Softech Strategies is a pioneer in the email technology industry. Since inception, the company has been at the forefront of developing world-class email marketing software and services, while maintaining a record of strong profitability and compound annual growth.
OUR GOAL
Email can be an incredibly powerful medium, the proverbial "killer app" of the Internet. But email can also be a serious time waster, and fall far short of its potential. Our goal is to design applications that increase the value of email and help our customers demonstrate positive ROI from it. We do this by:
- Facilitating permission-based ("opt-in") contact
- Eliminating unwanted messages ("spam")
- Integrating email with valuable demographic data
- Helping managers use email to make good business decisions
Important Articles on Email – Marketing!
1.Easiest Way To Gain A Quick Understanding Of Email Marketing Facts
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- Sending e-mails with the purpose of enhancing the relationship of a merchant with its current or old customers and to encourage customer loyalty and repeat business.
- It lets the advertiser “push” the message to its audience, as opposed to a website that waits for customers to come in.
- Many companies use e-mail marketing to communicate with existing customers, but many other companies send unsolicited commercial e-mail, also known as spam.
- Illicit e-mail marketing antedates legitimate e-mail marketing, since on the early Internet (see Arpanet) it was not permitted to use the medium for commercial purposes.
- Some marketers report that legitimate commercial e-mails frequently get caught by filters, and hidden; however, it is somewhat less common for e-mail users to complain that spam filters block legitimate mail.
- Companies considering an e-mail marketing program must make sure that their program does not violate spam laws such as the United States’ CAN-SPAM Act, the European Privacy & Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 or their Internet provider’s acceptable use policy.
- Auto-responders: Automatic replies sent by the e-mail software of the recipient after receipt of an e-mail.
- Bounce backs: e-mail sent back to the server that originally sent the e-mail.
- Commercial e-mail: Any e-mail sent for commercial purpose; for instance, an advertisement to buy a product or service, an order confirmation from an online store, or a paid subscription periodical delivered by e-mail.
- The intention of the term “double opt-in” is to make it appear that the confirmation is a duplication of effort; and thus, to justify not confirming subscriptions.
- Borderline spam operations frequently make it difficult to unsubscribe from lists, in order to keep their lists large.
2.Simple Steps to Successful Email Marketing
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We’ve all heard the buzz about email marketing and how cost-efficient and easy it is to do. Email marketing helps businesses see instant sales from existing customers, but more importantly, it maintains and builds long-lasting, loyal relationships - which are the core of most successful businesses.
If you’re already marketing via email, excellent! This article, the first of a two-part series, will provide useful tips to improve the results of your email campaigns and ideas to build long-term relationships with loyal customers
For those of you who haven’t started email marketing, the time to start is now! You’ll learn how to do it efficiently and effectively. The goal is two-fold: To do it the right way with the right tools.
The right way is sending compelling emails to customers and prospects that want to hear from you and have given you permission to contact them.
The right tools are at your fingertips and easy enough for anyone to use – as long as you have an email account, an Internet connection and a Windows or Mac OS computer.
There are ten steps to successful email marketing. We will discuss first six in this piece and the rest later. Here are the ten:
- Consolidating Your Names
- Build Your List of Email Addresses
- Develop Your Email Campaign Mix
- Write Your Emails
- Choose Your Recipients
- Send Your Email Blast
- Process Opt-Outs
- Process Bounced Emails
- Follow Up
- Refine and Repeat
Consolidating Your Names: This step is all about gathering names and getting them into an easily accessible, centralized location. Can you really have all your names in one place? Yes, you can, and it’s not hard!
There are a few ways that you can consolidate your names into one place. To make it as simple as possible, I recommend that you download and install one of the software programs available from Filemaker and other companies.
If you’re lucky enough to have your names already entered into Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Entourage, Palm Desktop, Intuit QuickBooks or another software program, you can minimize the tedious task of data entry by exporting your contact information from these programs and importing it into these programs.
If all your names are on paper forms or in your trusty Rolodex, this is the part where you (or your teenager) start typing.
Build Your List of Email Addresses: Building your own list of current customers, past customers, and prospects (versus buying names and addresses) is the best way to start an effective e-mail marketing list
You now have your existing names in a database. But up until now, you haven’t had much need for email addresses, so chances are that you have a big blank in the email address field for many of your customers.
What you want to do now is fill in those empty fields, in addition to adding new names and email addresses. Here are some ideas to get your started:
- Use your website, storefront, front desk, and every phone call as an opportunity to gather permission to email your customers. You want to provide something to which your current and potential customers will say, "Yes, I give you permission to send me email." A simple clipboard on your front counter or form on your website, that says “Sign up here to receive discount coupons via email!” or “Sign up here to get our free Newsletter via email!” will get you going.
- Don’t ask for too much information at first. All you really need to get started is a first name and an email address.
- Most importantly, promise privacy. You should develop a privacy statement that communicates to customers how your company uses their personal information.
