Wouldn’t it be nice if you could tell who was most likely to hire you or buy something from you?
T’would save you a lot of time and uncertainly, right?
The good news is, you can.
Kind of.
You see, when you send an email newsletter, you can get a report on who has opened it and who has clicked on links in it.
Bingo!
They’re your most active clients and prospects.
Now…a couple of disclaimers.
First, you have to be using an email service provider, such as VerticalResponse, the one we are partnered with. Just relying on Outlook or Gmail won’t cut it.
Second, the open rate numbers are only estimates. Indeed, they often wildly underestimate the real total.
(The reason for this is a little dull…but it’s because “opens” are only counted when someone views images in your newsletter, and not everyone has images switched on in their email reading software.)
Clicks, on the other hand, are much more accurate. And with most software, you can see which links your clients and prospects have clicked on.
So, guess who is most interested in what you have to offer?
OK, a couple more disclaimers (I’m full of them today, aren’t I?)
First, there will be people who appear not to open an email for months, and then suddenly they open one and pick up the phone. It’s weird…but it happens like that. So don’t get hung up on low open rates. Staying in touch is what matters.
Second, you’ve got to give them links to click if you want to measure clicks.
Duh!
So put links to relevant parts of your website after relevant articles. Give them – in marketing jargon – a call to action.