Give Them More Than a Sales Pitch
If you're like me, you probably get a massive number of email
offers each day. Because of this great growth in the volume of
email, you'll need to find some way to distinguish your email
sales message from those of the competition. In order to make
your sales letter stand out from all the rest, you have to find
a way to offer your customers something a little "extra."
The best way to do this is to offer your customers some sort of
information that they can use. This information should be
related to your product or service, but shouldn't be directly
connected to it. For instance, if you are marketing a piece of
accounting software, you might want to offer your customers some
useful tax tips or money-saving advice.
You could also offer your customers some form of entertainment:
amusing stories, "news of the weird," interesting trivia, or
just a good joke (of course, I'd keep it clean!). Any of these
will capture your audience's attention and get them to read your
message. Once you have their attention, it will be much easier
to get them to read about your offer.
You might even be able to turn a series of sales letters into a
"lesson plan" or "mini course" for your clients -- most
customers won't mind reading a sales pitch at the end of each of
these messages, as long as they are getting something out of the
messages -- and as long as they aren't paying to get the
information!
Another added benefit to this approach is that it will help
build your credibility, especially if you are offering useful
advice or information. If you can provide your customers with
information that makes their lives easier, they will be grateful
to you, and will see you as someone who is worth listening to.
Keep giving your customers this kind of service, and they may
actually start looking forward to getting your messages --
imagine THAT happening with a standard email sales letter!
As email becomes more and more popular, competition for our
customers' valuable time will become keener. One of the best
ways to distinguish ourselves from our competitors is to provide
information that goes beyond just "the sale." By going beyond
the immediate chance to profit, we can build relationships that
can be mutually profitable to all involved for a long time.