Connecting Through E-Mail

Creating Your Community

Most Web sites aren't communities. Sure, you can offer helpful information and hope visitors will return. But most won't. That's why a majority of business professionals are committed to a never-ending struggle of getting new traffic. They're not doing anything to create a long-term relationship with visitors.

A blog is closer to being a community. That's because a good blog is continually updated with content, posted by the publisher(s) and readers. It's more engaging than a site. However, without offering your blog posts as a feed so they can be delivered to opt-in subscribers, you must also hope that visitors return to your blog. Most won't. Not everyone uses a feed reader either.

If you're not inviting visitors of your site and blog to opt into your e-mail list, you're missing a huge communication opportunity. Therefore, use both venues to build your list.

Segmenting Your E-Mail List

Although I'm referring to what seems like one e-mail list, you might want several of them for different purposes. E-mail segmentation is the process of organizing your list into segments or categories. Companies such as CoolerEmail, ConstantContact, EmailLabs, and ExactTarget generally offer sophisticated segmentation options, although you can create multiple e-mail lists easily through all-in-one e-commerce solutions such as 1ShoppingCart.com and an eBay Store.

Segmentation enables you to send a different e-mail to each segment because not all subscribers respond the same way to the same e-mail. Besides, it's more effective to send relevant information to each e-mail list anyway.

For example, e-zine subscribers expect, well, your e-zine. And although you could also automatically subscribe webinar participants to your e-zine, that might not be the most effective course of action.

Let's say your webinars focus on industry research. You can connect better with webinar participants by sending them periodic e-mail messages about industry trends, statistics, and your upcoming webinars. By customizing your messages for each e-mail list, you create a stronger sense of community with subscribers.

Go ahead. I know you might disagree with the idea that e-mail creates community. It's a monologue, not a dialogue, right? It's the one-way transmission of information. However, the kind of information you deliver, and the way you communicate your message, helps you connect with your subscribers in a way that your Web site can't.

Involve Your Readers

With that in mind, why not invite subscribers to submit questions or comments? Then you can use this feedback to create content for your e-mail broadcasts. This saves you massive time by not having to respond personally to each person. Plus, you serve your subscribers better by sharing in-demand information with them. What a fun way to let them participate. You also show your subscribers that you're listening to them.

The popularity of blogs shows us that people want to participate in a conversation. That's not the sole reason why blogging has taken off, yet it's a significant factor. Creating a community is the next generation of e-mail marketing.

Business professionals can't continue broadcasting information or offers they think are important to their subscribers. They need to know what's important to their subscribers.

Remember Pete Nelson, CEO of Everywhere Marketing and his "Success Story" from Chapter 2 in this book? He sent a survey to his e-zine subscribers and discovered that 86 percent wanted to know how to set better goals and plan their marketing efforts more effectively. Two months later, Pete wrote an article about this topic that landed him a $145,000 project. He listened to his community.

Rather than guessing, wouldn't you like your subscribers to tell you how you can best serve them?

Instead of asking your subscribers to e-mail their questions or comments to you, you could organize their responses more effectively through an online survey tool such as QuestionPro or Zoomerang. A survey tool is certainly a more time-efficient option if you have thousands of subscribers who are eager to give you feedback.

You can offer your subscribers a list of options to choose from. Their responses are easily tallied up. Also consider offering an open "Comments" field. You'll get answers that will surprise you. Then you can send your e-mail subscribers information they told you is valuable to them. You can refer to a related product or service at the end of your message. If you do this, use a call to action as Alexandria Brown has done in her byline in this chapter's "Insider Insights." See how she invites you to get her free report? Well done. This simple step leads to more business.

Although some press people will opt into the free information you're giving away to attract prospects, consider inviting the media to join a separate e-mail list customized for them. In the event you're not offering company news via a news feed, and to keep in touch with press people who aren't yet using a feed reader, you can create a separate e-mail list to send them statistics, case studies, and how-to tips they may find newsworthy. Journalists might not want to receive your e-zine if it's sent too often; they might prefer periodic updates from you instead.

Regardless, if you manage one e-mail list or many, you'll create a bigger impact and leave a lasting impression when you stop speaking in a corporate voice.

Go ahead, get personal.

Ready to read Catherine Seda's entire chapter on "Connecting Through E-Mail" and the rest of the How to Win Sales & Influence Spiders book? Get the book at http://www.HowToWinSalesAndInfluenceSpiders.com.

Excerpted from How to Win Sales & Influence Spiders: Boosting Your Business & Buzz on the Web by Catherine Seda. Copyright (c) 2007. Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc. and New Riders.