up your business online — you work hard to make sure customers walk away thinking positively about your brand.

But how about the first impression a customer has with your brand’s email marketing?

Have you put any thought into the type of experience you’re giving your customers when they receive an email from your business for the first time?

The value of welcome emails

It’s easy to forget that each time a customer opens an email from your organization, they are actually having an experience that can impact the way they think of your business.

Like when someone decides to hop in their car and visit your store, when someone decides to sign up to receive your emails, they do so with certain expectations. More often than not, those expectations will come from the initial experience that reader had with your business­­.

That’s why it’s such a surprise that so many businesses pay so little attention to their Welcome Email.

What most businesses do wrong

Welcome emails are the automated messages subscribers receive when they sign up for your email newsletter.

Because welcome emails are automated and most email services provide stock content for businesses to put into them — many business owners don’t even know what the first experience they’re providing their readers looks like.

That’s a huge problem. Especially considering open rates for welcome emails are much higher than typical email correspondence. (The average open rate for a welcome email is between 50-60 percent.)

That’s a lot of people being served a less than optimal first impression. Even worse, that’s a lot of people setting low expectations for the emails they’re going to receive from your organization in the future.

Make sure your Welcome Email delivers a fantastic first impression. Here are four things your Welcome Email must do:

1. Reaffirm they made the right decision

The fact is, even customers who love your business can be reluctant to offer up their email address — especially if they are new to your business and haven’t built a strong relationship with you.

For the customers who do make the decision to subscribe, they’re going to want to know right from the start they made the right decision.

Here are three ways to do just that:

Remember your subject line best practices: Just because Welcome Emails are automated, doesn’t mean you don’t have to pay attention to your best practices. A Welcome Email subject line should catch the reader’s attention, thank them for signing up, and give them a reason to open your email.
Try something like “Thanks for signing up. Now what?”

Let them know they’re part of a community: Don’t be afraid to showcase your success as an email marketer. Letting readers know just how many people are receiving your newsletter each month is a great way to reaffirm their decision to subscribe to your list.

Make them feel safe: People are protective of their information online — and for good reason. Letting your customers know right from the start that you plan to protect their email address is a great way to make them feel safe and secure.

2. Tell them what to expect in the future

Once you’ve reaffirmed the reader’s decision to subscribe to your mailing list, offer some preview of what they can expect next.

It’s important that what you tell your reader in the Welcome Email is consistent with what you promised at the point of sign-up. You don’t want to offer coupons and deals to get people to sign up and then tell new readers that all they’re going to be getting is news updates.

Take the time to revisit what you’re offering people at the point of sign-up. Remember to include details about the type of content you plan to send, how frequently you plan to send it, and the expertise you plan to share.

3. Make sure future emails get through

Even the most experienced email marketers can sometimes fall victim to SPAM filters.

If you’re a Constant Contact customer, you can use the Spam Checker to improve the likelihood of your emails making it through.

But you should also use your Welcome Email as a way to avoid getting flagged as spam, and to improve your chances of getting noticed in your readers’ inbox.

A great way to do that is by asking them to “whitelist” or add your business to their trusted contacts. That way, your emails will not only end up in the inbox (and out of the spam folder,) but will also be more likely to be recognized by the reader.

4. Fulfill on your offer

It’s likely you made an offer of a download or coupon in exchange for your contact’s email address. After all, special offers are one of the reasons why people sign up to email lists. The Welcome Email is where you should fulfill on that offer. Since the Welcome Email is typically sent immediately after a new contact joins your list, you’ll be able to provide instant gratification to your new contact.

Remember this is your Welcome Email

Personalizing your Welcome Email will not only improve the first impression you’re able to make on your readers, it will also help set you apart from your competition.

While most businesses are sending welcome emails with static and un-engaging messaging, you’ll be providing an experience that will shape the way customers and potential customers think of your brand.

Take the steps provided for you in this post and remember this is your welcome email. It’s your opportunity to introduce your email marketing and reintroduce your business to your target audience. Make sure it’s written in your words and that it reflects the personal experience you plan to provide your readers.

Make it memorable.

How to edit your Welcome Email in Constant Contact:
You can edit the default Welcome Email, using these steps. Once set up and customized, this email will send automatically to your new contacts, so you can make a great first impression, every time.

