"Sales mailings." Book in 15 minutes

A lot of articles have been written on the subject of email marketing. We will not try to say something new, but simply and briefly outline the main ideas from Jan Brody's book “Selling Mailings. We increase sales using email marketing. ”
We hope that sammari (brief summary) will help to put the necessary information on the shelves.

So…

We attract customers by e-mail

How to increase sales in the least expensive way? Marketing expert Jan Brody believes that the most effective sales tool today is email newsletters. This is proved by the four-year research of the Custora analytic company and the data of the Direct Marketing Association - referrals from emails bring in purchases 40 times more than conversions from social networks.

The success of email marketing is largely determined by the ability to understand the needs of target customers. To write a letter that will interest customers and encourage them to take action, you need to know their needs, goals, and aspirations. To do this, create a portrait of a potential customer.

Creating a customer portrait

Photo

Do not scatter too much, trying to please everyone in a row. Focusing on a narrow circle of potential customers helps to achieve better results. For this:

1. Determine the type of customers whose portrait you are creating.
2. Gather available information about this type of customer.
3. Create a portrait using a needs map.
4. Analyze your current customer base (if you have one) or think about who you would like to see among them. Determine who you are most interested in of those with whom you have already worked. Then highlight the key customer features that make them perfect.

Do not forget about economic efficiency: is your company enough of such customers? Can they use your goods and services? The optimal number of client types: two to three. Starting the first email marketing campaign, focus on one type, and then add the rest to it.

Gathering the available information, first write down everything that you know. Include in your analysis and marketing research data, if any. Conduct a survey among customers, identifying their interests, goals, preferences and problems. Put yourself in the shoes of the client to immerse yourself in his environment.

It makes sense to map a customer’s needs, where you will record and organize basic information about your customers. First, surface observations are recorded, then the underlying factors affecting customer behavior.

On a large piece of paper in the center, attach a picture or photograph of a real person. This will help create a specific image.

To the right of the photo is quadrant A (a brief description of the client). Indicate the main facts that are known about the ideal client: gender, age, education, work experience, position, marital status, having children, hobbies, hobbies, enemies, idols.

Left - quadrant B(external goals and incentives). Record all data about the external goals of the client and the factors influencing him. For example, when describing the portrait of an entrepreneur, indicate his goals regarding profitability, growth rates of the enterprise. Describe the actions of competitors, suppliers. How does legislation affect its actions? What does society dictate to him?

At the top is the quadrant B (internal aspirations and tasks). The external goals described in the previous quadrant do not always coincide with the internal ones. Wanting to increase sales this year by 20%, the entrepreneur sets himself another internal goal - to double sales in 3 years and sell the business. “ As a rule, personal aspirations are a much more effective incentive than goals". By studying the personal goals of clients, you will pick up the key to their worldview by touching on the main topics in your letters. The urgent problems of customers and their anxieties will also be able to show you the strengths of their proposals.

The latter is the quadrant G (factors of knowledge and sensations).

“Here you need to write out the data identified and extrapolated from other quadrants. Determine what your ideal customers need to know and feel in order to enjoy your purchase of a product or service. ”

Ask yourself questions:

• “How do these problems affect a client’s business?”
• “What can you offer them and what troubles to relieve?”
• “What should customers know about you in order to take advantage of your services or products?”
• “What risks do customers see in working with you?”

EXAMPLE

Map of customer needs

A . Brief customer description

• Man, 35 years old, head of the procurement department.
• Higher education.
• Previous position - mid-level manager in production.
• Workaholic, result oriented.

B . External goals and incentives

• Cost reduction of 10% annually.
• Do not expand the staff of the procurement department.
• Supervise the procurement.

In . Inner aspirations and tasks

• He wants to reduce costs by more than 20%.
• The goal is a higher position.
• A newcomer in the field of procurement does not have a clear idea of ​​what is needed to achieve a result.

