Using Email to Drive Sales: Getting the Highest ROI with Email Marketing

By US TEC Speaker, Troy Foss, Director of Email Marketing, Eventful Inc

Using email to drive sales offers the highest return on investment of any direct response marketing method. The Direct Marketing Association estimates that email marketing generates an ROI of $45.65 for every dollar spent on it in 2008. In contrast print catalogs generate less than $7 per dollar spent and internet marketing (pay-per-click and banner ads) generates about $22 per dollar spent.

Email marketing comes in two basic forms:

1) Periodic emails contain special offers, discounts or new product announcements that generate direct sales.

2) Electronic newsletters contain articles, news and other content relevant to the reader and act as constant reminder of your products and services. Newsletters generate business over time.

Email is a highly effective and lucrative sales channel. So how do you get started?

Getting email addresses

The first step is collecting your potential and current customers’ email addresses. This can be as easy as asking for them, however, you want to make sure you are getting the most out of the acquisition and are compliant with the law. Here are some tips:

1) Ask for email addresses whenever possible.
Put newsletter or email sign-ups boxes in strategic locations on your website. If you have a retail space or trade booth, collect emails addresses for your newsletter in those places as well. You want to give users every opportunity to sign-up for your newsletter, or receive your special offers via email.

2) Collect other relevant information.
Collect users’ post code, age, gender or any other demographics that allow you to target specific products and information to them.

3) Follow accepted opt-in email practices.
Include your physical address and phone number in all of your emails/newsletters. Make unsubscribing an easy process. For more information on opt-in email practices see the opt-in section of this article.

4) Obtain primary email addresses.
Most web users have multiple email addresses — a work email, a personal email, and perhaps one that is dedicated to junk email (the one they use when signing up for offers). To get a primary email address (the one a customer checks everyday) try these three tactics: 1) Show a sample of the newsletter/email you will be sending; 2) Explain how often it will arrive; and 3) Use the term “Your email” instead of “email address” in the signup box.

5) Fix misspelled addresses.
To weed out typos, ask people to enter their email address twice or set up a misspelled email address tool which checks for common misspellings and provides the user with the correct version. For example, if a user typed in Joe@hotmial.com the tool would prompt the user with: “Did you mean Joe@hotmail.com? YES NO.” This tool is available at freshaddress.com.

Confirmation and double opt-in

Federal laws prohibit businesses from sending unsolicited emails (known as “spam”). To be in compliance with these laws and to avoid alienating or angering your customers, be sure to only send emails to those people who have voluntarily signed up to receive your emails. Also, use the following practices:

1) Confirmation/Welcome message
Send subscribers an email immediately after they sign-up. This message should thank the user, describe the benefits of joining your list, and describe how someone can unsubscribe from future emails. Also, ask the user to add the "FROM" email address to their “safe sender” list.

2) Double Opt-in
Use your welcome message to send a validation link that the subscriber must click on to activate their subscription. US TEC member Raj Khera, president of email service provider MailerMailer explains why this important: “There are two common methods for online registration. Single opt-in allows a customer to be added just by entering their email address in a form. Since there is no address confirmation, anyone can enter any address into a form, resulting in fake or unwanted sign-ups that could lead to spam or blacklisting issues. Double opt-in (aka confirmed opt-in), the preferred method, sends a verification request to the email address entered, thereby validating the address and the recipient’s permission to get your newsletter”.

3) In all your emails/newletters, include a heading message such as, "Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter", This reminds the user that they did in fact subscribe.

Give your subscribers content they love and look forward to getting

Now that you have subscribers consider a strategy that keeps them engaged and getting value from your messages.

1) Periodic emails
Periodic emails can drive online traffic to your products and services and generate an enormous response. Here are some examples of compelling emails that readers want to know about:

• Product discounts
• Private, exclusive events
• Pre-sale specials
• Product announcements
• Grand openings
• Weekly Tips
• Industry Trends
• New laws and legislation
• New video posted on your site
• Breaking News

The call to action in periodic emails typically involves the purchase of a product or the opportunity to learn more about a special offer.

2) Newsletters
As a constant reminder of your brand or products, newsletters are a proven strategy for generating business over time. “The key to newsletters is relevancy”, says Raj. “The more relevant your message is, the more likely a reader will view it and take action. The less relevant it is, the more likely they will delete it, unsubscribe or even report it as spam”.

A great newsletter is filled with engaging content that keeps your audience wanting more. Most newsletters are sent out either daily, weekly or monthly, and maintain a consistent frequency and schedule. Your newsletter should also provide links to content on your site.

Ideas for compelling newsletter content:

• Relevant articles
• Podcasts
• Videos
• Top 10 lists
• Quizzes, polls or surveys
• Study/survey results
• News
• Commentary
• Profiles of customers

Newsletters, like periodic emails, should always contain a call to action. For newsletters, this can be as simple as a “read more” link directing user to the complete article on your site. Most email service providers will allow you to track who clicks on which links, giving you insight into your subscriber’s mindset.

Some companies choose to monetise their newsletters by selling ads within it or with affiliate offers. Other companies prefer to direct readers to their website and products only.

3) What not to send
Never send your subscribers content that may offend them or hurt your brand reputation. This includes graphic or mature content, any age-restricted content, racist content, offensive humour, etc. Additionally, be careful about sending any personal information in emails. A first name can usually be engaging, but sending a password or other private information may upset many customers.