What is Email Capture & Should I Install it On My Web Site!

Q: I keep hearing about email marketing from my marketing department. They say we have to do it but all I can think about is how much I hate spam and don’t want to do that to our clients or, for that matter, anyone I know. Can you explain to me how this works ?

Well, this question is really what separates the men from the boys and the ladies from the girls online. At the end of the day, the internet is all about who has the biggest opt-in email list. I’m not talking about spam here. Opt-in refers to email that you have captured from people who have given you the right to market back to them in some form. For example: a visitor to your web site buys something from you. During the process you ask them if they would like to receive additional information on upcoming deals or specials, or possibly receive your monthly / quarterly newsletter. If they say yes, then you have a double opted in confirmed email list subscriber who has given you the right to market back to them. Conversely, someone may have visited your website and never purchased from you but may still opt in to your list if you give them an incentive like a free giveaway or coupon to be used at a later date. The people who have the largest amount of emails gathered in these forms are sitting on a GOLD MINE. The key is that  you now have to do something with this list! You actually have to follow up and send them emails with special offers. Why not? Did you know that there are sophisticated email programs that you can engage  which will even give you the ability to preprogram sequential offers so it runs automatically for your business? Imagine how powerful this could be if you segregated your existing client base and scripted offers that were tailored to their specific service level, moving them along each step of the way to purchase the next product or service that you offer. This also keeps your name top of mind for them as they are seeing your brand on their desktop several times over the course of your marketing campaign. The simple fact is that, when compared against traditional direct mail campaigns which typically give you return from .05 to 2%, email marketing returns are averaging 6%. That’s a minimum of a 300% higher return over sending snail mail and, best of all, the cost is a fraction of the direct mail cost because once you have chosen the software and installed it, there are NO ongoing printing or mailing costs! Sure, you will have to sit down with marketing and write out the offers but, after that, it’s like a digital sales rep that works for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Best of all they never phone in sick, ask for a raise or leave your company. You’d be surprised at the people I speak to every month on this topic, some with very large lists who have still done nothing with them? So, in summary, if you want to grow your business online, take email marketing seriously. It has the power to grow your business exponentially.

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