It’s Not Them, It’s You – Why Email Marketing “Blasts” Don’t Work

You know how busy you are. There’s work, family, friends, and hopefully even some time for you to exercise or pursue a hobby. You’re checking email as you walk to your office, while you’re waiting in line or maybe while you’re trying to relax after a long day.

Then you get an email that says, in so many words:

Subject line: Buy my product or service

Email content:

All about me, me, me.

And did I tell you more about me?

Is it any surprise that you would tune out this message? Is it any surprise that your own customers would? This is why email marketing “blasts” don’t work.

If you’re sending out this kind of email marketing “blast,” you’re not alone. It’s natural for most people to think of your company, your services and what you want people to know about them. But that’s not how people think. They don’t really care about you, however delightful you might be personally. They care about them. And they want to know how you are going to help them solve their problems or entertain them.

So your lack of results with this type of email marketing isn’t unique either.

Consider this: For the average consumer, 60% of their buying decision is made before they have talked to you.

This makes perfect sense when you think about the way we all live today.

You are not pausing in your busy lives to read direct mail pieces, emails or other ads when they are sent. If there is a service you’re looking for, you file it away to read later when you have time. Or maybe you do a web search about a product you need while you’re watching television.

No matter how you find the company, you’re researching them when you have time. The information you find will help you decide whether or not you want to do business with that particular company.

Only after you have enough information to decide if you want to know more will you get in touch. And chances are, if you’ve made contact you’re more than halfway there—60% to be exact.

So what is the best way to keep in touch with existing and prospective clients?

68% of consumers spend time reading content from a brand they’re interested in and 78% of consumers believe that organizations providing custom content want to build good relationships.

Email marketing can be 20 times more effective than other marketing approaches. And consumers who receive email marketing spend about 83% more when shopping.

Regular email communications with customer-focused messaging can help your customers decide they want to do business with you, and you can encourage them by sending information that helps them, not you. Sending them educational, helpful or inspiring content solves problems for them and can help develop a relationship of trust.

Once you’re showing them how you can solve their problems or continually provide them with informative, entertaining content, they will think of you when it comes to larger decisions like doing business with you.

So give them the information they need to get to 60% of the decision of buying from you. Then you can continue your relationship of providing helpful, educational information until they are ready to buy again.