Email Marketing
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| Zahid Hasan Nazmul |
The sad truth is that this tool, email marketing combined with client newsletters, is vastly underutilized in accounting. Ah, but that adds another benefit: competitive advantage.
It’s really quite easy to implement. All you need are three things:
A list management tool
Your client list with emails and preferably permission
Content for your newsletters and marketing emails
List Management Tools
If you have a CRM with robust email marketing capabilities, then you already have your list management tool. Some of the market leaders in the enterprise space include:
SalesForce
HubSpot
Eloqua
Marketo
In the small and solo firm space, any of these vendors are more affordable and a few of them are free:
Constant Contact
GetResponse
Aweber
Vertical Response
MailChimp
iContact
Campaigner
When you choose a vendor, be sure to choose based on email deliverability rates in addition to feature set and price.
Your Client List
Some firms will need to do some admin time to put together their client list, especially if they don’t have a CRM or have not collected emails. If you don’t already have a process to add new clients and prospects to your list management tool, it’s essential to put that process in place.
Content
Developing content is the most time-consuming part of delivering a newsletter, but it doesn’t have to be. There are many vendors in the accounting space where you can outsource content development. Here are just a few:
ThomsonReuters
Mostad
ClientWhys
CPASiteSolutions (comes with website)
AcceleratorNewsletters
The best combination I’ve seen is to hire a professional marketing copyrighter, allow them to interview your technical people, and have the writer develop the content for you with a tech check by your CPAs. Often there will be at least one CPA in a frim who loves writing. Tap them to be the source of your articles.
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| Zahid Hasan Nazmul |
The upsides are huge to producing a newsletter. Here are five tips to get the highest ROI from your efforts.
Be consistent.
An easy way to be consistent is to write all your articles at once and schedule them ahead of time. A few months before you run out, write another batch to be scheduled. What doesn’t work is to start and stop a newsletters; your list will unsubscribe and your lack of communication will be exacerbated.
Solve business problems, not accounting ones.
Business hire you to solve their accounting problems, so your newsletter content should focus on business, not accounting. Topics such as business strategy, pricing, planning, human resources tips, time management, and marketing will go much farther than tax laws. Focusing on business topics with a soft mention of the financial aspect will increase your “open rate” by 30 percent compared to if you stick to straight accounting mumbo-jumbo.
Produce seasonal updates with soft upsells.
I love it when my lawn maintenance company tells me it’s time for leaf collection, fertilizer, or scalping. They do so in a newsletter. You can let your clients know the best time to switch payroll systems, when they need to review their quarterly sales tax, and when you’ll be doing their adjusting entries, all via a newsletter.
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Stop procrastinating.
Each year you wait to implement your newsletter, you lose out on building your list, upsell revenue, and new sales. I start my list in 2005, but I still berate myself that I didn’t know to start in 2001. It’s never too late to start, and the sooner the better.
Don’t forget to pitch.
Most firms are so focused on getting the newsletter out they forget the email marketing piece. Once someone is on your list, they are giving you permission to pitch. Use it. Send both direct email “special announcements” to pitch a new service but also write in a soft upsell in every article. For example, the article “Five Tips to Select a Payroll System” can include a sentence that says, “If we can help, let us know.”
Taking Action
Competitive advantage. Increased revenue per client. Better communications. Opportunity to market. Shorter sales cycle. Warmer prospects. More informed clients. What’s not to like about email marketing?
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Sandi Smith Leyva, CPA, CMA, MBA, and founder of Accountant’s Accelerator, has helped thousands of accountants earn more, work less, and serve their clients better through her innovative coaching and training services.
Sandi was named one of the 2015 Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Accounting by CPA Practice Advisor, one of the Top 25 Thought Leaders for 2016 by CPA Practice Advisor, one of the 2013 “Ones to Watch” of Accounting Today’s “Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting” and was a 2013 Community Choice Honoree of the Small Business Influencer Awards held by Small Business Trends. She won a 2013 Stevie Award for “Maverick of the Year,” and her work has also been noted by CBS News, PBS, Dallas Morning News, San Jose Mercury News, Accounting Today, Journal of Accountancy, Today’s CPA, and The Practical Accountant. She is a regular contributor to CPA Trendlines.
