I sometimes put people on the spot by asking them why I should sign up for their email campaigns, the most popular response is… “ummh”
To combat the Ummh-factor, you should list five of your own reasons why someone should sign up for your email program. Ask people who work for your company to provide you with reasons, intercept a couple of customers and ask them why they would like to receive emails from you. Now list all these reasons and come up with conversational ways of saying it.
Providing no answer is bad, providing a canned response is worse – having an “ummh…” here and there won’t hurt you. Here are some good core reasons:
- Be the first to know,
- Useful information, fabulous offers
- Personalized to your preferences
- Delivered immediately
- Because we care about the environment
Keep the reasons listed so your front-line people can easily access; this conveys the importance of collecting emails through all channels and makes them feel important. To introduce the concept, provide scripts/ excerpts from conversations:
- “Miss Smith, the stickers you just ordered are really cute. Have you seen the new puppy stickers? They’re just great – let me send it over to you. What is your email please?”
- “Miss Smith, the muffin mix that you ordered is all set. Did you see the newsletter article that our chef had about this mix a couple weeks ago? Let me send it over to you, what’s your email please?”
- Start off by reading part of the instructions – stop after two lines and say “How about I email this document over to you, and I can walk you through the instructions. What is your email please?”
Make all your channels interactive, and make it conversational. People are beginning to accept email as a natural means of communication. Do it well, and you will excel. I would love to get your favorite reasons why someone should sign up for email.