If you are not using email in your business then you will be missing out on major profit opportunities.

Since the rise of blogging many people now believe that all they need is a blog, maybe RSS, and email no longer is necessary. Not true!

In fact email is still consistently a fantastic way for any business to maintain and grow their customer base and profits.

Just look at a few of the ways you can use email in your business:

• Automate notification emails to customers
• Send out digital products automatically
• Up-sell your customers using an email that describes the benefits of an upgrade
• Cross-sell to complimentary products
• Send customer newsletters, etc to keep your company top of mind
• Request testimonials, case studies, interviews and reviews to build proof
• Educate customers to encourage consumption and advocacy
• Segment into sub-lists for more focused messages
• Email scheduled courtesy follow-up messages
• Clear stock or make a sales spike with one-off offer blasts
• … and more

Essentially using email you can

• Automate routine customer service notifications
• Send truly targeted offers
• Maintain client contact

Hopefully you can see there are lots of benefits. If you are not utilising email in this way it is easy to start. First you need to start with prospect and customer lists.

Prospect lists could be as simple as offering an incentive for people to sign up. A free report like my free ebook for bloggers or perhaps a video series. Customers love educational content, or anything that has a perceived value. They are willing to exchange their contact details for a product or service.

Customer lists ought to be something you build regardless. If you sell online it should be simple to hook up your email system automatically. Even if you use PayPal it is possible to get those addresses straight into Aweber or competing email systems.

Hooking up your ecommerce or PayPal purchases allows you to send an instant notification that puts the customer at ease, perhaps even deliver digital goods, and send follow up messages.

Even if you currently do not have online customers, even if you only have a website or blog, I recommend using a professional email solution like Aweber.

Once you get used to the email side, think how you can funnel certain demographics or interest-based visitors to topic specific lists. Segmented lists are even more powerful as customers are less likely to lose interest and any offers are so much more relevant, meaning they are more likely to be converted.

Do you use email in your business? Tell us how in the comments …

Posted in Sales & Marketing