Internet marketers probably spend more time poring over their stats than they do writing their emails. They’ll look at the number of views their last message received and, more importantly, they’ll check the number of clickthroughs and sales it generated. Each time they hit the Send button again, they’ll be hoping that this message will be the one that sets a new results record.
But that’s not true for every email marketer, and it’s not true for every email message. Sometimes the owner of a small business will send out an email without a thought for the views or the clickthroughs or the sales figures. The message might not be designed or formatted. It might not contain any pictures or even any HTML tags. And it while it might contain a link or two, it will look like an email from one friend to another.
And that’s the point. For the business owner it is an email from one friend to another. It might be a message describing what the company has been doing recently, or a round-up of events that happened at a recent conference, but writing it will be fun rather than a chore. It will be about something they enjoy discussing and it will be read by people the sender knows will find the content interesting — even if they can’t find it actionable.
Informal Emails Build Solid Business
That might sound like bad business. If you’re going to send a lead an email it should be one that pushes them to make a sale. But it’s actually both good business and a sign that you have a great business.
When you find yourself writing an email like this, you know that you enjoy your work. You’re building a business that you’re so passionate about, you can’t wait to tell people about it.
You have a list that’s so targeted, you know exactly what’s on their mind and what they want to read.
And you also know that you like your customers. You want to talk to them. You want to communicate with them. You want to stay in touch with them and you want to hear what they have to say.
When that happens to your relationship to your customers, great things start to happen to your business. Your relationship with your leads begins to deepen. The trust they hold in you starts to set rock-solid. They look forward to receiving your messages and they come to see you as the most obvious source for the kinds of services you provide. It doesn’t matter whether you’re selling software or comic books, as soon as your email list sees you as the default shopping option, you’ll always pick up their custom.
Occasional, friendly emails might not do anything for your bottom line right away. But they lay the ground for the more sales-y “Buy now!” marketing messages by building a relationship. They’re good reading for your list, and they build numbers that make better reading for you.