An incredible portion of all business communications is now done entirely through email. With the proliferation of smartphone and mobile devices and the globalization of the economy, email has become one of the most vital commercial tools in existence. Whether building a business from scratch or expanding an existing business, you will need to know how to utilize this incredibly versatile tool to become successful.
The Changing World of Email Marketing
Email marketing has become an increasingly challenging endeavor. Today’s email marketer needs to understand certain facts about the consumer. Most consumers will be checking their email on their phone and a great deal of consumers will likely ignore any emails they didn’t request. Despite this, email marketing is still an extremely valid strategy. Almost 44 percent of consumers annually will purchase an item based on an email they received.
When designing an email meant for a broad audience, test it on multiple devices and ensure that it can be viewed in plain text as well as HTML. Targeting your emails will increase your overall possibility of success. Email customers about products they have displayed interest in previously rather than sending the same circular pitch to all of your recipients.
Priming your Sales Team for the Pitch
Sales teams in the new era need to be able to close deals through email. Many consumers today email questions about products before purchasing, and a great deal of these consumers will need a final push before commitment. Sales professionals in the past have focused on their physical presence, confidence and speaking ability. Consequently, not all of the skills a sales representative has may translate easily into this new marketplace.
Your email sales department needs to be trained on how to close sales purely through email. Sales techniques include encouraging the customer to call in, following up with the customer at scheduled intervals, communicating in a clear and professional fashion and connecting the customer to new information located on your website. These techniques are geared towards engaging the customer directly. The more time the customer spends on your company’s website and looking at your company’s products, the more willing they may become to make a purchase. Make sure you have a custom email address and your business email host can handle the volume of mail you’ll send and receive. Having a generic email address or your host bouncing emails back to prospective customers undermines your entire business.
The New Face of Customer Service
Email is quickly becoming the preferred way for consumers to connect with customer service. 60 percent of all consumers prefer to contact customer service via email and 45 percent of consumers will drop a transaction entirely if they are not able to get the support they need. When building a customer service portal, your main focus will need to be on streamlining the process and making it easier for your customer service representatives to address your consumer’s issues. When customer service fails, clients are left unsatisfied, unhappy and unlikely to come back.
Email is very likely the most powerful marketing and sales tool today, but this may not last. If you want to stay ahead of your game, you’ll need to keep an eye on emerging trends. The newer generation is leaning more heavily towards SMS messages, social media accounts and instant messages. In another decade, email as we know it may very well be a thing of the past.