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Email News Letter, Anyone tried it, Does it work for signage
Has anyone tried sending Email news letters to their existing client’s and possibly the member of the local Chamber of Commerce? I am toying with the idea, I get one from a local IT company who reckon they get between 7/9 sales each time they send it out. (Monthly) The usual goods that sell are monitors, external hard drives, etc, etc. small margin stuff. But what it really does is, “keeps their name fresh” in the clients head and then they get the wed development & networking jobs along with the programming witch I’m told the real cream is in.
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22 Replies
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We moved premises last year and bulk emailed I customer base advising them of our move. This in turn generated a lot of enquiries. I think it’s a great way of keeping in touch with very little effort. The trick is to email them with news of interest to them and not bombard them with sales talk. I think Shane does something similar and can probably advise further on its effectiveness.
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Sounds like you had great results Phill. I agree its important not to be pushy, just let them know we are still around, tell them about new products or recent jobs completed. Can you point me in the direction of Shane please.
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I’m sure you’ll get a reply from Shane to this thread later once he gets up out of his bed this morning :lol1:
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Super, thanks. I will keep you posted, the IT company here said, the designed the software inhouse and would only charge €200 for it yearly +€100 for training
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We use icontact and we always get jobs when we send it out from existing customers.
Shanes is at dsi.net.au always a great read when I see it hit my inbox.
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I know that Shane Drew does a newsletter – covering everything from family trips, latest signage equipment purchases, customer thanks, charity work and examples of large contract work etc.
Usually quite a pleasant read too.
I’ve tried the email ‘mailshot’ with special offers, product info etc. and to be quite frank…most will end up being deleted…or ignored.
My client base really doesn’t tend to be the sort that benefits me from an email / letter. A phone call works better for me – with a high "oh, yeh…I was going to call you…we have a project coming up."If I’m quiet one day, I’ll look back through the jobs file in Signlab – maybe the last year, and anybody that i want more work from…just touch base. You might do nothing more than waste 10p on a call…or you could get a job as they’d forgotten who they’d used in the past.
Dave
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This something i was thinking of doing with existing customers for the same reasons you mention Dermot. Do you know if there is software out there that you can use to create databases and design mail shots that wont get filtered out by spam filters.
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It was something I was looking into as well, some one recommended http://toddle.com/ I had a quick look but didn’t do anything yet.
I think you would have to be careful with the content, so that it’s not purely a sale sheet. -
I have set a few of these ‘permission email marketing’ systems up and they do work really well. It should be part of any signmaker’s marketing arsenal without a doubt.
Unsolicited ‘spam’ emails rarely work and often just brass potential clients off, but well-thought out email newsletters to your confirmed existing clients work a treat.
Every business needs a sign, but they might not need it ‘today’. It’s really important to keep your business in potential customers’ minds for when that day comes, especially in the current climate.
The good systems work totally online and allow you to import your database of contacts and create the newsletter on the web. Once you have done the first template, the following ones are just a case of changing pics and text.
Sending is a breeze, the system sends out from it’s own server so your own ISP doesn’t get twitchy seeing hundred of emails going out of your email account in one hour. The system also tracks who has opened and read the emails, who has clicked through to your website, and manages any unsubscribers for you.
You can easily link the tool to your website, thus encouraging more sign-ups.
If you are happy creating the newsletter yourself a good set-up will cost about £40 per month to email hundreds of your own contacts. Obviously if you pay someone to create the newsletter for you, budget for that as well. Some ‘pro’ systems used by bigger companies can run into thousands but I think a limit of about £30 – £50 a month is more than enough for most sign companies.
If you aren’t already doing it, give it a try! I think some services even offer a free trial.
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This is something i am currently in the process of doing, just finding the right content and the right target customers before i send it out and also waiting for the new website to be up and running next week.
I will let you all know how it goes.
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we have recently started doing an email newsletter to great effect. Dave Rowland recieved one himself!
Incidently we have been sending out Postcards to all our past, present and prospective clients to highlight our upcoming move, refreshen memories of who we are, and asking people to register their interest in our open day.
This postcard success has been immense, and the "e" version of it, just as successful.
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Thats also what im doing, i am having some A5 postcards produced promoting what we do and this is also being sent as a PDF to past customers and potential future targeted ones.
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Dermot,
I’ve been doing Newsletters to my clients since 2002. It definately works.
Until recently I just send an email with a bulk emailer (Free from Download.com) advising a link that would go to my website and my newsletter in pdf format.
I always got work from it. I’ve changed to format over time to try and guage what gets the best results.
I have a email list of 350 clients/friends/suppliers. Of the 350, 300 would be clients though.
Any new client I get, on the 1st invoice I note that I have a newsletter and that I’ve added them as a courtesy, also noting they can unsubscribe anytime.
Thing I found overwhelmingly was that emails address to them personally were incredibly successful. I’ve had lovely emails back thanking me for staying in contact. Every news letter would result in 4 or 5 jobs within the month I sent it.
Unfortunately I was finding that people were not getting them recently as some ISP have beefed up spam security, and some of mine were obviously caught up. Also, my own isp beefed up security on sending lots of emails at the same time, so I’d have to throttle the emails down to 5 or 10 emails every 45 seconds. Over 350 emails, that took a chunk of time.
