Email Marketing: 9 essential reasons why you should be doing it

Have you ever thought of email marketing as anything close to a personal chat over coffee? Well, why not? It’s an opportunity to share those bits of your business, that others would miss out on simply because they’re not in your business every day. They’ll love being kept in the loop and you’ll benefit from the trust you build.

“Building trust is about consistency. It’s about always being there for that catch-up over coffee.”

Not only is keeping in touch important, keeping it consistent is a big part of nurturing your relationships with your all your fans. It’s about that one vital aspect of your marketing – building trust. Email marketing is a simple, effective and affordable means of building trust with your client base and potential new customers.

Besides, what can be better than staying in touch with those wonderful people who fill your schedule with appointments.

Why is it worth my time?

Email marketing has the potential to be the bread and butter of your communications. Why? Because it’s an affordable and accessible means of communicating. With one of the highest ROI (return on investment) of any marketing activity, it’s a great use of your time.

Here are 9 reason why email marketing is something you need to be doing in your small business.

1. People are expecting something from you.

If you’ve got someone’s email address it means they’ve registered their interest in your services. Whether you collected emails with your appointment software, on your website, via Facebook email sign up (via MailChimp) or a piece of paper in your store. They already know you and are open to hearing from you. In fact, they’re likely expecting some kind of offer from you and will take you up on the ones that suit them.

2. You’ll know when people are listening.

When you advertise in a newspaper or magazine you don’t know who sees your ad, or if they even want to see it. Email marketing services, such as MailChimp will tell you how many people opened your message and who clicked on the links. So you will know which messages works best with your customers.

3. You can measure your success.

Set a goal for your email marketing and track your success using a SMART plan. If you don’t have a metric, start by aiming to get 10 customers through the door. That means you’ll need to work on your open rate (which measures how good your subject line is) and click rate (how effective your call to action is).

4. It’s right in the hands of your customers.

Email is more accessible than ever. Most people carry their emails with them on their smartphone. Recent stats show that over half over all emails sent are email opened on mobile. No moustached mailman and no sticky postage stamps needed.

5. It’s a great tool for driving traffic.

Well placed, meaningful links and call to actions in your emails will lead clients back to your website. Draw them in with interesting blog posts, discount offers or simply a reminder to book their next appointment from your website. Not only does it mean more bookings, but it’s also great for your traffic numbers and your search engine ranking!

6. It’s free!

It doesn’t cost your customer a cent to receive an email from you. There’s usually no charge for having an email account. Best of all, with free email marketing apps such as MailChimp it won’t cost your business either.

7. It’s easy to get your message across.

Email marketing has far more space for content than print. It’s also more dynamic: you can add images, videos, and links. You can even include a link to allow folks book their next appointment from the email. A distinct advantage that allows for better marketing pieces with email.

8. It’s highly effective when done right.

A friendly and helpful message, that comes across as a conversation between friends over coffee, will go a long way towards building trust with your audience. Start with an effective subject line that leads into your own distinctive tone of voice. Keep your content friendly and relevant but most of all valuable.

9. It connects with your business software.

Appointment software like Timely, helps you collect client information when you take bookings. Which can be shared with your MailChimp account. Not only do you have emails addresses and names, but you will have access to a bunch of useful information about each person. Such as when last they booked or when their birthday is. Perfect to help you create personal messages to your customers.

Email marketing gives you the best chance of offering a relevant and enticing message to people who are willingly subscribed to your brand.

Think of it as an exchange of value: Your valuable information for their time. It’s important to remember this because that’s when you establish trust. Once they get to know you, people will be a lot more open to accepting your marketing offers. In the same way that sharing a cup of coffee with a friend goes a long way towards getting to know them, email marketing can help you build lasting relationships with your customers.