Use “Last-Minute” E-Mail Coupons To Drive Customers To Your Door
| Category: E-mail Marketing | Date: 2002-12-02 |
Heres an idea on how to use e-mail to effectively drive customers to the door of your local business. I first heard about this from a Dan Kennedy marketing course which
outlined how the owners of a local restaurant were using this technique to generate TONS of business on what USED to be their "slow" days (Mondays and Tuesdays, I think), but it can be expanded to help almost ANY small business.
FIRST:
Capture the e-mail address of EVERYONE that walks in your door. Even if they just come to browse, they are there because SOMETHING caught their interest. ESPECIALLY if they buy something, they are more likely to return if you give
them a reason to. If you let them leave without a way to contact them, they may NEVER return. Dont leave it up to "chance" whether or not they come back to you.
How do you capture their e-mail? You have to offer them something of VALUE for it: perhaps a coupon for a free appetizer (if you are in the restaurant business), or maybe a 2-for-1 deal. Maybe a chance to win a prize in a weekly drawing.
[NOTE: Dont just do this in your store or office -- make sure your web site offers the same incentive to prompt people for their e-mail address.]
The bottom line is: DO WHATEVER IT TAKES (ethically) to capture their e-mail address. Think about how much business that person might give to you (and REFER to you) over time. Even if you give away a freebie for every address, you will now have a way to market to them over a long period of time and get back ANY TIMES the value of what you have to give away.
[NOTE: Remember to tell them UP FRONT that you will be sending them special offers via e-mail, and that you will never share their e-mail with anyone else -- sharing their e-mail address without their permission invites potential SPAMMERS and is a
sure way to lose their business and good will.]
SECOND:
When you need to generate more business, maybe during an off- season or on slow days during the week, e-mail a COUPON to your list offering something of value:
* Buy one, get one free (or half-price) * Free appetizer (or dessert) with purchase of
an entrйe
* Free report on how to save them (or make them) hundreds
of dollars (report normally sells for $X.XX)
* 25% off (5% or 10% off may or may not be enough --
test different discounts)
* Free consultation
* (for a CPA during the off-season) Let us do your tax
returns by the end of this month and get half-off our
preparation fees
* Free bottle of shampoo with your paid haircut
* Sign up for 3 lessons and get 1 extra lesson free
* Buy tickets for the evening show and get the same
number of tickets to our matinee for free
* Free book, "Landscaping of the Rich and Famous",
when you sign up for our lawn care service
* . . . and so on!
Three keys to a powerful offer:
Make the offer EXTREMELY TIME SENSITIVE. Send it out only a few days before it is good for. For example, "Coupon good ONLY for Tuesday, October 22nd" -- create a "use-it-or-lose-it" urgency to prompt them to ACTION. You could call it a
"Customer Appreciation Day".
Make the offer EXCLUSIVE. Tell them the offer is ONLY good for the person receiving the e-mail. Friends and relatives must pay FULL PRICE unless they also received the coupon via e-mail (encourages their friends and relatives to sign up).
Make the offer TRACKABLE. Require they bring in a PRINTED COPY
of the e-mail to PROVE they received the offer. How else will you tell if the offer is working or not?
THIRD:
Keep it FRESH! Not everyone will want to eat at your restaurant VERY Tuesday, for example. Dont OVER-use this technique, or people will start tuning it out or even resenting it.
Also, mix up the offers. If you offer the same discount every Tuesday, or every month, youll lose peoples interest --theyll EXPECT the "same old thing" and start ignoring your messages. If you want to use it regularly, make it different
each time (different days, different discounts/freebies, etc.).
----
Start using these techniques today, and youll start driving people to your doors much more predictably than "hoping" they show up. What ELSE do you have to do on your slow days? ;-)
----
YOUR ASSIGNMENT (if you choose to accept it ;-)
1.) Create an offer to start collecting the e-mail address of every person that walks in your door or visits your web site. Make it COMPELLING: If you dont get at least 50% of your (new) visitors biting at the offer this week, next week change
the offer!
2.) Create a second offer that you think will compel people to come buy from you (again, if you dont get the response you wanted THIS time, adjust and try something different NEXT time.)
3.) Figure out when your slowest times are, and send out your offer days (or for less impulse-oriented businesses, weeks) before the "use-it-or-lose-it" date.
4.) Follow up (via another e-mail message) the day (or week) before the "use-it-or-lose-it" date, just to remind them of the offer. (Chances are they may have forgotten about it.)
5.) Send me a message with your results. Id love to hear about the different ways people use this technique. My address is Dan@How-To-Make-Your-Web-Site-SELL.com. Let me know if I have permission to share your results in an upcoming newsletter. (I wont share the results if you dont want me to.)
About the author.
Dan Braun is an "Internet SUCCESS Consultant", and the owner of www.How-To-Make-Your-Web-Site-SELL.com, which helps small, local, and home-based businesses create effective web sites that drive customers to their doors and put more money in their pockets -- automatically.
He can be reached at dan@How-To-Make-Your-Web-Site-SELL.com, or for more great tips you can subscribe to his free monthly newsletter by sending a blank e-mail to htmywss@SubscribeMeNow.com
Please feel free to use this Article in your publication.
The article must be used in its entirety with the resource
box included at the bottom.
