As the Director of Customer Support and someone who has been with BizActions for over eight years now - I have watched the company grow from eight people to twenty eight, watched the system transform from its early stages of basic functionality into the robust platform it is today and witnessed the needs of our customers change and expand with the desire to do more than just send an email newsletter. I must say it has been quite a ride and one that I am proud to be a part of. When I first started back in March of 2001, I was one of two Customer Support Representatives who worked closely with new accounts to help them get up and running. Most of what we did was implementation training and what we like to call reactive support. Although we did those things very well at that time, as a company we began to see the light, so to speak, with regard to Customer Service.
Over the years as the needs of our customers began to evolve and our product began to grow to meet those needs, we recognized the importance of top-notch customer service and how that was the key to guiding our customers down the right path to reach their own goals. Early on we began to take on a proactive approach with our customers. We decided it wasn’t good enough to just answer phones and emails, especially with the type of product/service we offer. We began a more proactive approach where we reach out to our customers regularly and establish a healthy rapport. We try to get a feel for how the system is working for them and what we can do as their support reps to guide them. And now today, our support team includes six hard-working reps who play an integral role in how users benefit from all our service has to offer.
My posts will provide the insight I gain in my day to day Customer Support experience on the many facets of using email newsletters and email blasts regularly to communicate, market and brand your company effectively. I welcome any and all thoughts or suggestions.
Julie Robertson
BizActions LLC
Director, Customer Support
If you are an Email Marketing Professional and currently send any type of Business Email Newsletter to your contacts, then you probably want to see results as quickly and easily as possible. In today’s fast-paced business environment, instant gratification can be key to capturing the information you need to find out if your marketing efforts are successful, what topics are of most interest to your readers and which readers might qualify as leads for potential business opportunities.
BizActions users can now take advantage of our updated, new and improved Dashboard. The Dashboard is a desktop mechanism that allows users to get a quick glimpse of their readership data and database numbers with the click of their mouse. Just pop it open and there you have it – a breakdown if the database from contact classifications to unsubscribes and bad emails, information about who is reading which articles in general or targeted newsletters and who is opening email blast communications that are sent as well.
The newest features include the ability to review Email Radar reports and the ability to switch back and forth in a matter of seconds between multiple accounts. As an example, if you are a marketing professional who has taken the time to set up separate industry newsletters, the new Dashboard makes it easy to switch back and forth to review data for each of those newsletter accounts. This way if you are sending targeted email newsletters, you can quickly and easily review readership for each targeted group as opposed to all at once.
With the New Year officially in full swing, now is the perfect opportunity to think through your email newsletter campaign strategies and options. Whether you are sending a B2B Email Campaign or an Employee Benefits Newsletter, you will want to focus your efforts to accomplish your goals for the New Year. There are a few basic areas that can hold the key to building and maintaining an effective business email newsletter.
- Database – First and foremost, it is difficult to run an effective email marketing campaign without a healthy database. However, be sure to think in terms of quality, not just quantity. It is much more effective to have a solid database of good contacts that might be less in number, as opposed to an extremely large database consisting of mostly people who don’t know you, bad email addresses and purchased lists. Create a strategy for capturing every single email address for all of your clients.
- Design – With a New Year under way, this is the perfect time to think about redoing your email newsletter design. Be sure to have a graphics person help with this as opposed to just someone on your team with limited graphics experience. As an example, BizActions fees for designing a brand new masthead for someone are minimal compared to the immeasurable value a professional design can lend to your firm’s appearance and credibility. It is probably worth it to pay the extra money for something that positively and professionally reflects your firm’s image.
- Message – Think about a strategy for the messages you would like to send this year and who you would like to target with those messages. Also, make sure you are sending the most applicable content to the right people in your database. You want to make sure your contacts view you as a firm that knows their clients needs and interests. BizActions offers something called Master Accounts, where you can actually build separate newsletters for different segments in your database and your contacts can benefit from receiving information that makes sense for them.
Knowing the key components to an effective email marketing campaign can have a lasting impact on your results.
As the holidays approach and we are on the verge of a brand new year, perhaps you should rethink the design of your custom email newsletters. Your e-Newsletter design can say a lot about who you are as a firm or company. You can better brand your company, showcase specific service areas and present yourself professionally with a new masthead or logo and a coordinating set of banner ads for example. Whether you are sending a Human Resources Newsletter, Financial Planner Newsletter or CPA client Newsletters, remember that the overall design is a reflection of your company.
Sometimes, something as simple as a fresh new look for your professional email communication can go a long way in terms of how your clients perceive your firm’s marketing efforts. As an example, BizActions users who have been using our system for many years often times will consider a new template option and revisit the overall look and feel of their professional email newsletters. Some of our accounts will do a “relaunch” of their newsletter to better brand themselves and reintroduce their firm’s presence. Keep in mind that in this day and age, people are inundated with emails each and every day. Therefore, as busy recipients sift their inboxes regularly, a newsletter that looks visually appealing will often win out over other emails that lack that professional visibility.
