Johannesburg, 01 Jun 2015
E-mails - a convenient and accessible means of communicating with one or two people. However, it is used for so much more than that. You can receive all manner of things via e-mail, things such as statements, adverts and specials. The apparent ease with which these items can be received can give you the false sense they are as easy to send as they are to receive.
Anyone who has tried to send items to more than 20 recipients at a time has possibly found s/he has fallen victim to being listed as a spam sender. Your messages don't get through. Not only that, but for a long period after, you cannot get your messages to go through at all. In addition to that, you lose the personal approach. As soon as you have to send to more than one or two people, you lose the ability to address your recipient personally. A single e-mail addressed to a specific individual is far more likely to receive a response than one addressed to a generic name.
For those who are more IT savvy, you may know of ways to get around some of these problems. You could create groups of recipients. This means your ISP recognises the group as a single recipient and therefore, you can send more mails. If you don't know how to create groups, there are plenty of people around who can help you with this. But when your distribution list starts getting too long, even the group method can fail. It is at this point that companies generally start considering the e-mail method as a waste of time for communication with clients.
However, there are those who have even stronger IT skills and they know how to use a database application with a data merge application to give them the ability to send out personalised e-mails to everyone on their database. The problem comes back to that of sending too many mails in too short a timeframe, with the result that they are listed as spammers.
The problem with fulfilling all of these functions internally is that, irrespective of how much data you have on your clients, there is only so much that can be done to make use of that information. How can companies ensure their important e-mails get through to their clients, they remain relevant to the recipient, they elicit a response, they can be tracked and their effectiveness can be measured? Essentially, what they need is something known as a 'White-Hat' e-mail distributor.
So, what is a 'White-Hat' e-mail distributor? In short, it is a company registered with the respective Internet service providers as a legitimate sender of bulk e-mails. There is, however, much more to it than that. By being registered, these companies are able to cross the first hurdle of ensuring your information will reach your customers. This then puts your CRM to the test and scrutinises the type of data which you have accumulated on each customer.
These service bureaux can take the information you have in your database and use it to create specific, dedicated and personalised e-mails for every one of your clients, not just in the body of the message, but in attachments which are included in the e-mail. These personalised communications are known as transpromo.
Transpromo mailers will now allow you to engage with your customers on a far more personal level, with the result that you will achieve even greater response rates. The service bureau will also help you to create the right messages in order to achieve maximum response.
This is not the end of the benefit of using a reputable service provider. A good service provider will also be able to give you full and comprehensive reports on a number of factors. They will be able to tell you how many of your total number of e-mails have been delivered, how many were not delivered and the reasons they were not delivered. They will be able to tell you how many click-throughs you have received from the mails, as well as from the marketing material included on the attachments.
All of these benefits will only be available to you if you use the services of a reputable service provider. Selecting the wrong provider can have devastating consequences. You need to ensure the supplier you select can provide you with all the guarantees and assurances that your mails will be delivered.
According to Nolan Sandham, managing director of Actnet, if you use the correct service bureau, you will suddenly have an entirely different set of problems. He added: "If your service bureau gives you the correct level of service, assists you to create the right message with the correct amount of personalisation, and is then able to track and report back to you on the success rate of your campaign, the problem could be having the resources to handle all the enquiries and business which you receive. This is the type of problem most businesses would love to have and are happy to deal with."
For more information on what you need to do and how to avoid all the pitfalls, contact Actnet and see how to create an effective e-mail marketing campaign to your existing customers and find out how you can attract new customers.
Share