Article was written October 2002
Copyright 2002 by Daniel Braun
How-To-Make-Your-Web-Site-SELL.com
dan@How-To-Make-Your-Web-Site-SELL.com
www.How-To-Make-Your-Web-Site-SELL.com
outlined how the owners of a local restaurant were using this technique to generate TONS of business on what USED to be their "slow" days (Mondays and Tuesdays, I think), but it can be expanded to help almost ANY small business.
FIRST:
Capture the e-mail address of EVERYONE that walks in your door. Even if they just come to browse, they are there because SOMETHING caught their interest. ESPECIALLY if they buy something, they are more likely to return if you give
them a reason to. If you let them leave without a way to contact them, they may NEVER return. Dont leave it up to "chance" whether or not they come back to you.
How do you capture their e-mail? You have to offer them something of VALUE for it: perhaps a coupon for a free appetizer (if you are in the restaurant business), or maybe a 2-for-1 deal. Maybe a chance to win a prize in a weekly drawing.
[NOTE: Dont just do this in your store or office -- make sure your web site offers the same incentive to prompt people for their e-mail address.]
The bottom line is: DO WHATEVER IT TAKES (ethically) to capture their e-mail address. Think about how much business that person might give to you (and REFER to you) over time. Even if you give away a freebie for every address, you will now have a way to market to them over a long period of time and get back ANY TIMES the value of what you have to give away.
[NOTE: Remember to tell them UP FRONT that you will be sending them special offers via e-mail, and that you will never share their e-mail with anyone else -- sharing their e-mail address without their permission invites potential SPAMMERS and is a
sure way to lose their business and good will.]
SECOND:
When you need to generate more business, maybe during an off- season or on slow days during the week, e-mail a COUPON to your list offering something of value:
* Buy one, get one free (or half-price) * Free appetizer (or dessert) with purchase of
an entrйe
* Free report on how to save them (or make them) hundreds
of dollars (report normally sells for $X.XX)
* 25% off (5% or 10% off may or may not be enough --
test different discounts)
* Free consultation
* (for a CPA during the off-season) Let us do your tax
returns by the end of this month and get half-off our
preparation fees
* Free bottle of shampoo with your paid haircut
* Sign up for 3 lessons and get 1 extra lesson free
* Buy tickets for the evening show and get the same
number of tickets to our matinee for free
* Free book, "Landscaping of the Rich and Famous",
when you sign up for our lawn care service
* . . . and so on!
Three keys to a powerful offer:
Make the offer EXTREMELY TIME SENSITIVE. Send it out only a few days before it is good for. For example, "Coupon good ONLY for Tuesday, October 22nd" -- create a "use-it-or-lose-it" urgency to prompt them to ACTION. You could call it a
"Customer Appreciation Day".
Make the offer EXCLUSIVE. Tell them the offer is ONLY good for the person receiving the e-mail. Friends and relatives must pay FULL PRICE unless they also received the coupon via e-mail (encourages their friends and relatives to sign up).
Make the offer TRACKABLE. Require they bring in a PRINTED COPY
of the e-mail to PROVE they received the offer. How else will you tell if the offer is working or not?
THIRD:
Keep it FRESH! Not everyone will want to eat at your restaurant VERY Tuesday, for example. Dont OVER-use this technique, or people will start tuning it out or even resenting it.
Also, mix up the offers. If you offer the same discount every Tuesday, or every month, youll lose peoples interest --theyll EXPECT the "same old thing" and start ignoring your messages. If you want to use it regularly, make it different
each time (different days, different discounts/freebies, etc.).
----
Start using these techniques today, and youll start driving people to your doors much more predictably than "hoping" they show up. What ELSE do you have to do on your slow days? ;-)
----
YOUR ASSIGNMENT (if you choose to accept it ;-)
1.) Create an offer to start collecting the e-mail address of every person that walks in your door or visits your web site. Make it COMPELLING: If you dont get at least 50% of your (new) visitors biting at the offer this week, next week change
the offer!
2.) Create a second offer that you think will compel people to come buy from you (again, if you dont get the response you wanted THIS time, adjust and try something different NEXT time.)
3.) Figure out when your slowest times are, and send out your offer days (or for less impulse-oriented businesses, weeks) before the "use-it-or-lose-it" date.
4.) Follow up (via another e-mail message) the day (or week) before the "use-it-or-lose-it" date, just to remind them of the offer. (Chances are they may have forgotten about it.)
5.) Send me a message with your results. Id love to hear about the different ways people use this technique. My address is Dan@How-To-Make-Your-Web-Site-SELL.com. Let me know if I have permission to share your results in an upcoming newsletter. (I wont share the results if you dont want me to.)
About the author.
Dan Braun is an "Internet SUCCESS Consultant", and the owner of www.How-To-Make-Your-Web-Site-SELL.com, which helps small, local, and home-based businesses create effective web sites that drive customers to their doors and put more money in their pockets -- automatically.
He can be reached at dan@How-To-Make-Your-Web-Site-SELL.com, or for more great tips you can subscribe to his free monthly newsletter by sending a blank e-mail to htmywss@SubscribeMeNow.com
Please feel free to use this Article in your publication.
The article must be used in its entirety with the resource
box included at the bottom.
Article was written October 2002
Copyright 2002 by Daniel Braun
How-To-Make-Your-Web-Site-SELL.com
dan@How-To-Make-Your-Web-Site-SELL.com
www.How-To-Make-Your-Web-Site-SELL.com
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