R . Knowledge and sensation factors

• Reducing costs by more than 20% is a big personal victory.
• He prefers to receive recognition for his achievements, not trying to share his success with consultants.
• It needs reliable support - specialists who are able to recognize dishonest game.

The client is ambitious, but not experienced enough and understands that he is not able to influence the result of the work of his department. This means that he is interested in information or services that will help him better understand the procurement process.

The goals and aspirations of customers, their tasks and problems - this is what should become the key topic of your letters.

Starting the newsletter with what excites your customers, revolves in their head, you open the door to success.

“Creating a detailed portrait of an ideal client and understanding him deeply is the key to the success of effective email marketing. Take time to understand the goals and aspirations of customers, their problems and tasks, and also find out what they need to know and feel in order to hire you. This will allow you to write letters that you want to open, read and get started. "

Subscriptions

How to make a mailing list? Work in this direction requires careful attention.

Ian Brody calls the following ways to attract subscribers:

1. Buying a list of email addresses. This idea is attractive at first glance, especially for beginners. But there are a number of shortcomings that cannot be closed. Any list cannot be targeted to your ideal customers. Yes, it is possible to classify by industry, scale of business, and other parameters, but this is not a list of people who are interested specifically in your proposal. Send recipients from the offer database to subscribe to free reviews or other useful newsletters. So you identify potential customers.
2. Adding people to the mailing list without their consent. Getting a business card from a potential client is by no means permission to send him letters day and night. You will cause a negative reaction of people who are likely to send your letters to the trash, and you will be blacklisted.
3. Offer to subscribe to the newsletter in a personal conversation. Immediately after meeting you, send a potential client an invitation to subscribe to the newsletter yourself. This will show your respect for the client.
4. Attracting subscribers to the site. “Visitors to the site can subscribe to the newsletter by filling out a special form (subscription form), which indicate their email address (and, as a rule, name), and sending a request. By doing so, they agree to receive letters. The number and quality of subscribers depends on where and how often this form is displayed, how it looks, how your letters are presented in it, what is the bonus for the subscription, how do you propose to solve possible problems of subscribers and what other reasons do you make the subscription attractive ” .

The last way to attract customers should be discussed in more detail.

Increased site traffic leads to an increase in subscribers. It is important to focus not only on the number of visitors to the resource, but also on quality. Usually the most useful visitors (potential subscribers) get to the site on the recommendation. The other part is from search engines, social networks.

Ian Brody derives a successful subscription formula:

P - benefits (long-term). This is what the subscriber hopes to acquire by regularly receiving your letters.

B - bonus (short-term). It is offered to visitors to the site to push for a subscription - video recording, review, useful tips, in general, everything that you can offer for free. Naturally, this should be relevant to your newsletter topics.

T is friction. What slows down the subscription process is the invisible submit button, the difficulty of filling out a form when signing up, and so on.

P - risk (conscious). If the client is afraid to tell you his address, being afraid of spam or unpleasant schemes, he will refrain from subscribing.

Long term benefits

Website visitors evaluate the usefulness of the newsletter you are offering. What will help them make the right choice? Good free content on the site will show the visitor that the newsletter can be useful to him.

The visitor should see the benefits that he will receive by subscribing to the newsletter. Think of the map of the needs of the ideal client and focus on the important problems, goals and objectives for him.

Short term bonus

" If users subscribe only for the bonus, most likely they will soon begin to ignore your letters ."

Therefore, it is important to choose a bonus that offers ideas for solving current customer problems. It is also often called the “magnet” for potential customers.

A magnet can be presented in several forms. For example, a user passes a test, and then subscribes to a newsletter to get the test result. As a magnet, you can use short-term training courses, templates, tables, software components, resource guides.

“The current trend is to offer free registration to gain access to resources, rather than a newsletter subscription. In this case, the bet is that most users register on services that seem useful to them. ”

How to create an effective magnet?

