Constant Contact Best Practices Blog

Have the right content in your invitation Get your invitation successfully into the inbox Hold a place in their mind In this first post of the series, you will have No. 1 nailed down. What you put in the invitation directly relates to how much of a response you’re going to get. You can get your audience interested by making your survey invitations short, sweet and to the point. No big long explanations. Keep the text down to a short paragraph and then make that link really stand out. Here are the eight key components to include in your survey invitation: What’s your newsletter doing for you? If done right, it’s a powerful tool to stay in front of customers and prospects so they come to you when they’re ready to buy or donate. Are your readers looking forward to your next issue? Is your newsletter getting solid opens and clicks? If you want more response to your newsletter, here are some ways you can get content that will better engage your readers. 9948 reads Posted on Mon, 01/19/2009 - 15:27 by Caroline Shahar Category: -->
Consumers have so many attractive choices available in the marketplace today.

Why should they do business with you? A logo isn’t enough of a reason. As discussed in part 1 of this post, it’s essential to clearly express your uniqueness to keep customers coming and to get more in the door. So now here’s how to easily identify your organizations’ true uniqueness and what to do with it to have a competitive edge. Step 1: Send an online survey to your current customers to learn why they come to you. You are selling something far greater than a product or service. By sending your customers a survey they will be glad to see you care, and you will both quickly and easily find out why your customers really do business with you. Here’s an online survey tool to use if you need one. And here are the brand perception survey questions to get you the feedback you need to uncover your true uniqueness. It should take your audience less than 5 minutes to complete, which will help in getting a good response. Include the time it will take on the invitation. I would also consider offering them a discount on their next purchase or a free whitepaper to get more participation. You can find more about getting people to participate at this post about getting a good response.

The holidays are over and you have opened all the greetings and gifts. Seems like a blur? But ask yourself, which of these gifts or greetings do you remember? What stood out? Why did it stand out? It’s most likely because it was unique; different from all the rest. Applying that idea of uniqueness is a big opportunity for your organization’s success this year. Every year it seems we’re busy, busy, busy, and then wham! The end of the year is here! First, I’d like to congratulate you on the wins you made this year! As economists say, it’s the drive of small business owners that tends to revitalize a down economy. Secondly, I want to share two practical ideas to help you strengthen your business for 2009. Do not miss these opportunities to connect with your customers, strengthen your relationships, and ultimately help grow your business.
Send transactional emails. An email to confirm new order, provide expected delivery day/time, give order tracking information, confirm a donation, remind registrants of an event, give product updates, or to thank customers for their business is an easy way to provide value to your customers and continue the relationship.

Recipients say transactional emails are the ones most worth reading. Additionally, these emails are an opportunity for you to gain more revenue by promoting related products, services or events. For example, if you are a retailer confirming an order for winter gloves, include a section in the email showing other popular products to keep warm. Or if you are a wellness center thanking a customer for using your nutritional services, recommend a boot camp class and give them a discount coupon. Just be sure to use the 85/15 rule here – don’t let promotions take up more than 15% of the email. Provide a clear way for customers to give you feedback after interacting with your business. You’re on their mind. Customers may have a suggestion, a bright idea on additional products/services they would like to buy from you, or want to tell you how great their experience with you was. You can easily give them a simple way to tell you all of this on their own time, with no rush, and anonymously if they prefer. Include a URL or link on all customer communications - receipts, newsletters, order confirmations (and all of those transactional emails we talked about) that brings them to an online survey.