Do’s and Don’t for Sending Mass Emails to Your Customers

[This article was written by Samantha Higgins.]

Getting mass emails out isn’t terribly difficult, but getting them read can be a challenge. Making a real connection via a mass email can be almost impossible if it’s the first contact. Your promotions need to have a human touch to stay off the “blocked” list.

Start With the Personal

Rather than making the email from the business, make sure you put a person on this email. Visualizing a human connection increases your chance of getting the email read, especially if the supposed writer is well-known in the industry and the local business community. It’s an anxious time for people, and this bleeds over into business. Keep your customers and potential customers feeling secure in the knowledge that the person contacting them is highly skilled in what they’re talking about.

Make It Worth Their Time

Add value first. If you’ve got a great service or a product that will actually do this prospect some good in overcoming the challenges they’re facing, discuss the challenges. Obviously you don’t want to give anything away, but if you’ve got advice on a financing tool, a new software, or a tax tip that can save your prospects and clients both money and time, discuss the need we all have for a bit more of both.

Let it Percolate

If at all possible, don’t draft a mass email and send it on the same day. Use multiple proofreaders and go over it repeatedly with an eye toward

• personal connection
• tone
• detailed service

If you’re lucky enough to get a response to a mass email, it may show up with a specific question. Even if the potential customer only has one problem you can solve, it still works and we’re all in the business of drumming up more. Make sure your prospects feel comfortable in asking anything in their response.

Run the verbiage past multiple proofers. If you are working with a mass email service, find out if they too have a proofer. The writer of any text should never be asked to proof. They’re trapped in the narrative and will automatically miss things. One more set of eyes can save you a lot of embarrassment.

Pair Announcements with Pain Points

If you’ve got a great new product or service for your clients, what problems will it fix for your clients? If your clients can by product X from you to leave problems Y behind, draft a personal email that digs a bit deeply into Y. Direct clients back to your website for additional information. Getting big and splashy with your announcements may be great press, but it doesn’t do much for your client base without sharing the problem it can fix first.

Send Out Non-Business Emails

If you have a special announcement tied to the business but not to sales, share it. Somebody on staff finish their degree? Share it. Someone adopt or deliver a new baby? With their permission, share it. Build an understanding of the humanity of your organization, and your sales pitch will have a bigger impact. Make sure you share community connections via email as well as on social media.

Link Up

Make absolutely certain that each mass email has all your social media data. Of course, that means you have to keep your social media up to date. If you’re sponsoring a little league or peewee football team, get photos out there. Dollars are scarce and people are wanting to spend with intention. If you have a strong community footprint, share it. If you don’t, build one. Find charities that matter to you and your staff. Set up a tent or shelter and hand out pizza, water bottles, and other freebies with your name out there. You need a human face in front of the community to make your email marketing really pop.

No matter your industry or business, it’s all about people. Everyone has anxiety, everyone is concerned about the future, and everyone is looking for hope. To participate fully in the digital world, you need to have some heft behind your marketing plan, and that means pairing a personality with your emails.