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Complaint corner: 6 ways to cut back on customer
gripes |
| If
you've been in business for any span of time,
you know quite well that you can't please
every single customer. But that doesn't mean
you're helpless to head off complaints at
the pass, especially when they're tied in
to your email marketing campaigns. Here are
six tried-and-true ways to cut back on gripes
from your email marketing subscribers: |
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though you provide your customers with
an unsubscribe link at the bottom of
every email, there will still be ones
that don't follow protocol. Some people
may just reply with the word "unsubscribe"
in the subject line or body of the email,
but it's not entirely uncommon for a
customer to write a paragraph or two
on how they adore your business, burying
their request to be taken off your list.
Staying on top of your unbsubcribes
is one of the best ways to head off
abuse complaints. Each time you send
out an email marketing campaign to your
customers and a customer responds, make
it a priority to read each one and see
if your customer wants off your list. |
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| The
most successful email marketing campaigns
rely on Opt-In, which means only emailing
customers who have asked to receive
your newsletters. However, there's an
even better method than Opt-in: Closed
Loop Opt-In. With Closed Loop Opt-In,
you not only get permission via a Website
sign up or other method, but you send
an additional email asking customers
to click on an embedded subscriber link
to confirm their interest. Closed Loop
Opt-In may not eliminate all complaints,
but it serves as a great reminder to
customers who aren't sure whether they
subscribed to your email list or not.
Not only that, it gives you solid evidence
that the person who signed up for your
email is exactly who they say they are. |
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| It's
certainly tempting to send multiple
emails under the assumption that your
customers won't notice, but while most
of them may not, it only takes one or
two to catch on, file an abuse complaint
and ruin your email marketing reputation.
That's why we recommend that you stand
firm and keep your promise on how often
you'll email your recipients. Even if
you remain vague about how many times
you'll email your customers when they
subscribe, we recommend emailing them
no more than once every four days. Anything
else is considered overkill. |
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| It's
a great strategy to put a note at the
top of every email telling your customers
why you're emailing them. This short
message may say something like "you're
receiving this email because you signed
up at the Website www.benchmarkemail.com".
This little reminder lets customers
know - time and again - where they signed
up and why they're on your list. This
is especially helpful with customers
who tend to forget which email lists
they've signed up for: it erases all
ambiguity and stops complaints before
they happen. |
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| The
ongoing controversy with email marketing
today is customers can't always tell
the difference between spam emails and
totally legitimate ones. There's a reason
for this: spammers have tried - and
sometimes succeeded - in mimicking legitimate
emails. Although the vast majority of
spam emails tend to look a little less
than professional, the line can be blurred
even more if your email template is
not the best it can be. Take the time
and effort to craft a clean, professional-looking
layout. Benchmark has almost 200 email
templates at your disposal, but if you'd
like something more personalized, we
can also create a professional, customized
template for just $299. |
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| Adding
links to your emails is a great way to show
that your campaigns are Opt-In. The reason?
If customers click on those links, it validates
your campaign as one that is only sent to
customers that gave you permission. Email
blasts, for instance, often feature links,
but the recipients do not click on them. With
Benchmark, we can track clickthroughs of the
links in your campaigns. The end result is
that if customers click on the links in your
email, you're establishing that you follow
good email practices, which will improve your
delivery to the next campaign you send to
that email list. We recommend adding at least
10 links to your email marketing campaigns
to maximize this result. |
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| When
it comes to sending out email marketing campaigns,
it's a numbers game. The more you send, the
bigger chance you'll get a complaint. But
if you follow the suggestions above, there's
a good chance that -- at the very least --
your customers will simply unsubscribe rather
than hit the oh-so-devastating spam button. |
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| For
more info, please contact Jennifer Perez,
Benchmark's PR and marketing director, at
jennifer@bmesrv.com. |
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| Highlights |
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Take
care of every unsubscribe - even
ones that don't follow format |
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Always
ask for permission to email customers
- preferably twice |
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Don't
over-email your recipients |
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Let
customers know how they ended
up on your email list |
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Make
sure your layout looks professional |
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Add
more links to your emails |
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