Are your mining your email for all that it has to offer? If not you are missing out on one of your biggest opportunities to improve the profitability of your business. That’s because your email often holds the key to:
– Determining what your customers really want.
– Improving your website.
– Improving your selling process.
– Finding really responsive customers.
– Building long-term customer relations.
– Learning from your competition.
Let’s look at how mining your email can help in each of the areas mentioned above.
Every day your customers and potential customers email you asking questions or for clarification. These emails provide very solid information on what your customers are really looking for in needed products and services. If you notice that you are frequently asked for a product or service that you don’t offer, ask yourself if you should begin offering it. If your customers often ask about a product or service that they can’t find should you create this product or service? Is there a big need for this missing product or service?
Do your customers frequently ask questions that are answered right on your website? Perhaps you should rewrite your website so that these answers to frequently asked questions are more prominent. Perhaps you should create a frequently asked questions (FAQ) page. An example of this is that I frequently get asked by visitors to one of my website for my mailing address. These customers feel uncomfortable giving their credit card information over the internet. This indicates both that I may need to make the mailing address more prominent and that I may need to add verbiage on how safe credit card transactions are over the internet. I say “may” because both of these features are already incorporated into this website.
If you get many prospects or customers asking about using alternative forms of payment, maybe you should consider offering these too. Examples of these alternatives include:
– Cash on delivery (COD)
– PayPals
– More different types of credit cards
– Electronic checks Balance cost against benefits when considering adding payment options. If only a few customers ask for a particular payment method, it may cost more than it’s worth.
Your email is a ready source of responsive customers. They email you asking for solutions to their problems/needs. Believe it or not, many of the internet marketers that they email NEVER respond to their requests. For example, many ezine publishers don’t respond to requests for advertising rates. They treat form letters requesting such information as a nuisance since this information is already on their websites. However, if a person has taken the time to request this information he IS a real prospect. Be one of the ones to respond and you actually stand out in the crowd. People are often SUPRISED to get a fast response to their email questions. Stand out in the crowd by responding FAST and you have a big advantage. Maybe you don’t need to go looking for new customers. You may have hundreds of anxious customers knocking at your door.
You will get many “tire kickers” asking questions via email. It is a balancing act since you can’t afford to exchange hundreds of emails back and forth with someone who isn’t even sure he wants to start an online business. At the same time, if you are one of the ones who helps the newbie get started, you are the one they will purchase from later on when they need business products and services. Your online success hinges on building long-term relationships.
Finally, mine your email to learn what your competitors are doing. Read their emails to see what products and services they are selling and for how much. Can you offer the same quality of products and services cheaper? Is the field for this product or service over crowded? What techniques are the “BIG” guys using. If the big, successful guys are using a given promotional method for a long time, you had better believe this is working. They don’t normally throw away money on promotional efforts that aren’t proving successful. Notice how they structure their email offers. Notice the frequency of their follow-up, etc. They are showing you what is working for them.
Sifting through you email inbox is a part of doing business online. Learn to do it properly and the sifting turns into mining. Learn to mine properly and you’ll reap big returns!
Willie Crawford has been teaching Internet marketing for
over 9 years. Take advantage of his uncanny insights and
experiences by subscribing to his free, information packed
newsletter at http://WillieCrawford.com/ezine.html
