Technologies change over time. Phone calls, once the staple of the sales process, have been replaced by email marketing. Email effectiveness continues to remain strong mainly due to its low cost and its ability to reach more prospects. Calls suffer from issues of timing. If you call a prospect at work, when they are napping, or when they are simply not in the mood to talk, the call will fail. Direct mail suffers from two major weaknesses, the high mailing costs and the tendency to throw junk mail in the trash without even opening it.
The cost to send emails to even a large list is relatively low. There are companies that will allow you to send email at either a per-contact or monthly cost. While a great place to start, you will probably find the restrictions on sending emails to be inconsistent with maximizing your email effectiveness. A better option for long-term success is a commercial server. You can rent servers that house your website, your CRM software, and handle your email at an incredibly low cost.
While cost remains the primary reason email effectiveness is so high, the likelihood of reading the email remains a close second. When sending emails timing is no longer a concern. Individuals routinely read some email now and save some for later when they have time to deal with it. This delayed approach allows for a higher level of email effectiveness than can be obtained through the traditional phone call or even direct mail.
In order to maximize email effectiveness, you should devote resources to developing a database of prospects. This generally takes the approach of collecting information from past sales, online form submissions, and other data collected in some way. You can also look to rent lists of potential prospects with the hopes of transitioning them to your product line. Although rented lists have a low level of email effectiveness, they are often used in the initial stages of an email marketing campaign.
With the proven level of email effectiveness, you should be devoting a significant amount of time developing your prospect database on an ongoing basis. Developing a comprehensive lead nurturing campaign designed to progress a prospect through the sales process should also be a major component of your marketing plan. A strong lead nurturing campaign will address many of your prospects concerns and lead them through the sales funnel.
