Lynn Moore, president of Moore Marketing LLC and a local expert on Constant Contact, gave members of The Power Network an overview of how a small business can engage and grow its customer base through email. The presentation was the fourth in a speaker series for the leads group exclusive to Monroe and Newtown chamber of commerce members.
Fifteen business professionals gathered at Spadaccino and Leo P. Gallagher & Son Community Funeral Home in Monroe for the event on Thursday morning.
"Most business comes from existing customers," Moore said. "Most forget to ask them for leads. Email marketing is direct marketing to people who love you."
Repeat customers spend 67% more of the time, she said.
Concentrating on building your business from within your community is a good way to earn clients' trust, according to Moore.
"Acquiring a customer takes seven touches," she said, adding that touches could be a phone call, an email or even running into someone in the store.
Most businesses use email, but Moore said valuable customers can be lost when it's not done right.
"You can really make or break a deal," she said of email. "I was buying a product and he kept writing me like we never met. 'Hey! I spent $400 with you.' He wrote like I was an uneducated consumer."
An email Marketing Campaign
Moore said you need to commit six months to an email marketing campaign, adding Constant Contact charges $200 for that period of time. The company can help account holders to create a logo and there are about 200 email templates to choose from.
"I talked to people in the library and told them you don't need a logo, just neat type in a consistent font and color — and that's a logo," Moore said.
A graphic designer happened to be in the audience for that presentation and Moore later bumped into him. "He said, 'You're right. It is a logo,'" Moore recalled.
Moore said Constant Contact can also personalize an email. "There's my name in bold. She's talking to me," she said.
One thing to avoid is coming off as spam, according to Moore, who said Constant Contact takes complaints of spam very seriously.
"The thing I like about Constant Contact is it's tough on spam," she said. "If there are five complaints, they say, 'Why are you bothering people?' Constant Contact doesn't want to be known as a shaky site."
The Right Timing
Moore said a business wants to deliver professional email communications to an interested audience with information they find valuable. But timing when emails are sent is also important.
For example, she said a Realtor can send out emails in the winter with tips of adding value to your home, then follow up with information on putting properties on the market in the spring and summer when most people decide to buy and sell.
A retailer can use Constant Contact to sell a product and automatically send out thank you emails to those who buy it, follow it up a week later with an email asking how things are going and offering any assistance the client may need. The next week, an email advertising another product could go out.
Constant Contact not only tracks how many emails are opened, but who opened them. "You can maintain a customer database," Moore said.
Some Power Network members asked who owns the information. Moore said, "Constant Contact manages information, but you own it."