When revisiting the design of your professional email commmunication, also consider that less is more sometimes. In other words, you don’t want to send something that appears cluttered with too much information in a masthead or banner or perhaps too many custom articles that aren’t really necessary. Sometimes, keeping it simple speaks volumes and gives off the “crisp” appearance many recipients prefer. With just a few weeks left in 2009 and 2010 right around the corner, start thinking about your professional email newsletter and how you can make some minor adjustments that can go a long way.
Are you sending the most applicable information to the right people? Whether you are sending a CPA client newsletter, a B2B email campaign or a Human Resources Newsletter, sending targeted content can be key in presenting your firm as one that knows its clients and understands what type of information is meaningful to them. Anyone can send just any type of outsource newsletter that includes the same information for all recipients. However, when your contacts open your professional email newsletter, will they scan it over and decide right then and there that most of the information is not meant for them or will they see those topics as relevant to their needs and interests?
The Master Accounts feature within the BizActions platform allows you to create and manage multiple newsletters within one main account. For example, an accounting firm might have a Construction newsletter, a Not for Profit newsletter and a Real Estate newsletter. This type of set-up could be key to the company presenting itself as well versed on the needs of its clients and other contacts. This type of positioning can result in a successful CPA newsletter campaign that meets the needs of all contacts in all industry groups or other defined groups.
A few examples that our clients use for target marketing are as follows:
- Targeting industry groups
- Targeting multiple office locations
- Targeting different departments
- Targeting contact lists by sales rep or partner
The next time you are putting together your professional email newsletter, take a close look at the content you are providing and ask yourself if all contacts in your database will find their articles meaningful and relevant of it they will just view it is another professional email communication with little to offer their specific situation.
If you are using a newsletter content service of any kind, then you have probably given some thought to what day of the week you should launch to maximize your results. Of course you want to reach as many people as possible and you want to reach them on a day and at a time when they are likely to open the professional email communication and even read some of the content you have included. While there might not be one particular day and time that is the right answer for everyone, there are some ideas out there about what works best.
Working as a support representative for a professional email newsletter service, BizActions, over the course of 8 years, I have noticed a change in the perception of launch days in particular. Early on, many of our users felt it was best to launch either Tuesday or Wednesday and those days have worked considerably well for many users of email newsletter services. However, what people were noticing was that everyone sending just about anything including junk and spam mail and other types of emails were sending on those “busier” days as well. It became apparent that people were more likely to be inundated with all types of email on those days, even other targeted email newsletters, especially in the middle of the week on Wednesdays.
Some felt that recipients were less likely to open their custom email newsletters among the larger amounts of total emails they are receiving on those days. Over the last few years, I have noticed more and more people launching their newsletters on other days – days that were originally less popular – Thursdays and Fridays in particular. Someone once shared a good analogy with me. If you open your mailbox and find 20 separate pieces of mail one day, and then open your mailbox and find only 3 pieces of mail the next day, in which instance would just one of those mail pieces have the best chance of standing out? Again, you want to do what makes the most sense for your firm or company. Tuesday afternoon might provide fantastic results for one firm, while Friday mornings might prove to be the most effective for another firm. Think about your list as well. If you are sending to an entire listing of business clients, sending a business email communication toward the end of the day on Friday is probably not the most effective strategy. Don't be afraid to change it up and try different days and times to find the best one for your purposes.
Including interesting articles, announcements, and other types of content in your professional email communications might seem like no easy feat. Like many, you might find it difficult to come up with meaningful topics that will entice and engage your readers and keep them coming back for more. Whether you are communicating educational information to keep your clients up-to-date or soft news such as a recent promotion, quality content can play a crucial role in positioning your company at different levels. So, even if you are using a newsletter content service, what’s stopping you from using your own custom content to reach your recipients? If the answer is “we have no idea what to write about or include”... look no further!
There are a wide range of topics that can serve as the focus for custom email newsletter articles. When trying to come up with the perfect idea for an effective announcement or article, many people lose sight of the more obvious things that can prove to be just as compelling. Something as simple as a team member spotlight item, for example, can go a long way. Look around your office at your colleagues. Take notice of your firm’s culture and interactions with people, events that are occurring, etc. Sometimes the simplest of things can prove to be the most impressive in the eyes of your readers.
Showcase the various services your firm or company offers. Chances are your clients are only aware of the specific service you provide to them and not all of the services your firm offers. One effective way to showcase your service areas is to include educational pieces that speak to those services with specific examples. Ask a professional at your firm to write an article that will educate your readers and provide them with insight on a specific topic.
Don’t be afraid to ask some of your clients if you can profile them in your professional email communication as well. Perhaps a business client has a recent success story to share. Interview the client, include a photo and ask the client for a testimonial if it makes sense for that article.
BizActions is a leading newsletter content provider that combines lead generation capabilities with custom email newsletter options so that firms can effectively get in front of their clients and prospects using relevant and applicable information.
Click here for the full white paper outlining 14 ideas for creating effective custom content, also known as Sponsor Content at BizActions.
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