Its theme and results of use should attract the client. To determine the topic of the magnet, analyze the map of the needs of ideal customers, list the problems of your last customers, remember the difficulty that each client faces, call “the first inhibitory obstacle” - the initial problems for clients on the way to the goal.

“ When choosing a magnet theme for potential customers, make sure that its usefulness is obvious at a glance. The name and description of the magnet should clearly indicate that the client will receive direct benefits . "

Friction reduction

“Friction is a set of factors that impede the subscription process. As a rule, these are distractions. For example, the user is about to fill out a form - but the image suddenly changes on the site and the user is distracted. Or he notices an interesting article on the page and begins to read it . ”

Remove all distractions, direct traffic to a special page with a suggestion of a magnet. And don't forget the eye-catching headline! Pop-ups, if they are made professionally enough, do not annoy the client, but prompt them to act. But even more effective is the main page of the site.

Friction reduction is achieved, for example, by reducing the number of fields in the registration or subscription form. Another trick is replacing the Send button with a button that describes the benefits of a subscription, for example, Get Free Access.

Awareness Risk Reduction

“If a potential subscriber fears that the transfer of an email address during registration will lead to some undesirable consequences, he is unlikely to do so. He may suggest that you send spam and regular sales messages or sell his email address to third parties. In fact, he does not trust you . ”

Aggressive advertising or false promises do not like customers. Therefore, it is important to ensure that your site, pages, and subscription forms look safe. So, for people with conservative views, the classic design of the site is more suitable. A statement on anti-spam policies will also increase the level of visitor confidence, as well as positive feedback from partners and an indication of the number of subscribers.

Reading emails

In order for the message to reach the addressee, it is necessary to bypass anti-spam filters.

Modern spam filtering algorithms take into account several factors:

1. Technical, for example, DKIM signatures and SPF records.
2. The reputation of the email address and postal system that you use - all of a sudden, they previously received complaints for spam.
3. It takes into account whether the links in the letters to the domains seen in the spam mailing list are kept.
4. How often subscribers mark your emails as spam. “The more often subscribers open your letters, the more time they devote to reading them, scrolling to the end, reply to letters and follow the links indicated in them, the more likely your next messages will not go to the Spam folder.
5. Do not forget about the “hygiene of the list” - exclude inactive subscribers from the mailing list by sending one or two reminders in advance. This affects the overall rating of the newsletter.

How to make your letters open

Your goal is to motivate the recipient to action. Efficiency of mailing is determined not by indicators of openness of letters, but by sales and applications. And the main factor is the sender.

"Therefore, your first letters should be very useful, your magnet should open up exciting ideas to potential customers."

Encourage subscribers to interact with your letters - participate in surveys, answer letters, ask questions, share content on social networks. A small reward (a gift for participating or your personal answer to a question) will increase confidence in you.

Letter subject

One of the factors on which the recipient will open your letter or not is its subject.

The formula is relevant here: Benefit + Curiosity = Interest.

For example, “5 bad beliefs that prevent counselors and coaches from succeeding. Benefit: Avoid obstacles to success. Curiosity: “I wonder what kind of beliefs they are. I hope I don’t have them! ”

Use the ideal customer needs card to determine the benefits.

How to hook a recipient with a topic? Ian Brody offers several ways:

1. Refute stereotypes or conventional wisdom.
2. Give an amazing fact.
3. Add a rating or quantity.
4. Focus on emotions.
5. Associate a theme with something unexpected.
6. Touch news or current events.
7. Use the name of a successful professional.
8. Admit mistakes.

The subject should give a clear idea of ​​the content of the letter, while causing curiosity. Change the theme model to drive follower interest.

"And if you plan to repeatedly use a specific letter (for example, a standard message that all subscribers to the series receive), conduct a split test on various topics to determine which one is more effective."

Starting a letter is equally important. In the mail browser, the subject and the first line of the message are displayed. This is almost a mini-topic, which will play a significant role in the decision-making by the subscriber: whether to open the letter or not.

