Know-How Exchange : Customer Behavior

Hi,

I assume you already know where you are going to.
Do you have a sound database of customers who could be interested in your offering or is it a random choice?
Have you figured out what your target group is and if so on what basis?
How do you know the people you are going to send weeklies to are interested?
How long will it take you to put your business into operation as they will have to wait that long! Is your offering that valuable to keep them waiting and even interacting?
Have you thought of a way to remunerate those who first subscribe and then especially those offering their feedback.

Just my questions.

Adam

Or maybe send a copy of the newsletter to a few of us on here who have answered your question, and ask us what we think...

I'd be happy to read and comment so long as you have a definite, guaranteed unsubscribe mechanism, like on www.constantcontact.com

Good Luck!

Hi NTAM,

The idea of publishing an e-newsletter without a product or service you can deliver on is not a good idea.

You might be able to get some helpful responses from a very small number of altruistic people, but because you are not giving them something of greater value in return, the odds of the first respondents engaging again in the future are slim to none.

Even more so with the non-respondents. You are offering them nohing of value in campaign #1, so there is no reason they should open campaign #2, #3.....

Sorry, that's just the way the world of email marketing works - not my rules, those are the rules the public has created themselves.

Since you have once chance to make a great impression with email marketing, save the survey for when you have strong liist of devoted subscribers that you don't have to worry about hitting the "spam" button.

I hope that helps.

David,

You are right.Movies is another example of the procedure.However it cannot be ignored that in both cases these are either very well-established companies on their markets or if new-comers they can entice the public with samples of their productions to come.Same could be said of new music releases etc.
So the question pops up to you nevertrustamunkey, could you offering be sampled in a similar way those guys do?
If it is possible in some way you stand quite a big chance of success,provided e-mails are targeted all right.

Regards

Adam

I'm with W.M.M.A. and Pepper Blue. Instead of a newsletter, why not engage a few of your target audience members in some in-depth market research?

Develop a discussion guide that has 6 or 8 high-gain questions that will give you the information you need. Then ask 15-20 people if they would be willing to spend half an hour to give you some information and help you understand their industry.

When you're talking with them, don't try to sell them on anything or bias their responses. Just ask your carefully worded questions and listen to their responses. Take lots of notes. And listen.

Then, after you have completed at least 15 interviews, go back and review your notes. Look for common threads or areas of sharp disagreement. Those are usually clues as to how you can penetrate the market.

You'll be amazed at how effective this approach can be. Just be sure you're not selling the interview subjects anything. As soon as they get the idea that you have an ulterior motive, their responses will be unreliable. They'll either become hostile/defensive, or they'll accommodate you (i.e., tell you what they think you want to hear). If you can afford to hire a professional market researcher, that's even better. It will ensure that the interviews are truly objective.

We would need to know more about your specific situation to offer targeted advice. Can you tell us the market? The country? The potential product? Can you complete your profile?

Without specific info, we are shooting in the dark... but I would say yes, you can establish a strong and loyal customer base without a product, company or service. In the absense of specific info on your situation, in order to illustrate, let me use one potential service and one potential business arrangement as an example.

Suppose you are a graphics artist for a major corporation, and you want to start your own agency, but are reluctant to give up the salary and benefits without a customer base - and so you want the customer base without the investment of the company. (or, your product is not yet ready for market... etc..)

You could retain a firm like mine, and we could select a non-competing company selling to your same target market. You would be a silent partner - you would retain me to promote their services on commission. Any commissions paid would offset some or all of my retainer. After a year, we would have a list of folk we know in your target market, and you would be in a much stronger position to either 1) move to a part time or consulting arrangement with your current employer, or 2) launch your business.

This gives you the benefits of continued employment, which gives you easier access to credit, and gives you time to build your web site, print letterhead, etc. The cost of a retainer for a year may seem high at first - but you could be looking at tens of thousands of dollars in lost wages if you were to try to quit your job an bootstrap this.

Again, if I had more details I could provide more info - sorry if I'm off base. Give me a ring if you want to discuss further.

Thanks for the details... sorry, my previous suggestion will not work for you (sounds like you are business to consumer, I'm a business to business guy...)

... have you considered a Kiosk or rack type approach? Maybe you could bootstrap your business by having existing businesses (coffee shops?) sell products in their stores... and this gives you the advantage of an expanded geographic territory (e.g. other small towns) as well as developing a financial track record (can be useful when talking with banks, etc). before you invest in a storefront. Good luck.