Email is Serious Business

“Email is for serious business. Texting, Twitter and Facebook are for socializing.”

The common theme among our essay submitters? Email is for businesses and grown-ups. Social networks are fun and cool; email is featureless and for official communication only.

When Generation Y wants to catch up with friends and build relationships, they do it on Facebook. Email is a “necessary evil” (as one candidate worded it) that only grown ups, teachers and businesses use.

Consequently, teens check their email accounts less frequently than their Facebook walls. “I tend to check my phone for text messages or look on Facebook to see if I have any notifications before checking my email,” writes a finalist.

Other students admitted to checking social networks several times a day while neglecting their email accounts for days or weeks unless they were expecting important messages from a teacher, college or employer.

The good news to take away is that even though teens are checking their email accounts less frequently, they expect to hear from your brand through their inbox.

• “I only use email if I have to send my teachers an assignment or check for coupons.”
• “I only receive emails from my school or stores sending me coupons.”
• “I have multiple email accounts for different purposes. These include signing up for cards at stores that send me offers for cheaper products.”

Millennials may reserve email for business, but that means they’re still interested in inviting businesses into their inboxes to take advantage of promotions.

What follow up method really works?

Following up with each lead individually, multiple times, but at set intervals, and with pre-written messages, will dramatically increase sales! Others who use this same technique confirm that they have all at least doubled the sales of various products! In order to set this system up, though, you need to do some planning.

First, you’ll need to develop your follow up messages. If you’ve been marketing on the Internet for any length of time, then you should already have a first informative letter. Your second letter marks the beginning of the follow up process, and should go into more detail than the first letter. Fill this letter with details that you didn’t have the space to add to the first letter. Stress the BENEFITS of your products or services!

Your next 2-3 follow up messages should be rather short. Include lists of the benefits and potential uses of your products and services. Write each letter so that your prospects can skim the contents, and still see the full force of your message.

The next couple of follow up messages should create a sense of urgency in your prospect’s mind. Make a special offer, giving him a reason to order NOW instead of waiting any longer. After reading these follow up messages, your prospect should want to order immediately!

Phrase each of your final 1 or 2 follow up messages in the form of a question. Ask your prospect why he hasn’t yet placed an order? Try to get him to actually respond. Ask if the price is to high, the product isn’t the right color or doesn’t have the right features, or if he is looking for something else entirely. (By this time, it’s unlikely that this person will order from you. However, his feedback can help you modify your follow up letters or products, so that other prospects will order from you.)

The timing of your follow up letters is just as important as their content. You don’t want one prospect to receive a follow up the day after he gets your initial informative letter, while another prospect waits weeks for a follow up!

Always send an initial, informative letter as soon as it is requested, and send the first follow up 24 hours afterwards. You want your hot prospects to have information quickly, so that they can make informed buying decisions!

Send the next 2-3 follow up messages between 1 and 3 days apart. Your prospect is still hot, and is probably still shopping around! Tell him about the benefits of your products and services, as opposed to your competitors’. You will make the sale!

Send the final follow up messages later on. You certainly don’t want to annoy your prospect! Make sure that these last letters are at least 4 days apart.

Following up effectively seems complicated, but it doesn’t have to be! So many potential customers are lost because of poor follow up – don’t you want to be one of the few to get it right?