Getting a customer to shop with you is, unfortunately, not as simple as just sending them some emails showcasing your excellent product range. You will need to invest a lot of time and effort into building a trusting relationship between your company and your potential customers.
When it comes to giving companies their business, these days customers have more choice than ever before. They will be far more likely to shop with a business that has taken the time and effort to to show them that they are important and valued, rather than just trying to sell to them all the time. With the help of email marketing, building trust between you and your customers is simple. Here are some ideas:
Welcome Emails
This should be your first port of call when a customer joins your mailing list. A welcome email is your chance to introduce yourself to your new subscribers. You can, first and foremost, thank them for signing up, let them know about all the benefits that your business can offer and include information to help ensure that your emails won’t end up in the spam folder.
Welcome emails can offer a number of benefits. They serve to remind subscribers that they signed up for your emails in the first place; they won’t just arrive out of the blue. They will also show your subscribers that you actually care about their customer experience; you don’t just want to give them the hard sell.
This welcome email from Murad shows a number of things they should contain. It has a warm and friendly tone, and lists some of the benefits that the company offers. It also contains something else common in welcome emails: a small discount to encourage a new customer to make their first purchase:
Apology Emails
Everyone makes mistakes, even seasoned email marketers. However, the important thing is how you deal with those mistakes after you’ve made them. If you’ve made an error that effects your customers (for example, had website down time or included an incorrect discount code in a previous marketing email), you can use email to apologise for it. Rather than just ignoring your mistake, this will show your customers that you acknowledge that you made an error and will do your best not to let it happen again.
Wool Overs sent this email to apologise for site down time over the Black Friday period. As well as saying sorry for their mistake, they also included a 20% discount for those who were effected by the down time to make their purchases with:
Newsletters
Like I mentioned before, not all your emails need to be about selling what you have to offer. Customers tend to trust brands that seem like an authority on their area of expertise. With a newsletter, you can use your email marketing efforts to inform, rather than sell. You can let your customers know about any developments that may be occurring within your company, any new products you are launching, or offer hints and tips that will enable your customers to make better use of the products or services you provide. Again, emails like this will show your customers that you care about them getting the best possible experience.
This newsletter from pet food brand Purina includes articles and pet care tips. They have included links to the brand’s social media pages and website, but selling things is not the main focus of the email:
Trust between customers and brands is vital in order for their relationship to thrive. With the help of email marketing, you can help build a trusting, lasting relationship, and help improve your customers shopping experiences at the same time.
