Simply too adaptable to limit to one purpose or application, email marketing should be an important part of the mix of channels you use to help nurture prospect leads and further engage and retain your customers. Email can play a significant role as a component of specific campaigns and as a tool for ongoing communications with target audiences, cultivating relationships with meaningful content delivered on a regular basis. Read on to be inspired by real world applications and a web integration test you can put into action today.

Real World Applications

Here’s where email can play an essential role within your integrated marketing efforts:

• Add touch points and support your direct response programs, reiterating key messages and reminding recipients to respond.
• Create automated campaigns to keep in touch with prospects and move them along the buying cycle.
• Welcome new customers to the “family” and introduce them to the high level of service and value-added perks that they’ll soon experience.
• Keep a finger on the pulse of your customer base. It can invite them to further engage and keep in touch with your brand through social media or surveys.
• Retain customers with friendly, helpful reminders and tips. Recipients are far more likely to feel loyal to a brand that keeps their best interests in mind (e.g., service reminders – “time for a check-up!”).
• Offer a deeper level of education (building brand credibility and promoting thought leadership) through an eNewsletter format, complementing the organization’s offering of products/services.
• Put value-added content and tools in the hands of your customers. Innovative “extras” and guidance is a brand differentiator in today’s marketplace. But to get the most out of your investment, you need to ensure your customers are aware of and reminded about your nifty resources.
• To build your opt-in subscriber lists, incorporate relevant offers, simple opt-in forms and landing pages to compel sign-ups and collect high quality, accurate email addresses.
• Remember, data hygiene and segmentation are among the tactics necessary to improve message relevance, deliverability and open rates.

Web Integration Example

Here’s just one way you can add high quality subscribers to your email marketing database.

Strategy

Rather than directing your direct response audiences to the corporate website, drive them to a dedicated, highly targeted campaign landing page. The landing page will take on the look and feel of the direct mail, incorporating your compelling offer and call-to-action. The tone of the copy, including headlines, subheads and calls-to-action, will be friendly, helpful and understanding.

Functionality

The landing page will embed a simple form to serve as the primary response mechanism. While a phone number can also be included for form-shy visitors, your primary call-to- action will encourage visitors to complete the online form to receive your offer. Ideally, the form will feed the subscriber’s data right into your email marketing platform.

Form Fields

The new form will require key contact information including name, mailing address, email address, etc. However, to address some web users’ concerns regarding the use of a form (what if I do it wrong – what’s this error message?) and providing their personal information online (who will see this information – will I get junk mail and spam?), include brief, reassuring instructions and Privacy Policy disclaimers.

SEO

The web page should be search engine optimized to drive traffic from Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engine users searching on the topic of your web page. Your traffic analytics will show you the traffic coming in from organic search vs. direct or referred visits.

Segment & Email

Now that your prospect has raised his or her hand and provided you with contact info, you have the opportunity to further qualify and segment them. Emailing a survey to gather additional information is one tactic. Another is to use a polling feature within your email marketing platform. Or, tracking clickthroughs on specific topics featured in your email communications. Further segmenting your subscribers is a great way to create more relevant, persuasive content that truly resonates with various types of recipients and gets them to take action.

With a proactive, strategic plan in place, there’s nearly no limit to how you can utilize email communications to achieve a variety of marketing and sales objectives.