There's nothing we love more than solutions—top-notch insights from top-of-the-line experts that help solve common marketing problems. Here's this week's problem and expert solution.
Problem: How Do I Turn a Touch Into a Relationship?
My boss is pushing for better customer relationship management (CRM) companywide. Our emails get a lot of clicks, and it looks like they're a hit with subscribers.
I'm convinced we can use that channel to build more and better relationships with our prospects and clients, but how do I convince them to care?
Expert: Joel Book, Director of E-Marketing Education, ExactTarget
As a consultant, Joel has worked with top B2B and B2C brands, including Microsoft, Hasbro, and Agilent Technologies. (You can idea-share with him on all things B2B email marketing at the MarketingProfs Business-to-Business Forum 2010, May 4-5.)
Solution
"Regardless of whether you are communicating with a current customer or someone who is considering your product or service, the No. 1 job of email is to 'serve' the subscriber," Joel says. "And the most effective way to serve email subscribers is to provide information, invitations, and offers that are relevant and timely."
"Relationships don't just happen, they are built—one experience at a time," he adds. And lucky for us, Joel has mapped out, below, the process of doing just that via email marketing.
Five Rules of the Road for Successful Email CRM
1. Start the relationship right: Send a welcome email
"Many marketers consider the welcome email to be the most important email they send," Joel reports, "because it sets the tone for the brand or company's relationship with the subscriber."
Tip: "Say 'thank you for subscribing' with a code or coupon for a discount off their next purchase, or a special offer to download an educational resource of value."
2. Invite subscribers to identify their needs and interests
"One of the smartest—and easiest—things you can do to build powerful relationships with subscribers is to invite them to tell you how they want to be served," Joel advises.
Tip: Offer a subscriber preference center on your website, and invite new subscribers to go there to identify their information needs. Make sure you stress a solid privacy policy at the site.
3. Deliver information that aids decision making
Use personalization technology to deliver targeted, dynamic content, Joel advises. "Dynamic content enables marketers to define specific business rules that determine who receives what content and when—all based on the needs, interests, and behavior of individual subscribers."
Tip: Personalize an email by sending it on behalf of the customer's sales representative or account manager. Name recognition adds a special connection that subscribers appreciate.
4. Give your subscribers a voice
It's a brave new marketing world out there: Consumers expect to play an active role in any marketing relationship you initiate.
One of the most effective tactics marketers can use these days to engage subscribers and keep them involved is "Social Forward," Joel reports: "Social Forward leverages technology to make it easy for subscribers to share email content with others in their social networks."
Tip: "Embed social-media icons for top social-networking sites like Facebook directly in the content of the email, so subscribers can click on the icon and share a specific article or offer."
5. Keep your sales reps informed and actively involved
"I highly recommend integrating your CRM with your email communications systems and your Web-analytics technology," Joel advises.
Tip: Send reps a "triggered" alert each time a prospect or customer does something of significance. For example, an alert can go out when a subscriber...
- Registers for a webinar or other event
- Downloads a whitepaper or other resource from the website
- Contacts customer service
"The ability to know how 'engaged' a prospect or customer is with the company or brand is critical to responding proactively to customer needs or problems," Joel says.
* * *
"Successful CRM is firmly rooted in the commitment to serve customers better," Joel concludes. "By following these simple rules, you will find yourself building customer relationships that deliver the kind of bottom-line results that C-level executives crave."
Problem solved.
Drill down to the details of email-based CRM with Joel Book at his presentation, "Using Email Effectively for CRM," at the MarketingProfs Business-to-Business Forum 2010, May 4-5, 2010, in Boston.