Sandi is one of a handful of women in the world who has co-piloted a tiny six-seat, single-engine airplane over the oceans and around the world. Her book, Following Amelia: A Modern Day ‘Round-the-World Flight, describes her death-defying adventure along with the two award-winning humanitarian trips she managed to fit in along the way.
Sandi has authored several books, CPE courses, and over 500 articles for clients such as Microsoft, Intuit, and the American Institute for CPAs. She writes BizBoost News, a client newsletter for accountants with strategic business content. Her latest books include Five Simple Steps to Get More Clients, More Profits and More Free Time for Accountants and QuickBooks ProAdvisors and P3: Pricing, Packaging and Positioning.
Sandi is a CPA and holds an MBA in IT from the University of Dallas. She also holds a MS in Applied Cognition and Neuroscience. In her spare time, she loves hiking, traveling to remote places, and empowering women from poverty to prosperity through her nonprofit.
History
Email marketing has evolved rapidly alongside the technological growth that has occurred consistently throughout the 21st century. Prior to this growth, email marketing was not as effective because of a lack of reach, as emails were novelties to the majority of customers and potential customers. In 1978, Gary Thuerk of Digital Equipment Corp [DEC] sent out the first mass email[citation needed] to approximately 400 potential clients via the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network [ARPANET]. It resulted in $13 million worth of sales in DEC products, and highlighted the potential of marketing through mass emails. As email marketing developed itself as an effective means of direct communication, a problem arose in that users were blocking out large amounts of content from emails by use of filters and blocking programs. It therefore became the case that in order to effectively communicate a message through email, marketers had to develop a way of pushing content through to the end user, without being cut out by automatic filters and spam removing software. This resulted in the birth of triggered marketing emails, which are sent to specific users based on their tracked online browsing patterns.
Historically, it has been difficult to measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns because it is not always possible to fathom what portion of a target market has been reached. Email marketing carries the benefit of allowing marketers to immediately identify returns to investment[citation needed] and therefore measure and improve efficiency. Email marketing allows marketers to see feedback from users in real time, and to monitor how effective their campaign is in achieving market penetration and helps to reveals how wide or narrow a communication channel is. At the same time however, it also means that the more personal nature of certain advertising methods, such as television advertisements, cannot be captured.
One of the most chronic complaints of clients that leave their CPA to find another is their former CPA’s lack of communication. So if there is a tool that can both help you communicate more in a leveraged, time-saving way while also warming up prospects and shortening your sales cycle, would you use it?
Transactional e-mails
Email marketing has evolved rapidly alongside the technological growth that has occurred consistently throughout the 21st century. Prior to this growth, email marketing was not as effective because of a lack of reach, as emails were novelties to the majority of customers and potential customers. In 1978, Gary Thuerk of Digital Equipment Corp [DEC] sent out the first mass email[citation needed] to approximately 400 potential clients via the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network [ARPANET]. It resulted in $13 million worth of sales in DEC products, and highlighted the potential of marketing through mass emails. As email marketing developed itself as an effective means of direct communication, a problem arose in that users were blocking out large amounts of content from emails by use of filters and blocking programs. It therefore became the case that in order to effectively communicate a message through email, marketers had to develop a way of pushing content through to the end user, without being cut out by automatic filters and spam removing software. This resulted in the birth of triggered marketing emails, which are sent to specific users based on their tracked online browsing patterns.
Historically, it has been difficult to measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns because it is not always possible to fathom what portion of a target market has been reached. Email marketing carries the benefit of allowing marketers to immediately identify returns to investment[citation needed] and therefore measure and improve efficiency. Email marketing allows marketers to see feedback from users in real time, and to monitor how effective their campaign is in achieving market penetration and helps to reveals how wide or narrow a communication channel is. At the same time however, it also means that the more personal nature of certain advertising methods, such as television advertisements, cannot be captured.
