Using Email Effectively

Some stats:

* I have some 25 partners in my business.

* We serve over 90 customers.

* Our monthly growth rate is over 10% in total revenues and new business partners.

* A new business partner joins our team every 8 days, (this rate continually decreases).

* Two of our members have permanently qualified for large bonuses, and six are close.

* We project that our team will double again before the end of the year (revenues and total number of business partners).

* People in our team are not required to make any changes to their lifestyle or buying habits. They simply continue doing what they always have. When we need their unique talents or skills, we will ask them.

Things are going well. We take our lumps, learn from them, and then improve. We listen to our customers, prospects, and business partners. The newer you are to our team, the more highly we value you. We place our people, our friends and family, and their life goals and dreams, ahead of any other consideration. People come first, and they know better what they want out of life, and how to get it, than we do.

We are teachable and coachable, and we listen to what our market, and newer reps are telling us (those with the best perspective on what is going on in the real world).

In short, we've got a good thing going.

So, why are we afraid to use the Internet to proclaim our good thing? Our veteran reps, those who have been in longer than us, and that have made more money than we, tell us to leave the Internet alone. Do not conduct email campaigns. They don't work and can backfire.

Agreed. Every professional marketer knows this.

But the problem is not inherently in the email. It is the methods used, the purposes, the means, and the expected outcomes.

Bonny L. Georgia, in the April, 2002 issue of Smart Business magazine (Look Big, Even When You're Not, pp. 64-70), argues that you have to use the Web, because your competitors are.

I know that our brand of home-based business thrives on word-of-mouth. The compensation plan has been built specifically around building relationships.

But in the world today, more and more relationships all the time are enhanced through the many tools found on the Web. Social networks are thriving. It is an easy, real-time way to share information and stay connected.

The improper use of email can kill your business. But the smart use of it, can give you greater success and effectiveness, many times over.

So how do we know if we are using the Web smartly, or "dumbly"? The answer is simple: Ask your customers. And ask your prospects, and any disinterested third party. Try different things out. But never, ever let a mistake or failure discourage you!

I sent out a mass email, days after starting up my present home-based business. It had mixed results. I sent it out to over 200 people. Six responded. Three responses were "thanks, not interested." Two were "sounds interesting, tell me more." And one was decidedly, hatefully, discouraging.

But I learned a lot from that one activity. Not that I would never do it again, but that I would do it differently, or on a different scale.

We are on to something excellent here. We are growing rapidly, and have a right to inform our friends and family about it, and to seek their advice and support (if not their membership).

Georgia lists five ways to make a marketing email campaign "click" (p. 65):

1) Time it right. Once a week, between 9am and 12noon is best. Make sure you have permission from the recipients first.

2) Keep it simple. Two paragraphs, tops. It should take up no more than one screen of text.

3) Provide easy access. Include a prominent link. Use the email to drive traffic to your site. Make purchases easy, one or two clicks to where they can order.

4) Don't be tricky. Avoid tricks like putting "re:" in the subject line. People are savvy and know when they are being duped. Be sincere and authentic.

5) Give them a way out. Give them the chance to unsubscribe.

This sounds good to me, and in the next week or two, we will begin trying some different things out, in terms of running effective email campaigns.

Here's to your success!