Source: http://blogs.constantcontact.com/




ABOUT WNFP
Westchester Networking for Professionals (WNFP) is a business networking association dedicated to helping small businesses and entrepreneurs develop, expand and grow. We offer affordable opportunities to help create a positive impact and advancement in your business interests and personal quality of life to take you to the next level.
Stay Connected with WNFP!

5 Tips for Your Next Email Blast

Getting ready to send your next email blast and wondering what you can do to improve your results?

This post was written for you.

Here are 5 simple tips for your next email blast, or eblast.

1. Don’t call it an email blast!
If you read our blog or subscribe to our Hints & Tips newsletter, you know that “blast” is a word we never use.

That’s because email blast is a dirty word.

Blast invokes images of something you send out without much thought or consideration. It doesn’t take much time or effort either, because you’re literally just “blasting” out information.

Effective email marketing on the other hand is something that takes time, thought, and consideration because you’re focused on building relationships and not just “blasting” your audience with updates. You need to craft a message that’s relevant to your readers and offer something of value.

This type of email marketing enables you to build relationships, stay top of mind, drive valuable repeat business, and encourage word-of-mouth referrals.

Achieving these types of goals starts with dropping the “blast” mentality.

2. Get to know your readers
Once you decide to market to your audience the right way, you’ll need to take steps to better understand who they are, what they’re interested in, and how you can improve your relationship with them.

But keep in mind that all of your readers are not the same.

Some people may be lifelong customers while others may be completely new to your business.

Rather than “blasting” all of your contacts with the same information, you should take the time to figure out how to deliver a more personalized experience to each of your subscribers.

This process is known as segmentation. Here are a few examples of how different industries segment their list:

• A nursery will email its residential customers about new spring plantings and its commercial customers about availability of bulk mulch.
• A cosmetics boutique will email one discount coupon to customers who buy makeup and another to those who buy skin-care products.
• A financial services firm will email tax prep customers a timely IRS filing reminder and another to financial planning clients about rebalancing their portfolios.

3. Email with purpose
When you approach emails with an eblast mentality, you risk forgetting one of the most important steps in an effective email marketing strategy: setting a goal.

Whether it’s to bring new customers into your store, drive traffic to your website, or simply raise awareness — your goal should dictate how you craft your message and deliver it to your target audience.

Rather than packing information into an email and “blasting” it out to your list, you can focus your message around a particular goal and hit send only when you have a clear purpose in mind. By delivering a more focused message, you’ll not only improve your chances of driving action from your readers but you’ll give your audience what they want.

4. Make it valuable
Today, consumers expect more from the businesses they interact with online and off.

With so many brands competing for their attention in all the places they visit every day — whether it’s through TV, email, or social media — consumers have gotten better and better at filtering out messages that aren’t relevant to their needs or interests.

If you want your audience to remain engaged with your content, you need to make sure you’re offering something of value. For some readers, that means offering a special discount or an exclusive promotion to your email list. For others that could mean offering a how-to article from your blog or a piece of content that’s more than just the typical sales pitch.

Make it valuable, make it relevant, and most importantly, make it something your readers will thank you for time and time again.

5. Measure your results
If all you’ve been doing is sending out email blasts to your readers, you probably haven’t taken the time to measure your results.

But if you’re not measuring your results, how could you ever hope to improve on the work you’ve been doing?

Measuring your email marketing results starts with looking at your email reports.

These reports will tell you exactly how many people are opening your emails, clicking your links, and even sharing your content. They’ll also provide insight into the type of information your audience is most interested in and will provide a benchmark to improve upon every time you hit send.

Whether you’re trying to learn more about your readers, provide valuable content, or give your emails more purpose — your email reports can help.

Email marketing the right way
Thinking of your email as writing a “note” rather than a “blast” gets you in the right frame of mind. Your emails should be like a pleasant conversation amongst friends. First, you get their permission to enter into a dialogue, then you offer interesting and informative content, and lastly, you listen to their responses and feedback.

Friendly conversations that offer helpful, relevant information will go much further than “blasts” that talk at your customers rather than with them.

Ready to get started? Log in and put these tips to work today.


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Source: http://blogs.constantcontact.com/

ABOUT WNFP
Westchester Networking for Professionals (WNFP) is an organization consisting of professionals and entrepreneurs which focuses on the success of our Members. We help our Members establish lasting relationships and generate new business opportunities towards the growth of their business.
Stay Connected with WNFP!