Historically, it has been difficult to measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns because it is not always possible to fathom what portion of a target market has been reached. Email marketing carries the benefit of allowing marketers to immediately identify returns to investment[citation needed] and therefore measure and improve efficiency. Email marketing allows marketers to see feedback from users in real time, and to monitor how effective their campaign is in achieving market penetration and helps to reveals how wide or narrow a communication channel is. At the same time however, it also means that the more personal nature of certain advertising methods, such as television advertisements, cannot be captured.
Transactional emails are usually triggered based on a customer’s action with a company. To be qualified as transactional or relationship messages, these communications' primary purpose must be "to facilitate, complete, or confirm a commercial transaction that the recipient has previously agreed to enter into with the sender", along with a few other narrow definitions of transactional messaging.[1] Triggered transactional messages include dropped basket messages, password reset emails, purchase or order confirmation emails, order status emails, reorder emails and email receipts.
The primary purpose of a transactional email is to convey information regarding the action that triggered it. But, due to its high open rates (51.3% compared to 36.6% for email newsletters), transactional emails are an opportunity to engage customers: to introduce or extend the email relationship with customers or subscribers, to anticipate and answer questions or to cross-sell or up-sell products or services.
Many email newsletter software vendors offer transactional email support, which gives companies the ability to include promotional messages within the body of transactional emails. There are also software vendors that offer specialized transactional email marketing services, which include providing targeted and personalized transactional email messages and running specific marketing campaigns (such as customer referral programs).
The primary purpose of a transactional email is to convey information regarding the action that triggered it. But, due to its high open rates (51.3% compared to 36.6% for email newsletters), transactional emails are an opportunity to engage customers: to introduce or extend the email relationship with customers or subscribers, to anticipate and answer questions or to cross-sell or up-sell products or services.
Many email newsletter software vendors offer transactional email support, which gives companies the ability to include promotional messages within the body of transactional emails. There are also software vendors that offer specialized transactional email marketing services, which include providing targeted and personalized transactional email messages and running specific marketing campaigns (such as customer referral programs).
Direct e-mails
Direct email or interruption based marketing involves sending an email solely to communicate a promotional message (for example, an announcement of a special offer or a catalog of products). Companies usually collect a list of customer or prospect email addresses to send direct promotional messages to, or they can also rent a list of email addresses from service companies, but safe mail marketing is also used
Mobile email marketing
Email marketing now develops large amounts of traffic through smartphones and tablets. Marketers are researching ways to capture the attention of users, in both span and volume. This is because the rate of delivery still relatively low due to strengthened filters and also because certain users have multiple email accounts that serve unique purposes. Because emails are generated according to the tracked behavior of consumers, it is possible to tailor promotional material to their needs and to present relevant details to potential buyers. Because of this, modern email marketing is perceived more often as a pull strategy rather than a push strategy
Advantages
Email marketing is popular with companies for several reasons:
An exact return on investment can be tracked ("track to basket") and has proven to be high when done properly. Email marketing is often reported as second only to search marketing as the most effective online marketing tactic.
Email marketing is significantly cheaper and faster than traditional mail, mainly because of high cost and time required in a traditional mail campaign for producing the artwork, printing, addressing and mailing.
Businesses and organizations who send a high volume of emails, utilize an ESP (email service provider) to send, track and utilize information garnered from behaviors related to these emails. Understanding and leveraging consumer behavior through the insights provided by consumer response to email marketing has become an integral facet of the digital marketing landscape.
Email provides a cost-effective method to test different marketing content, including visual creative, marketing copy and multimedia assets. The data gathered by testing in the email channel can then be use across all channels of marketing campaigns, both print and digital.
Advertisers can reach substantial numbers of email subscribers who have opted in (i.e., consented) to receive email communications on subjects of interest to them.[citation needed]
Almost half of American Internet users check or send email on a typical day,[4] with email blasts that are delivered between 1 am and 5 am local time outperforming those sent at other times in open and click rates.
Email is popular with digital marketers, rising an estimated 15% in 2009 to £292 m in the UK.
