Now, as you can imagine, I receive quite a few of these communications each and every week and I usually like a little more detail before I say either ‘send me some more info’ or ‘no thanks, this isn’t something that I’ll be offering to my members’.

But, because this was so short… I was prompted into a reply. I don’t know if this was deliberate or whether it was just lazy on the part of sender. Anyway, it worked… and I replied.

The next message amazed me, it simply said… again… ‘I can make you one million pounds in 2 months, we have to meet’.

Well, by now I was extremely suspicious, and I haven’t yet received a response to my e-mail which simply read ‘Have you made this money yourself?’

Which brings me onto the point of proof…

Although I find some amazing ideas, if I can’t make them work for myself… or in the time that people claim that it’s possible, then I simply can’t go out to my members and say ‘this works’.

Proof is an incredibly powerful marketing tool that simply must be included in order to succeed…

For example, I’m working with someone at the moment that has an amazing health product, and I’ve suggested to her that the headline of the website should be immediately followed by a testimonial, such as ‘I was suffering with x, until I found y’.

Incredibly powerful, yet so simple.

I’m also working with someone that’s in the process of setting up their own Private detective online business. Again, we are using proof at the entry point of the website.

Moving on…

The second e-mail that I’d like to talk about was someone questioning whether they could do this for themselves…

The e-mail was a series of questions that, to me, read like excuses… One of which was ‘I don’t believe that I have the entrepreneurial skills required to do this, what do I need?’

I thought about this long and hard, as I didn’t want to give a standard text-book response… I answered all of the initial questions with examples of people that I’ve worked with, or my own personal experience…

Then, I wrote the following:

An entrepreneur is someone that is prepared to invest £5 to make £20, knowing that worst-case he/she will get the £5 back…

Now, to explain this… I went on to say that if you hadn’t researched a particular market, or a product price, you’d be guessing – rather like the average gambler on horses on a Saturday.

However, if you knew all there was to know, and you’d run some tests of your own, you’d be pretty sure that your small investment was going to return you a profit.

And to continue with the analogy of a gambler, this time you’d be a professional gambler – that has spent all morning going through the form guide…

Build Awareness

This type of e-mail builds upon other forms of advertising for your product, in order to make sure your prospective customer maintains an ongoing awareness of that product. This type of e-mail message can be broadcast to supplement television, radio, or newspaper advertising. It does not solicit a reply from the customer, as it is only intended to relay or reinforce your message. Awareness ads are designed to make your customer believe he or she really needs your product or service.

Consideration Messages

These messages may offer something of value to the customer, such as information, a newsletter offer, or a sample of the product. It allows the customer to opt-in to your advertising, opening the door for you to send response-based messages.

Purchase or Conversion Messages

This type of message urges your customer to buy. It is a sales message, encouraging your customer to act. Be sure to send out a clear message stating the benefits of your product, solid reasons the customer should buy, and specific direction on how to complete the purchase. Word your e-mail in such a way that it is engaging to the customer and avoid using words like “free” that will boot the message directly to the spam file.

Usage Messages

Once you have converted your prospect into a paying customer, continue to build loyalty and a solid consumer relationship by following up. Ensure your customer is using the product they recently purchased, and reinforce the value of the product to your customer.

Loyalty Messages

These are perhaps the most important in maintaining ongoing customer relations. Ask the client for feedback on the product or to provide a testimonial. Ask your customer to share their positive experiences with friends. This is the stage where you become a concerned, caring merchant instead of just another blank face lost in cyberspace.

In today’s world of e-commerce, you must provide added value to your client to ensure their ongoing loyalty and patronage. Otherwise, it is just too easy to find the same product cheaper, or easier to order, on any old website out there.

Etiquette

Finally, make sure your e-mail messages are appropriate in content and tone. Words alone cannot reflect the proper emotion, inflection, and body language that visual media or one-on-one contact provide. Be aware of words and phrases that can convey a potentially offensive message. Keep the form of your e-mail in line with a traditional business letter, using appropriate salutations and closings. Use your client’s name instead of a generic, “Dear Ma’am.” Refrain from using slang or acronyms – spell your message out in detail, and never, ever use profanity.

By keeping your target audience in mind, you can utilize e-mail throughout the entire cycle of client building and maintaining client relationships, to encourage the ongoing prosperity of your online business.