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Promises, Promises:
5 Ways to Build Customer Trust with E-Marketing
 With web marketing, you can extend your brand and build trust, often at a fraction of the costs of promoting yourself with print. That is, as long as you do not violate spamming laws and keep your promises. Businesses pay, in the aggregate, $15 billion a year for online ads and search engine clicks. But only 3% of the clicks convert, winding up in a sale. This fact has enormous implications for protecting your brand and building customer loyalty. In many cases, the very strangers you are working so hard to turn into loyal customers will leave because of a broken promise.
For instance,you decide to offer a free report, downloadable, in exchange for your prospect's e-mail address and the permission to contact them in the future. The click should take your prospective customer directly to the page with the link to the free report, not to a sales page.
The customer has expressed interest in the free report, not an ad. If he or she gets anything else, you have over-promised and under-delivered. And in the process, you have lost your customer's trust and damaged your brand.
It can happen just as easily with an e-letter, or a blog, or your website.
One of the benefits of online marketing is that you can make a promise and fulfill it, in an instant. You have a chance to strengthen your brand and build the trust that turns prospects into customers.
5 Ways to Build Customer Trust with E-Marketing
1. When marketing with e-mail, always get permission first. This is one of the biggest e-marketing mistakes I see. Because I met you at an event and we exchanged cards does not mean it's okay to start sending me your e-newsletter. I need some sort of relationship with you first. It can seem painfully slow at first, building that opt-in list, but it's worth it in the long run because you'll end up "qualified" prospects. Ones who are interested in you and will listen to what you say. 2. Provide value in exchange for an e-mail address. Stay in touch but don't become a pest. Two major reasons for unsubscribing are the failure to deliver on a promise and a flood of ongoing sales pitches. 3. Be sure the real you shows up. As a potential customer, I want to feel like I know you. Yeah, that's hard to do online, but when you get it right, you'll be surprised at the results. Start with an authentic website photo. It builds trust in ways no stock image of a businessperson can. Tell a personal story or two. People you have never met will say, "I feel like I already know you from your blog" (or home page, or website bio, or e-letter). How cool-and helpful- is that? 4. Avoid multiple personality syndrome. You have carefully developed your personal and business brand and your prospects are getting to know you and understand what you're all about. Just be sure that you are consistent, that the offline you, the e-letter you, the blog you, and your website self all match. If you think of it as talking to one person, in a normal conversational tone, you're on the right track. See my recent blog post on conversational marketing on the web.5. Keep your promises. If you offer something free on your site, take them there right away, and not to a sales page. This week I was reminded of this. Someone signed up for our e-tips and she e-mailed (nicely) that she couldn't access the free e-book on networking that we promised to new subscribers. We had redesigned our website and the e-book link was not working. We fixed the link, and sent her there again. Bottom line: Do what you said you would do. |
