Despite the ever-evolving advancements in marketing, sending emails continues to be one of the best ways to reach customers, with 66 percent of consumers having made a purchase as a result of an email, beating both social and direct mail (Data and Marketing Association).
Non-Sales Emails Every Business Should Be Sending
If you’re always trying to sell with your emails, however, they’ll head to the trash before your customer ever reads it. Sending a variety of emails keeps your customers guessing and your campaigns fresh. Use these ideas to drive leads and sales while providing your customers with more value.
Content Sharing
Content is one of the most important tools a business can have right now. Customers are doing more research than ever before. In fact, 81 percent of shoppers do online research before buying, and you want to be the person who has the information they need.
One way to distribute your high-quality content is with a content-focused email. Instead of selling customers, introduce them to a new piece of content you know they’ll love. Better yet, make it a regularly scheduled email.
When I was publishing five days a week for a blog I manage, I sent a weekly content email that drove 1,500+ blog views each week. It ended up becoming an important traffic source, and we almost always received replies thanking us for the great resources.
Feedback Requests
Customers want to be heard, and all you have to do is send an email to get them talking. Not to mention that listening to their feedback is one of the most important parts of business:
“To deliver a great experience that builds ‘sticky’ customers, you must listen to customer feedback. Your customers are a wealth of information, more than you probably think. They can help you develop a better product, help you provide a better service, and help you offer more value,” says Ross Beard, Client Heartbeat.
Use a feedback email for quarterly check-ins, to get insights on a new product, or test a few ideas you’ve been tossing around.
I’ve found the best way to get customers talking is to set up a Google Form. In my experience, people would rarely send feedback when the CTA was “Reply to this email.” Reduce friction with a simple form that makes it easy for them to give their answers quickly.
Freebie Downloads or Resources
Our audience of teachers always loved the freebie emails we sent and it would take minimal time to prepare. The key is sending freebies that you know your audience will actually love. In my case, we sent downloadable bookmarks, worksheets, calendars and more.
Consider what fun or helpful resources your audience would like most and focus on that. For example, tax professionals could create a free, printable tax calendar; a marketing agency could create an EOM analytics checklist.
The key is to brand the freebie—this way, you make your email subscribers happy and lock in brand impressions at the same time.
Coupons and Discounts
Coupons are a valuable tool for driving sales from repeat purchasers and new customers; in fact, a recent survey found that retailers earned $29,435 on average in monthly coupon sales. While the ultimate goal of this email is to drive sales, this email is simply a way of sharing information about an upcoming sale or discount.
For example, create the coupon for a specific time period in the future. Center it around the company’s anniversary or a specific holiday and include an intro talking about that.
Without a CTA to “shop now,” the email feels less salesy and more valuable, while the intro gives you a chance to keep the line of communication open with customers.
New Product or Service Launch Emails
Email blasts are a great way to generate buzz about your new product or service without selling anyone on it directly. Create a campaign around the launch, planning one email every two weeks for the two months leading up to it.
Each email can talk about a different aspect of the product or service with various types of content. Create and embed a video, write a blog post, share a link to coverage from the press and more. In the last email of the campaign include a discount code that subscribers can use and share when you launch.
Emails are a great way to communicate with your customers. So instead of always selling to them, ask for feedback, share great resources and get them excited about upcoming discounts and services. Soon enough you’ll have a loyal customer base that will come back again and again.
What type of non-sales emails does your business send out?