Develop Your Email Campaign Mix: It's important to decide on content and frequency. There’s a delicate balance between too much and not enough email marketing in order to maintain and build long-lasting relationships. Combining a variety of content at different intervals is acceptable to most customers who have opt-ed in to your email list. You don’t want every email that you send to be promotional. You want a blend of editorial and promotional communication that will help you build a long-lasting relationship with your loyal customers
In order to decide on the mix, figure out what you think will help build your relationship with current customers, win back lost customers and move hot prospects closer to becoming customers. Here are ten questions that can help you decide on your unique email campaign mix for the different groups you’re targeting.
- What type of content would my customers/prospects appreciate from me?
- What would they read and respond to?
- What would help build my relationship with them?
- Do they want informative news-like, editorial content?
- Do they want entertaining emails and jokes?
- Do they need notification of policy renewals and contract expirations?
- What about urgent updates and product recall information?
- Do they want price change alerts or notifications of promotional offers and discounts?
- Do they want order confirmations sent through email? Or if I’m already sending transactional email like order confirmations, can I add upsells and other marketing messages to those?
- Would they appreciate a casual greeting regarding a special day, such a birthday, anniversary or upcoming party?
Would a combination of any of these types of communication be appropriate? If so, you can send emails at different intervals for different topics. It boils down to something simple: LOYAL RELATIONSHIPS will give you the competitive edge!
Write Your Email: The text of your email is critical. Make sure your copy gets right to the point with compelling content, special offers or exciting news. You’ll find some examples of different styles of emails to help you get started below.
Here’s an example of one way that you might start with your first monthly newsletter:
 Dear [First Name],
You are receiving this newsletter because you, or someone using this email address,
subscribed to ‘ABC’ Update.
TING-TONG!
By B. Nagengast
Newsletter and e-mail campaigns are a proven way to stay in touch with existing clients and to recruit new clients. The problem with newsletter and e-mail marketing strategies, however, is that many times, these campaigns can be tedious and time-consuming, taking up literally hours for each e-mail and newsletter campaign.
Softech Strategies email marketing services have eliminated the drudgery, the tedium, and the hassle of publishing and managing any e-mail and newsletter campaign, and have taken newsletter and e-mail campaign publishing and delivery to the next level! Benchmark newsletter and e-mail campaign management services provide the finest, easiest, and affordable method of handling online and offline publication and delivery of newsletters and mailings of any type, whether promotional, personal, or seasonal
3.The Intangible Benefits of Email Marketing
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How can you measure what you cannot measure?
Despite all the controversy and challenges surrounding email—the AOL/Goodmail controversy, the constant battle to get legitimate emails through spam filters, uncooperative and unyielding ISPs—email and email marketing are thriving, the benefit to both the enterprise and the consumer virtually unquestioned.
But one question which you do not hear asked very often is what truly is a company’s ROI in their email marketing program. And how is this ROI calculated in terms of the specific goals driving the company’s email marketing campaigns?
To mail or not to mail…
Every company of a certain size is expected to have a web presence if it expects to be a legitimate market player. Your web presence makes it easy for your customers to sign up for your newsletter or other email correspondence. And your email campaigns are indisputably cheaper per unit than sending direct mail through the U.S. post office. Email can also be far more timely.
But to what extent do you consider the value of your email campaigns beyond the fact that email is an inexpensive delivery vehicle?
To be sure, any email campaign is, or should be, driven by one or more measurable goals: increased sales, increased website traffic, improvements to fundraising via donor contributions, increased issues coverage, or even additional votes come election time. All genuine and worthy goals.
But there are other benefits that are not so direct and measurable. And if you only consider and measure the direct, quantifiable results of your email campaign, you may be understating the value of your email program.
Other returns on your email investment
- Branding!
Every email you send is another opportunity to connect with your customers and position yourself as you’d like them to see you in the marketplace. Every email is an opportunity to do so much more than simply achieve yet one more purchase, one more clickthrough.
Make sure your emails reflect your brand, through your content, language, tone, imagery and colors. Do you have a current ad campaign? If so, integrate either the images or the messaging into your emails.
- Relationship building
Your email campaign may also be an opportunity to manage and further enhance your relationships with your customers. Let them know you’re responsive to their needs and concerns and provide an easy way for them to reach you – via email! In this way, email is a terrific way to attain high touch, without the high overhead!
- Content is king
To effectively build relationships takes care and effort. Therefore, your content should demonstrate how much you know about your customers, their interests and preferences. Speak to them appropriately and they’ll hear the message. Get the tone or content wrong, and that’s all they’ll notice.
In addition to providing your customers with the right message, your message should also be engaging. Is your content written with a certain flair? Does it have engaging graphics? Do your customers read your emails with eagerness?
- Educate and inform
Your emails may also be an opportunity to educate your customers or provide additional information. This can be particularly valuable if your product is somewhat complex and benefits from additional explanation.
If your email results in a purchase or a bit of viral marketing – great! But don’t discount the value of simply sending an email with relevant, timely information, and letting your customers know you’re being proactive in trying to provide them what you think they need and want.
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