The broad survey found that subscribers are still interested in receiving email offers and e-newsletters, which is surprising considering the continual drop in email open rates, but in exchange, subscribers want control over what they receive from senders and when they receive it.
The Internet has become more of a participatory medium, and email users are expecting more and demanding control over what fills their inboxes. Email users continue to have more than a dozen email subscriptions on average, but they are requiring much more control over the content, frequency & timing, interactivity and format of the messages they receive. No longer is a sign up for our list sufficient for email updates, e-zines or e-newsletters. Subscribers want to know what they are going to get, how it is going to improve their dialogue and experience with the sending company, and that the company cares about them as an individual prospect, customer or partner.
Additional findings from the survey support that change is afoot in email communications:
The average email subscriber acknowledges that he or she is subscribed to nearly 14 email marketing lists or e-newsletters, with about a 50/50 split between business and personal interests.
Only 26% of people are satisfied with the interaction options (such as reply, rate, remind or forward) available to them in the email list messages they receive. Less than 40% of people are satisfied with the timing and frequency of those messages. When messages do not meet subscribers expectations, more subscribers ignore future messages (58%) than unsubscribe from the list (55%), which may explain the high level of inactivity among most marketers list subscribers.
As expected, 2/3 of respondents said that in general they were unwilling to provide any personal information at sign up beyond a name and email address. However, if they believed that the personal information would improve the personalization, relevance and timeliness of their emails, nearly 70% said they would be willing to provide more information during sign up. 85% of respondents said they would view control over content and timing of messages as appealing, and nearly 80% said they would answer a few more questions at sign up to ensure more control.
Respondents sought information and news from senders about specific products and services that they owned (64%); tips and advice (60%); and specific offers for subscribers only (79%).
In response to the opportunity for more control, subscribers asked that sending companies give more explanation to them about their control options over what content they will get and when they will get it (74%); an example email with the personalization and control (70%); and a summary of the companys privacy practices (50%).
A subscribers attention is more and more strained by the deluge of daily emails he or she receives. Messages that are unexpected, irrelevant and unclear do damage to the companies that send them, and miss tremendous opportunities to build and extend customer, prospect or partner relationships. Smart organizations are realizing the real value of email is in increasing dialogues between an organization and its constituents. Revolutionary technology platforms enable dynamic personalization of corporate e-communications by leveraging a companys knowledge and content, and individually packaging it to reflect the unique qualities of each recipient.
100% relevant communications to each recipient of each message from a system create a new standard, from the initial confirmation message through the duration of the relationship. By fostering balance and shared control, companies and their customers, prospects, partners, and employees develop stronger, better-informed relationships.
Carey Ransom is the co-founder of Truverse. Founded in 2004, Truverse is a rapidly growing, Seattle-based communications software company. Truverse is privately funded, and managed by experienced, entrepreneurial software executives, whose passion is delivering simple, effective communications that improve relationships and decrease internal administrative costs through automation. Visit Truverse at
Youve heard the term, but what exactly is a signature file and why do you need one
A signature file is how you sign your online correspondence and its the equivalent of your online business card. It not only identifies you, but your business as well. It helps to build your brand and keep your products in the minds of your prospects.
Huh
Ok. To put it in plainly, think of it this way. You might interact with your contacts and online acquaintances regularly, but youre a social person and its only a small percentage of your conversations that really revolve around your business. You dont use a signature file, youve never really thought about it...until you find one of your best contacts just bought the same kind of products youre selling from a competitor! Not only that, she is very sorry and hopes she didnt hurt your feelings, but she didnt know you sold what she wanted!
Ive seen this happen many times and it could easily have been avoided with a simple signature file. Your signature file could have served to remind her that YOU sell just what she was looking for and, if you had been using one, you would have made the sale.
This is what is meant by building your brand.
As a business owner, you want your business to become associated with the products you sell. Ideally you want to build that name until it is synonymous with the types of products and/or services you provide.
Its never too early to build your brand. Some people think, Oh, I am just starting out, I dont have to worry about building my brand just yet, but its not true. The truth is you build your brand with everything you do in relation to your business. When you create a web site, design business cards, write copy, follow up with prospects, make a sale, or handle a difficult customer, you build your brand for good or ill. You absolutely want to put your best foot forward!
So, how do you create a winning signature file
Typically, a signature file is composed of five parts:
1. Closing
2. Name
3. Function
4. USP (Unique Sales Proposition)
5. URL
1. The closing should be something friendly that, if possible, relates to your product. Someone who sells nutritional supplements might like To your health! as a closing.
2. This is pretty self explanatory. For all business correspondence, state your full name. If its a casual enough message that you feel comfortable using a nickname, then you probably dont need a signature file, but even with your closest contacts, its a good idea to use one regularly.
3. This might seem self explanatory, but some people have difficulty with it. Of course youre not going to write Supplement Salesman, youll want to be more creative. Perhaps Natural Health Educator or Herbal Consultant. These kinds of titles help to convey the benefit others will get from working with you.
4. Writing a USP (or Unique Sale Proposition) can be the most difficult part for some people. Your USP is meant to reach out to your perfect customers and let them know exactly what they will get from your product or service. Its made up of three parts:
- A word ending with ing, this can be something like providing, supplying, teaching, offering, etc.
- Your perfect customer, summed up in two or three words.
- The highest benefit of what you offer in four words or less. Not a feature, but the end result of taking you up on your offer.
example: Teaching health conscious women how to lose weight naturally.
5. URL is simply the URL for your web site. Be sure to spell it all out including the http:// part. This increases the chances that your link will be clickable from your prospects mailbox.
All together it would look like this:
To your health!
Jane Doe
Herbal Consultant
Teaching health conscious women how to
lose weight naturally.
http://www.janessite.com
Its not an ad, but it tells very clearly who Jane is and what she does. If the reader is at all unsure about how they know Jane, this signature file will jog their memory easily without being pushy. If they have any interest in weight loss products, they will realize that their friend/contact offers just what they are looking for. The reader may even remember, after seeing the same signature over and over, to tell a friend who is looking for this kind of product that they know just where to get it!
Resist the urge to make your signature file too long with multiple URLs.
If you have several offers, create signature files for each and use them individually where appropriate. For example, if youre talking about health you might want to use the example above, but if youre talking about business, you might want to direct people to a more business oriented site. Or, if your offers are related, consider creating your own web site that links to all of them so you can promote them all with just one URL.
Use a P.S. to let prospects know about special offers or promotions.
I recommend using the same signature file(s) consistently. It conveys stability and success with your endeavor. But there will be times when you want to highlight something special thats going on with your business. These are perfect times to use a P.S.
A postscript stands out to readers as important info and most will at least glance at them. Keep it short and make it compelling to inspire action. Like this:
P.S. Free Shipping on all orders during the month of October! http://www.janessite.com/promo.htm
(If you have a special page that talks directly about your promotion, be sure to include the URL here so prospects dont have to look for it on their own.)
Copy and paste.
Once youve created a signature file (and doubled checked it for accuracy) save it somewhere that gives you easy access. Whenever you need it, simply copy and paste it into your message. This saves time and reduces your risk of typos.
About the Author - Cathy Wagner, owner of ONE STOP Internet Business Services ( ), is a writer/author, webmaster, and online business expert. Her articles and business advice have been published all over the Internet. She personally helps a wide variety of online business people sell their products and services more effectively and shes earned an excellent reputation as an honest and knowledgeable expert in her field who is truly committed to helping others.