Email still has a real value in the business marketplace!
These days it seems that more and more people are thinking and talking about social media and its potential without giving a thought to perhaps the first effective social media tool available to us, namely email. These days email just isn’t regarded as sexy anymore but it is a long way from dead and should be disregarded at your peril.
One of the major advantages of using email in modern business is that it keeps a record of communications between two or more parties, which is something that is not possible with face book or twitter for example. For that reason alone email is not going to disappear anytime soon and still has a real value in the business marketplace.
Make no bones about it, email is effective. It prompts people to respond to it, forward it and it can used to communicate a call to action to a prospect or client. Though the larger social sites are new, exciting and conversations are conducted in real time, the facts are still that pretty much everyone has an email facility and they will most often always ready what they receive.
The challenge for most businesses is to know how to use their email in a more effective way and here are some tips to that end. . .
1. Fast Response – it is imperative that you reply to email communication quickly and professionally. Nothing smacks of unprofessionalism more than slow response time when dealing with incoming emails. That applies to both email enquiries for new business, support or for that matter anything.
2. Keep it personal – stay away from using auto responders for everything as the personal touch is so important when building relationships online. This is the way to build rapport and trust and the time invested is well worth it in the long run believe me. No one wants to feel like they are just a number on a list but rather; they want to feel that you know them on a more personal caring basis so a great start is to reply to emails personally.
3. Identify your target list segments – it is so important to segregate your email list according to wants, needs etc. Your sales can be multiplied many times over by just employing this technique. Imagine the power of knowing that the email you are about to send is going to appeal to the needs and wants of the people about to receive it. No wastage at all and you run less risk of annoying people with too many emails that have no real appeal to them.
I hope this is useful to you
Wishing you health, wealth and happiness!
Robert