How to Make your Email Marketing More Effective

It takes 60 seconds to decide if you are interested in buying a house or not

That's what one real estate agent told me recently. If you don't make the right impression within the first minute, you have lost the chance of making the sale.

You would think that if you were looking at a potential new home, you would take your time to make a decision. That is certainly true about making a positive decision. But we generally decide that something is not for us extremely quickly.

It's exactly the same when sales emails are sent

I don't know about you, but I find deciding on a potential printing supplier is a much less life-changing decision than choosing a new home! So the first email has much less time than 60 seconds to before I press the delete button.

Nevertheless, we all use email a lot when it comes to trying to gain new customers. It's cheap and easy. We can reach a lot of people without much effort. If we play the game of numbers right, we should get some response.

However, it is actually very possible to put people off your company by the poor use of email. If you are not careful, you could have exactly the wrong effect on your prospects.

Let's look at an email I received recently from one company

"I am sending you this introductory email in an attempt to win your print and design business.

I won't ramble on about how good our prices are or how fast our delivery is or even how great we are to deal with as that might be considered a little predictable.

We take a pride in everything we do here and hope that will shine through should you decide to give us a try. All we ask is to be given the opportunity to quote on your work."

So what's wrong with it?

There are three things that immediately sprang out at me:

1. It's all about them, not the prospect - As a potential client, I like to feel that a vendor cares about me. I hope that they would know something about my market sector. This email simply shouts me, me, me!
2. It talks about predictable selling points - The email promises not to talk about how good our prices are or how fast our delivery is or even how great we are to deal with as that might be considered a little predictable. But, actually, that's all it does talk about!
3. It encourages me to buy on price - All I am asked to do is to request a quote for my work. The email is only a few lines long: I haven't had time to engage with the printer yet. The only reason why I would choose them would be if they are cheaper. If I move for that reason, then I'll move again as soon as I find another cheaper price.

The rest of the email simple lists a series of predictable services.

This email undersells what actually looks like an interesting printer

As I was writing about this printing company, I thought I'd better have a look at their website. The printer had some impressive clients and offered some unusual services. But didn't get any sense of this from their email. I had rejected them long before looking at their website.

That shows the damage the wrong sort of email can do.

So how could the print company have made their email better?

Here are three things they could have done which would have caught my attention:

1. They could have made the email all about me - If they had written about the sort of business challenges that I face, I would have been more likely to spend a bit of extra time on the email. I would have seen that they are a supplier that were interested in helping my business. By the way, my business problems rarely revolve around print. I am using print to achieve one of my business goals.
2. They could have shown me some interesting case studies - I always like to know exactly what results suppliers have achieved for other people. This printing company has plenty of testimonials. I would have liked to get some in-depth experiences from heir customers.
3. They could have highlighted some of their more unusual services - This printer specializes in specific sectors. It also offers social media as well as print. There is the potential to offer a prospect far more than cheap print. If you have something unusual, make the most of it in your marketing.

It's time to make your marketing more effective

Here are three action points:

1. Talk to a customer. They will help you understand exactly how you help similar businesses. You will get an insight into what you should be talking to similar prospects about.
2. Make sure your customer has a reason to take things further with you. There should be something in it for them that isn't just cheaper pricing.
3. Create an engaging sales message. You will learn a simple three-step system for this if you invest in How To Stop Print Buyers Choosing On Price.

Remember the estate agent's rule You can lose a house sale in 60 seconds. When it comes to email marketing, you can lose a sale in a much, much shorter time. I recently read a piece that suggested you should engage a prospect in 17 seconds. Can you do that?

PS Find out more ideas on how to sell differently: download my free e-book “Ten Common Print Selling Errors and What To Do About Them” right now at http://profitableprintrelationships.com/e-book/ You’ll also receive my regular “Views from the print buyer” bulletin, full of ideas on how to sell print effectively. Also, check out my book, "How To Stop Print Buyers Choosing On Price" You learn all about how to create a sales message that really does resonate with today’s buyers.