We’ve all tried it. Writing those elusive one-off emails that are going to get you an obscene amount of conversions. While it may have been somewhat effective at the advent of email marketing, today you’re going to be disappointed if this is your idea of email marketing.
Relationship building should be the number one priority of all your email marketing activities. Customer relationship building is essential in converting prospects and web visitors to full paying customers – and possibly even advocates of your business.
One-off emails are not conducive to relationship-building
When someone tells me “I don’t know what to say in an email,” most of the time their writer’s block really stems from trying to accomplish too much with one email.
When someone trusts you with their email address, it’s unlikely they are asking you to just keep throwing sales tactics at them to see what sticks. The best email campaign act more like an ongoing conversation with your best client, donor or customer. Trust is built over time with consistent high-value messaging. Each email has to stand on its own, with it’s own topic and call to action, but also fit into the context of a larger story. It must fit into your relationship with your customer.
The key to building a healthy email relationship is to only send an email when you’re delivering value to your reader. By value, I mean “benefit,” not features. Delivering benefits will always trumps throwing out features.
Chances are you can offer your reader multiple fantastic benefits. Do those benefits justice by dedicating an email to each of them instead of overwhelming them with a flurry of information all at once with your one-off emails. Sure, this is going to take more effort, but you’ll be thanking yourself for it later.