Email CRM

In my experience Email is the most powerful Customer Relationship Management tool on the planet. You can use email to:

Ï keep in contact with your customers
Ï sell to your prospects
Ï sell new products or services to your existing customers

The key is to use email to develop a relationship with your customers. You do this by using an Email Autoresponder and engaging with your customers and prospects by email So what is an Autoresponder?

DEFINITION: Autoresponder

 

An autoresponder is email management software that allows you to build and manage lists of your prospects and customers email addresses.

A good Autoresponder will allow you to:
Ï create and manage multiple lists (eg one for each product or service) Ï create web forms to capture your prospect or customers details Ï manage email campaigns
Ï broadcast emails (such as special offers)

It should also guarantee the delivery of messages and have a high uptime as you want to be able to send messages anytime you want and not when the service is available!

Lets look at an example where we are using an online Autoresponder provided by a company that specializes in this area. Lets say you have set up a Google Adwords Campaign and a Squeeze Page that offers a 10 day free trial of your new antivirus software in exchange for an email address and first name. In order to support your marketing efforts and build a relationship with your prospects you set up an Email List using an online Autoresponder company. Lets look at the steps involved:

Create Email Create Web List Form

Prospect Subscribes to List
Prospect Redirected to Software Download Page

Autoresponder Sends Email with
Access Details Autoresponder
Sends Follow Up Emails

Create Email List You log in to your online autoresponder account and create an email list for your new campaign. Lets say you call it AntiVirus Software Prospect List.

 

Create A Web Form

Using the autoresponder features you create a web form that will go onto your squeeze page. The autoresponder company will generate html code that you can cut and paste into your squeeze page. Once you add the code to the squeeze page you are ready to market your new product - so you start you Google Adwords Campaign.

Prospects Subscribe To Your List

When a prospect sees your ads they click on them and are taken to your Squeeze Page. They like what they see and decide to take advantage of your trial offer. To do this they enter their first name and mail address in the form on the page. You could capture their full name but usually their first name is enough.

Prospect Redirected to Software Download Page
Once the prospect clicks on the submit button two things happen in parallel: Ï they are redirected to the download page for your software, and Ï they are also subscribed to your AntiVirus Software Prospect List

On the download page they can download the software but they are also told that they should look in their inbox for an email that confirms that they have actually subscribed and that they will receive the access key to the trial software once they confirm their subscription.

Aside: This is called a double opt-in where the subscriber is asked to confirm their subscription.

By taking the subscriber to a download page they are provided with instant access to the software, but by asking for confirmation before sending out the access key you are ensuring that they have actually typed in a valid email address.

Autoresponder Sends Follow-Up Messages

Now that the prospect is subscribed to your list you can send messages to them to help them get the most out of their trial and hopefully they will purchase the software. In order to encourage them to do this one or more of your messages can contain special offers that they can take advantage of.