If compared to standard email, direct email marketing produces higher response rate and higher average order value for e-commerce businesses
An exact return on investment can be tracked ("track to basket") and has proven to be high when done properly. Email marketing is often reported as second only to search marketing as the most effective online marketing tactic.
Email marketing is significantly cheaper and faster than traditional mail, mainly because of high cost and time required in a traditional mail campaign for producing the artwork, printing, addressing and mailing.
Businesses and organizations who send a high volume of emails, utilize an ESP (email service provider) to send, track and utilize information garnered from behaviors related to these emails. Understanding and leveraging consumer behavior through the insights provided by consumer response to email marketing has become an integral facet of the digital marketing landscape.
Email provides a cost-effective method to test different marketing content, including visual creative, marketing copy and multimedia assets. The data gathered by testing in the email channel can then be use across all channels of marketing campaigns, both print and digital.
Advertisers can reach substantial numbers of email subscribers who have opted in (i.e., consented) to receive email communications on subjects of interest to them.[citation needed]
Almost half of American Internet users check or send email on a typical day,[4] with email blasts that are delivered between 1 am and 5 am local time outperforming those sent at other times in open and click rates.
Email is popular with digital marketers, rising an estimated 15% in 2009 to £292 m in the UK.
If compared to standard email, direct email marketing produces higher response rate and higher average order value for e-commerce businesses
Disadvantages
A report issued by the email services company Return Path, as of mid-2008 email deliverability is still an issue for legitimate marketers. According to the report, legitimate email servers averaged a delivery rate of 56%; twenty percent of the messages were rejected, and eight percent were filtered.
Companies considering the use of an email marketing program must make sure that their program does not violate spam laws such as the United States' Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM),[10] the European Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003, or their Internet service provider's acceptable use policy.
Companies considering the use of an email marketing program must make sure that their program does not violate spam laws such as the United States' Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM),[10] the European Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003, or their Internet service provider's acceptable use policy.
Opt-in email advertising
Opt-in email advertising, or permission marketing, is a method of advertising via email whereby the recipient of the advertisement has consented to receive it. This method is one of several developed by marketers to eliminate the disadvantages of email marketing.
Opt-in email marketing may evolve into a technology that uses a handshake protocol between the sender and receiver.This system is intended to eventually result in a high degree of satisfaction between consumers and marketers. If opt-in email advertising is used, the material that is emailed to consumers will be "anticipated." It is assumed that the consumer wants to receive it, which makes it unlike unsolicited advertisements sent to the consumer. Ideally, opt-in email advertisements will be more personal and relevant to the consumer than untargeted advertisements.
A common example of permission marketing is a newsletter sent to an advertising firm's customers. Such newsletters inform customers of upcoming events or promotions, or new products. In this type of advertising, a company that wants to send a newsletter to their customers may ask them at the point of purchase if they would like to receive the newsletter.
With a foundation of opted-in contact information stored in their database, marketers can send out promotional materials automatically using autoresponders—known as Drip Marketing. They can also segment their promotions to specific market segments
Opt-in email marketing may evolve into a technology that uses a handshake protocol between the sender and receiver.This system is intended to eventually result in a high degree of satisfaction between consumers and marketers. If opt-in email advertising is used, the material that is emailed to consumers will be "anticipated." It is assumed that the consumer wants to receive it, which makes it unlike unsolicited advertisements sent to the consumer. Ideally, opt-in email advertisements will be more personal and relevant to the consumer than untargeted advertisements.
A common example of permission marketing is a newsletter sent to an advertising firm's customers. Such newsletters inform customers of upcoming events or promotions, or new products. In this type of advertising, a company that wants to send a newsletter to their customers may ask them at the point of purchase if they would like to receive the newsletter.
With a foundation of opted-in contact information stored in their database, marketers can send out promotional materials automatically using autoresponders—known as Drip Marketing. They can also segment their promotions to specific market segments
Guide
A Beginner’s Guide to Successful Email Marketing
“You’ve got mail.”
