Customers First in 2009

Last month we talked about how to drive sales in economically challenging times. It cannot be spoken often enough how important it is to reach out to your customers through targeted initiatives. Too frequently businesses assume that because a customer has contacted them in the past he is inclined to do so again. Maybe. But don't you want to be sure? Waiting for customers, old and new alike, to come to you is passive, unreliable, recklessly immeasurable, and risky. Throwing caution to the wind is not a reliable strategy. A better, measurable, and more cost effective approach is to implement targeted initiatives that develop your revenue-generating pipeline for continued sales and continued business growth throughout the year. The most profitable aspect of your pipeline is what is already in it - your existing customers.

The First Thing to Do

Have you ever been to a party when someone offered you a plate of hors d'oeuvres that didn't interest you? Remember what you did? Either you took a glance, shook your head, and quickly turned away or you got annoyed at the server for having interrupted your conversation with something you didn't want. Now do you remember what you did when you liked what was on the plate? You took it and ate it. And you can get your customers to take what you offer too.

The most cost effective way to put in front of your customers something you know they may take is through a targeted email campaign. Customizing and personalizing the email to address each individual and his/her area of interest is the surest way to get and maintain their attention. Keep it simple, on point, focused, and easy to follow through to conversion. The email is the introduction and the teaser. The body of the offer will appear on your specially designed web page or landing page. Make sure you let them know how to follow through. Remember, the purpose of this campaign is to get a well-written offer to recipients for something with which they are already familiar so you can make sales. As long as the conversion is not an online sale via a shopping cart solution, then recipients should be able to follow through to conversion within three to four clicks total: 1) recipient opens email 2) goes to landing page with offer 3) goes to online form or downloadable coupon (for in-store) 4) submits online form. If the form requires inserting a promotion code make sure your application does that automatically for them. In other words, make conversion easy with as few steps as possible.

Spend some time now before the end of the year organizing your existing customers and identifying their specific interests, as well as purchase patterns and volume, based on past inquiries and sales. If you are unable to do this because you have never collected customer data before then now is a good time to start so you will always be prepared to effectively put in front of your customers what you know does or may interest them. Look at old invoices and emails. Develop a customer database if you don't already have one or expand the one you have to include customer profiles. Existing customers are in your pipeline. You have to act in a way that moves them to spend with you. Targeted email campaigns offer you the most flexible, cost effective and measurable approach.

Getting the Job Done Right

First you have to decide whether you want to manage your own campaign or you need to hire a professional, like Industrial Web Solutions for example. Managing your own email campaign isn't as difficult as you may think. You do have to have at least one dedicated administrator to oversee things like creative, message, recipient list, send date, frequency, order fulfillment and response tracking. Either way, for each email campaign you initiate, the following must be done to ensure the best results:

1. Organize your recipient list according to interests to create targeted recipient groups.

2. Create a "send and frequency" schedule that indicates how often and on what specified dates you will send the email; this is likely to be different for each targeted recipient group.

3. Develop and create the email message and creative for each targeted recipient group. Many IWS clients use a custom branded email template for their self-managed email campaigns. Your custom email template would allow you to insert images and create the text layout and message.

4. Send, track and report on email results like receives, opens, clicks, bounces, etc.

5. Track and report on inquiries, orders, appointments, demonstrations, sales, and anything else you consider important to your campaign as it relates to your bottom line or "return on advertising spend" (ROAS).

6. Analyze results such as "cost per lead," "cost per sale," "cost per specified dollar value such as $100," and whatever other values you deem important to understanding your ROAS (return on advertising spend) and overall effectiveness of the campaign. Remember, it may take a while for results to come in. It is advisable to continue to track results for at least three months. You can always do a preliminary and a follow-up report. This will also let you know the rate at which your targeted audience groups respond to the type of offer you presented, allowing you to make adjustments for the next campaign.

7. Act on response. Make contact right away. Don't leave your respondents hanging for any reason whatsoever. Follow up with a "Thank you" or "Confirmation" email. Call them. Get those orders filled. MAKE CUSTOMER CONTACT IMMEDIATELY. There is even a follow up email you can send if they don't respond to the offer. Ask them how you can serve them better. Give them the opportunity to tell you what they want. Apologize for not getting it right and let them know you want to get it right.

8. Archive each campaign. It is also advisable to attach results reports to archived campaigns to help in the development of future campaigns.

Keep the Pipeline Flowing

Your existing customers are already in your pipeline and offer you the greatest opportunity for generating revenue. So reach out to them as they would want you to. Let them know that you understand how to serve their needs in terms of products/services, price, quality, customer service and timeliness.

In the coming months we will look at ways to fill your pipeline with new leads. But get started now by contacting those already there - your existing customers. If you need help getting your email campaign up and running, call us or drop us a quick email. You can achieve your goals. Your success is important to us.

Here's to the start of a prosperous new year! Everyone at Industrial Web Solutions wishes you a safe, happy, healthy and fun holiday season. We look forward to helping you reach your goals in 2009!

Contact us to learn how to prepare your website to attract, convert and track leads.

Industrial Web Talk - Your Resource for Industrial Web Solutions