EXAMPLE

Topic: My most unsuccessful business meeting.

The first line: “Holding successful business meetings is the key to the success of any business. I will tell you what I did wrong. You can take into account my mistakes and increase the efficiency of your business meetings. ”

It is important that the letter makes the right first impression, and for this it is necessary that the received letter is easy and convenient to read. Short paragraphs, the absence of unnecessary words will play in your favor. Make sure "your emails are mobile-friendly and easy to read on small screens."

Increased click-through and openness

When sending letters, it is important to consider the time at which the reader will receive the letter. The answer to this question depends on the audience. “If your ideal clients work“ in the field ”all day, it’s most likely that they are best addressed early in the morning or late in the evening when they are actively working with mail.”

Some statistics suggest that click-through rates increase on weekends. By sending your letters during the least competition, you will increase the level of openness.

Correct appeal to the reader

To write a convincing and interesting letter, you need to engage the subscriber in communication with you. Involvement is expressed in sending your materials to friends, participating in surveys, in likes, or even in person.

“In addition, relationships with subscribers are built through interaction. The more they benefit from it, the more they like you and the more willingly they will do something for you. ”

How to engage readers: three rules

1. Personal tone of appeal. It is better to write in conversational style, as if you are having a leisurely conversation with a client over a cup of coffee.
2. Simple letter design without intricate formatting, complex headers and logos. On one topic send one letter, no more.
3. Communication beyond facts, hints, tips. “Your task is not only to inform, but also to entertain.” A funny story can be presented in the form of a fable or parable.

Ask the subscriber to take specific actions, creating a convenient environment for this. For example, leave feedback on the newsletter, answer a few questions, like your article, or add you to your contacts on Twitter.

Structure of letters

In order for your letters to attract readers, the author advises using a time-tested formula - AIDA .

A - attention (attention). Attract readers to your writing with a catchy topic.

I - interest. Interest the addressee, prompting him to read the text to the end.

D is desire. “The mailing list does not focus on sales. You immediately propose to receive benefits: telling a story, giving useful information, introducing new ideas. ”

A - action (action). Make sure that the letter contains a specific call to action.

How to turn subscribers into buyers

The ultimate goal of any newsletter is to convince the reader to buy your product or service.

“It is believed that customers make a purchase“ in due time “. And although to a large extent this is true, the content of your letters can bring this moment closer or farther away . ”

How to understand if a subscriber is ready to purchase? He emotionally and rationally understands the need to purchase a product or service from you. And you have earned credibility and sufficient trust from the client.

Fascinating letters keep the reader interested. But for the decision to buy, use the factors of knowledge and feelings in the texts - they form the necessary level of trust.

EXAMPLE

You are a business coach. The desire of customers is to increase cash flow. They need to know and feel your experience with retailers. Instead of a set of tips, enclose your recommendations in a story about the company you helped to increase profits.

How to provoke an action

As a rule, in this case, the client is offered to follow the link. It could be:

• Link to the sales page of a personal website. It is best used for inexpensive and understandable products.
• Link to register for a webinar or other event of a similar format, where the participant will receive additional material and an invitation to make a purchase. This is a kind of preparation, establishing direct contact.
• Link for ordering a meeting or a personal call. This helps to implement costly, comprehensive services.
• You can combine all these approaches with each other. Sometimes it’s better to give a link as if between things, casually mentioning a product, or through a postscript.

How to issue a call to action?

It depends on the frequency of distribution. With the frequency of mailing once a month, you need to indicate in one letter all the reasons for following the link. For more frequent mailing, devote a few letters to preparing - in one tell about the benefits, devote the second to common objections, etc.

Try to avoid the similarity of mailing lists with advertising. Readers subconsciously fear advertising tricks.

