You can break it down into three phases: first of all, how you say hello. Secondly, how you keep them interested. And then, if you don’t succeed for one reason or another in keeping them interested, how you say goodbye in such a way you don’t cause terminal damage.
Don’t alienate your customers. The people who’ve given you permission to have that conversation are likely going to be the sort of people you’re going to want to keep in touch with over a long period of time. So treat them with respect.
NJ: So opting in is the key to a good email relationship. How would you suggest getting people to do this? MW: If you’re trying to get permission to speak to people and you’re probably going to attach a value to each email address you collect. If you’re going to do that, really make it easy for people to do so.
Tell people why it’s worthwhile. If I simply put an email capture box on my website and don’t give you any sense of what you’re going to get in return, you’re going to be a little less likely to capture that information. So tell people why; offer some sort of incentive.
Now incentive doesn’t have to be money off. Information is a great incentive, more and more detail about what’s going on, information about offers and those sorts of things is part of it. Insider information. But think in terms of incentives being ‘why do I think you’re going to want to read this newsletter?’ Show people what the newsletter looks like and tell them what they’re going to get from it. As I said, make it easy to sign up and a legal point: make sure you link to your privacy policy.
NJ: What other incentives have been successful? MW: Being relevant will bring you a much higher return on investment. And if you think about this, this is common sense. Whether you’re a small, medium, or large business, whether your business-to-business
46 HIT ME! HOW TO GET YOUR BUSINESS TO PUNCH ITS WEIGHT 0NLINE
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