Are you maximising your customer relationships?

Come on, raise your hand if checking your emails is one of the first things you do in the morning after your alarm’s gone off? I know I do – and it probably means I’m one of the millions of people that spend an average 9 minutes a day reading personal emails on my iPhone or tablet. I receive so many emails from companies throughout the week, but I’ve actively chosen to hear from them so there’s an element of enjoyment as I sit with my cuppa deciding which film I’m going to see at the weekend or the best holiday destination to book for summer with the kids. In the industry, it’s whats called ‘Customer Relationship Management.’

As an SME, email marketing is the golden ticket when it comes to digital marketing. Customers have actively given permission for you to talk to them outside your shop or website. Through personal inboxes you can engage with them in a one-to-one digital environment away from the ‘noise’ of PPC and SEO where thousands of brands are competing for customers’ attention.

It’s less intrusive than a phone call too, and if you’ve gathered enough data, through targeting your customers with relevant content you can maximise not only your relationship with that customer but drive cross sell, remarketing and replenishment opportunities.

Clever reasons to email your customers

• Cross Sell: Did a customer buy home insurance with you last week? Do you think they would be interested in another type of service that you can provide such as car, travel or business insurance?

           Cross sell enables you to push relevant products to a customer based on their previous purchasing behaviours.

• Remarketing: Did you have a customer who recently visited your website but didn’t make an enquiry or purchase? If you already have their email address why not reach out to them and ask if you can help; do they need more information about a product or service or could you recommend a similar product or service which might be better for their needs?

           Remarketing enables you to try once more to convert a visit to a sale with a customer who has already shown initial interest.

• Replenishment: Did a customer have a haircut and colour 6 weeks ago with you – do they need an email to remind them to rebook?

          Replenishment enables you to target a customer who has purchased a product or service within a set lead time and will need restocking or renewing within an estimated lead time.

Top 5 reasons I’d advocate customer relationship management

1. It’s data driven
2. It allows targeting
3. It can build customer relationships
4. It’s cost effective
5. It’s measurable

As with all digital marketing channels, it’s not to say that email marketing should be the only digital channel you should use, but within your overall strategy it should be a key pillar to complement other digital activity.

Want to chat to Justine about how Cariad Marketing can help your business with digital marketing? Call her on 01992 582 824.