The new spam laws prompted me to look into it further. I decided to go to a dedicated mailing service like icontact or constant contact. Both are excellent resources, but I decided on Constant Contact because it was easier to use.
Because of my workload and illness, I only sent out one or two newsletters all year in 2008. People kept ringing me asking if ‘I was still on the list’.
I try to make them interesting, at least a little humorous, but non political and industry related. I’ve changed the format again this year.
Since 2002, I’ve only ever had 3 unsubscribe which is good I think.
With dedicated emailers like contstant contact, it tells you who opens them etc, with some great stats.
The idea is to link each story to the article on your website or other sites, and the stats will tell you which story was interesting and which weren’t, letting you tailor each new newsletter to the stories they want to read.
I’ve tried long newsletters every 3 months, and shorter news letters every month, and the shorter ones definitely prove more popular.
Because I am a family business, my clients respond well to my funny personal experiences. Most of my clients know other members of my family, so it reinforces that family feel when I include them in my humorous experiences. I usually poke fun at myself, which helps promote the idea that I don’t take myself to seriously.
My last newsletter, my first with constant contact, was hugely successful, I got 6 emails congratulating me on everything from ‘a great newsletter’ to ‘thanks for getting the newsletter up and running again’. I also got a stack of work.
In short, it does work for me very well. But remember its only a tool. Like Dave Rogers, I still touch base with clients on the phone. But I have found that if a newsletter is sent, addressed to the client personally, they are more likely to ring to discuss a sign because its jogged their memory.
I got the job to do two car wraps this week, as my email landed in the inbox of a client I’ve not heard from for about 6 months.
The last time he called I was really busy so I put him on to a graphic artist, who then stole the client off me. The graphic artist has been doing cheap work for him ever since. My email, in the clients mind, showed we were still ‘talking’ and prompted him to ring and confess all. I now have all his work back again. 🙂
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Great post Shane, really pleased it is working for you. Just shows that this type of marketing is well worth the effort as well as being one of the cheapest and easiest methods you can use.
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quote Chris J Giles:Great post Shane, really pleased it is working for you. Just shows that this type of marketing is well worth the effort as well as being one of the cheapest and easiest methods you can use.
Thanks Chris 😉
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Great topic Gareth. Interesting post Shane.
I think newsletters are a terrific idea. I’ve only once made up one. I keep saying to myself, "I must do that again and regularly."
I would really like to see what others are doing. Is there a way we can do this without breaking board rules? I have a PDF of my newsletter on my website.
Do you guys request permission when using photos of your clients work? -
OOoh Duncan thats a tricky one. I always feel i should ask a customer, but i never do!
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quote Duncan Wilkie:Do you guys request permission when using photos of your clients work?
No, I just say to them that I have taken a photo that I may use in my next newsletter. The response from just about everyone is pride.
When you show the photo, always promote the clients business with a little spiel. I usually take something off their website if they have one.
If not, I make something up that is flattering. Like ‘Joe Blow asked us to help them promote their business better. As Joe is one of the best Carpet Cleaners in his field, we worked together to get the result he was after’. Its pretty much a guarantee that he’ll be a customer for life.
One thing to remember, for smaller sign shops, is that if you feature the pics on your site, other sign shops have been known to trawl opposition sites and contact your clients looking for business. They study the pics and work out the lowest price they can go. Your customer will get prices that undercut yours, so its good business sense to have an excellent relationship with your client before you do so. I don’t feature any photos until I am sure I have a good relationship first.
Every mention of a client in or on my site is usually accompanied by some praise too. Clients like that.
Duncan, I’ll send you a link to my archived files, and I’ll put you on my mailing list if you like. Please put me on your too if you start one up.
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Thanks Shane, I checked out a few of your newsletters. They are very newsy and easy to read. I’ll be reading more as time permits.
I’ve sent you a link to my fledgling Blog. I guess a Blog is somewhat like a newsletter.
Cheers mate and thanks again -
Hi All.
Shane you have good experience with this from the sound of things, that’s a great post. Its seems like the way to go and not too expensive either. Could you possibly put me on your list please, might help me understand better how to put one together. If anyone else would like to put me on their list please do so. -
As a newbie to mailing lists and someone who sometimes lacks inspiration when righting copy is their a way we can pool our resources when it comes to news letters.
As they are going out to our existing clients its not like we are in competition I am happy to share my efforts with like minded people and contribute my ideas. If anyone wants to be put on my mailing list send me a pm and I welcome being added to yours. Thanks Shane for sharing your experience It would be great to see what you have done before. -
😀 We have been sending out an e-newsletter about every 6 weeks or so, just to keep our customers informed of latest offers, or any relevant news etc.
The response has been really positive – and have had loads of good feedback about different topics; we also started a blog site, which is pretty light hearted – not always about signs, but a bit more personal – again really positive feedback.
Well worth doing either way to keep your customers informed. All of our information is on our website, or available in the brochures, but this is a way of staying in contact and saying hello! (also stops us becoming the secret sign supply company)
Hamish :whasupp:
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