More Killer Secrets

I thought I would build upon Jeff’s five killer secrets with another five of my own:

1) Leverage Social Media – Email is a push channel that should be used to coax the recipient back to your site, give them something special when they get there a YouTube video, Flickr photos, a cool Twitter entry or interesting blog post. In addition to the natural search benefits, these channels will help you create a foundation of communication opportunities. Just be careful not to force any of these channels, work them into your mix naturally.

2) Ask powerful Questions – Create conversation zones with your recipients, from the time they sign up to key interaction opportunities. Ask them what they think about your products/ services, but more importantly, be sure to act on the feedback.

3) Stay Current – Your audience deserves timely, relevant and concise information. Use the information from the conversation zones to produce the right message, for the recipient – purchasing a queen sized comforter from Overstock.com results in targeted queen size sheets etc. They send it on time and make sure it corresponds to recent purchases.

4) Make the Communiqué Interactive – The goal of your email is to engage the recipient, challenge them by throwing in a single-question survey or trivia point. Let the response be on a subsequent landing page where you can ask for their feedback to leverage in your next campaigns.

5) Training – Brief your team on the important email metrics; in many companies, email is a mainstream program driving revenue. The important thing is to make your company (top to bottom) understands what is possible and why email is so important.

Send me your feedback and, if you’re in the area, sign up for our Burlington (3/11) and Columbus (3/28) Panel of Peers Workshops.