Do you remember hearing that? It’s one of those legendary pieces of Internet history formed when the road was still being paved and we were foraging our way through the wilderness of what was the original World Wide Web.
Although times have changed and AOL no longer sends CD’s in the mail, we can still thank them for introducing us to email and our addiction to it.
These days, we’ve replaced that message with Tweets, likes, and status updates, but that doesn’t mean that our affinity for email is any less. In fact, because of the noise that is social media, one could argue that the inbox has become our virtual dojo, our place of solitude amongst the chaos.
This is why, as an entrepreneur, I believe that building successful email marketing campaigns has never been more important than it is now. But there’s a problem; most people don’t know how to do it right. So in the interest of furthering best practices and helping you succeed as a business owner, let’s get back to the basics and talk about how a great email campaign is built, from the ground up.
You’re in their house
People are inundated with interruption, pitches, and advertisements everywhere they look, and though you might think yours is special, there’s a high probability that to the reader, it looks the same as the rest. This is why it’s important to remember where you are, and use your good manners as a result.
Getting into someone’s inbox is like being invited to their home for dinner. If they ask you to take your shoes off, you respectfully do so. It’s the same with email marketing, so before we begin I’d simply like to remind you to be on your best behavior at all times and remember…you’re in their house.
Phase I: Getting Permission
Of course, no email campaign was ever built without getting permission to get started, so first we’ll need to focus on building a sizable email list.
There are many ways you can do this of course. Some prefer to give something away for free while others simply offer a newsletter or product updates.
I can’t tell you which is the right or wrong answer in this case, but I can tell you that it’s important to have a clear purpose when asking for an address. This is where a strong call to action comes into play, and copywriting is super important.
What do I get when I give you my email address?
Are you going to spam me?
How often will you email me?
Will I get discounts?
Will I get a first crack at your beta?
Will you send me relevant offers or more junk?
These are the kinds of things you’ll need to address if you want to be successful in phase 1. Simply posting “enter your email for updates” isn’t going to get anyone excited to do so. Instead, consider sharing specifics:
“You’ve got mail.”
Do you remember hearing that? It’s one of those legendary pieces of Internet history formed when the road was still being paved and we were foraging our way through the wilderness of what was the original World Wide Web.
Although times have changed and AOL no longer sends CD’s in the mail, we can still thank them for introducing us to email and our addiction to it.
These days, we’ve replaced that message with Tweets, likes, and status updates, but that doesn’t mean that our affinity for email is any less. In fact, because of the noise that is social media, one could argue that the inbox has become our virtual dojo, our place of solitude amongst the chaos.
This is why, as an entrepreneur, I believe that building successful email marketing campaigns has never been more important than it is now. But there’s a problem; most people don’t know how to do it right. So in the interest of furthering best practices and helping you succeed as a business owner, let’s get back to the basics and talk about how a great email campaign is built, from the ground up.
You’re in their house
People are inundated with interruption, pitches, and advertisements everywhere they look, and though you might think yours is special, there’s a high probability that to the reader, it looks the same as the rest. This is why it’s important to remember where you are, and use your good manners as a result.
Getting into someone’s inbox is like being invited to their home for dinner. If they ask you to take your shoes off, you respectfully do so. It’s the same with email marketing, so before we begin I’d simply like to remind you to be on your best behavior at all times and remember…you’re in their house.
Phase I: Getting Permission
Of course, no email campaign was ever built without getting permission to get started, so first we’ll need to focus on building a sizable email list.
There are many ways you can do this of course. Some prefer to give something away for free while others simply offer a newsletter or product updates.
I can’t tell you which is the right or wrong answer in this case, but I can tell you that it’s important to have a clear purpose when asking for an address. This is where a strong call to action comes into play, and copywriting is super important.
What do I get when I give you my email address?
Are you going to spam me?
How often will you email me?
Will I get discounts?
Will I get a first crack at your beta?
Will you send me relevant offers or more junk?
These are the kinds of things you’ll need to address if you want to be successful in phase 1. Simply posting “enter your email for updates” isn’t going to get anyone excited to do so. Instead, consider sharing specifics:
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