“So that the selling part or call to action does not look too intrusive, you need to“ earn the right “to add them to letters or to do it implicitly. Let readers perceive these elements as an advantage or entertainment. ”

Autopilot Marketing

Special services make it possible to " pre-configure the sending of letters in a given sequence, as a rule, from the moment of registration of the subscriber ." This greatly simplifies your work and demonstrates clear advantages over regular mailing:

• Each subscriber will receive his own “portion” of letters.
• It is possible to select specific letters for subscribers, depending on what stage your relationship is at.
• The answering machine does not need to be configured every time. A long series of letters will allow subscribers to receive relevant materials from you for several months or years.

How to plan an automatic series of letters?

Determine the goal (make a personal call, buy a product), analyze the map of the needs of the ideal client and write down goals, aspirations, difficulties, tasks, factors of knowledge and feelings. This will help outline a range of topics for letters. Factors of knowledge and sensations illustrate with examples and stories.

Analyze what materials and resources you have (infographics, articles, videos, etc.) and how to link them to a specific letter.

“The first letters should be devoted to the most urgent and urgent tasks and goals of subscribers - they will want to read about this in the first place. In addition, it makes sense to start with the simplest practical tips, tricks, and ideas. Later, you can share more complex ideas, adding to the information provided earlier. ”

After planning the main series of letters, start writing a specific letter.

How to influence subscribers

To convince the client, Ian Brody recommends considering three factors:

1. Subscriber motivation. "The most effective way to convince someone to perform a certain action is not to try to assure him that he wants to do just that, but to understand what he already wants and then show how he can get it by completing the action you need."
2. Principles of effective communication. Provide information in a clear language, clearly and specifically. Catch the reader's attention and hold it with interesting examples, statistics, or other tricks.
3. Means of persuasion. They should be discussed in more detail.

The author of the book suggests using persuasion tools based on psychological principles.

These are the six following principles:

1. Reciprocity. “ People tend to respond courtesy to courtesy, repay debts. We treat people the same way they treat us . ” Demonstrate your friendly attitude to customers with unexpected bonuses, and you will receive a reciprocal favor, for example, repost a page.
2. Social proof. " People tend to repeat the actions of people like them. " Feedback or quotes from potential subscribers and customers are especially valuable.
3. Commitment and sequence. “ People tend to stick to their commitments (especially publicly) .” Engage subscribers in the communication process from the very beginning: encourage them to share an article, respond to a survey, or purchase an inexpensive product. In this case, the subscriber is already beginning to perceive himself as a buyer.
4. Sympathy. " People are more influenced by those who are familiar and sympathetic to them ." Get sympathy with compliments, tell small personal facts about yourself.
5. Authority. " People tend to obey authoritative personalities and follow their instructions ." Position yourself as an authoritative person, a professional in your field and a competent specialist by sending useful materials. An unobtrusive mention of articles written by you and books, received awards will also increase your rating.
6. Deficit. “ People want what they cannot get .” The desire to have something exclusive is able to push the customer to make a purchase. But do not be fooled - offer truly unique things.

How to evaluate the effectiveness of email marketing?

The control panel can help with an objective assessment. Determine which sales took place thanks to the newsletter. Track the number of subscribers, average sales per subscriber, and growth every month. So you can get an idea of ​​the productivity of your developed system.

“If sales are not growing, using these indicators you can find out the reason: the subscriber base is growing too slowly, too few subscribers are becoming customers, or there are too few sales per customer.”

Summary:

1. E-mail is the most effective tool in Internet marketing, allowing you to deliver information simply and efficiently.
2. Set clear goals you want to achieve through the newsletter. Define a portrait of the ideal client, paying attention to the map of goals, aspirations, problems and tasks, as well as the knowledge and feelings of the subscriber.
3. Pay attention to the topics of the letters, develop a magnet for clients, use the methods of involving the subscriber in the communication. By building letters according to the AIDA formula, you ensure the success of the advertising campaign.
4. Automatic mailing will help you send a series of letters with topics relevant to specific customers.

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