Email Strategy #3: Creating Valuable Email Content

There's a lot of material about how to write email content. So, I'm not going to cover that territory here. You can click on the links that appear in the Free Resources box above for that. Instead I'm going to talk about ... dating.

Now don't get nervous, this is still about email marketing.

But email marketing is about building lasting relationships with your customers. And understanding how to do this is at the core of successful email marketing campaigns.

While you may derive immediate sales when you send an email, the ultimate goal is to build a relationship that will lead to repeat sales and referrals. The process of turning a one-time customer into a repeat customer and even a source of referrals is a lot like courting.

So using a dating metaphor can help us understand how to "court" our customers. Let's look at some of the typical questions that pop up in dating situations and apply them to email marketing.

Is this a one night stand?
Is your email communication focused on just making a quick sale? If it is, you may get that one transaction, but nothing more. The goal should be to build customer loyalty with each email, so the relationship will be about more than just that one transaction.

You can build customer loyalty by communicating regularly with your customer and providing them with what they need most, such as useful tips, case studies, free resources, advance notice of sales and, of course, special savings.

Will this be a long term relationship?
Regular communications give you the opportunity to get to know your customer. The more you know about them, the easier it will be to provide them with what they need.

Find out more about your customers by engaging them in dialogue -- ask questions and encourage them to reply. You can also use an online survey to gather feedback.

Study the open and click through rates of your most recent campaigns to find out what links and subject lines your subscribers respond to. Then segment your list and modify your content to target these interests.

Let your customers know more about you and your company by including a brief "About Us" paragraph in your emails with links to your website. Extend your relationship by including links to your social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Will I meet your friends?
Repeat customers are more likely to refer you to their friends and colleagues. Help this process along by asking for the referral and even providing them with an incentive to do so.

Another way to meet their friends is by encouraging them to forward your emails. You can do this by including "Forward Email" buttons and links in your emails. Some email service providers also offer "Share" buttons that allow your subscribers to share your email with their social networks.

How committed are you?
Nothing spells commitment like an e-newsletter. It says that you are committed to providing them with valuable content on a regular basis. They know what to expect from you and they also know what they're getting into when they agree to receive your emails.

But if you can't make that commitment, show them you care by communicating on a fairly regular basis and by making sure you always provide something they will find valuable.

For more helpful information that doesn't use risky dating metaphors, please check out the links that appear in the Free Resources box above.