Your customers deal with that same decision every day. When an email doesn’t speak to their needs, the time and money you’ve spent making that email are wasted. You end up over budget, with poor metrics, and lower sales. You’ve also alienated your future audience.
There’s a fix. Give them value.
Your customers have given you a tremendous gift… their email address. Reward them by giving them something of value back—value to them, not value to you. You may really want to talk about that sale every week and might think there is real value in that, but does your audience want to hear about it every week?
“It’s not about what you want to say, but about what your audience wants to read.” —Kim Webster, Email Broadcast Operations Manager
We get it… you really need to talk about that upcoming sale and rev up some business. That’s why we recommend the “Jab, Jab, Jab, Ask” method (a la Gary V). In other words, give your customers something of value a few times that truly interests them, and then hit them with your ask. Entertain them, inspire them, educate them. It isn’t always about you!
Our email marketing campaign for Hakai Lodge is a prime example. We can only send people on this mailing list a request to book a northern excursion fishing trip so many times before they tune out, especially with their 54-day season. Owner Clyde Carlson has learned the value of giving his prospects something other than a BOOK NOW call to action.
Fishermen love stories. People love experiences. With this in mind, Email Broadcast treats every message on behalf of Hakai as an opportunity to tell fishing stories, photos, and experiences. So far, it’s worked well. Open rates are consistently high, and fishing trips are being booked up months, if not years, in advance. Hakai Lodge has had their best season ever, the last two years running.
Psst… that’s the “Jab, Jab, Jab, Ask” method! Give them compelling content that keeps them coming back for more, and then hit them with your sales pitch when the timing is right. Since more people will be opening your messages, your promotions will go even better.
Ivan Smith Furniture has also learned that getting people on their email list is just the beginning and sending engaging, personalized content worth reading is what makes them stay. Alongside their promotional campaign runs a 14 message “Value Add” campaign that does NOT ask for the sale, but instead gives helpful tips to homemakers.
The main takeaway here is this… give them a lot before you ask. The value you put in your emails that keeps your readers interested (Jab, Jab, Jab) is the secret sauce to getting them to stay for your Ask.
