Creating Better Loyalty Emails

“E-mail has an ability that many channels don’t: creating valuable, personal touches at scale,” – David Newman

Customer loyalty remains an interesting concept in the world of commerce; this intangible is directly linked with customer retention and business efforts targeted at expanding the customer base. Better loyalty emails represent one of the means by which businesses can work to boost customer loyalty and thereby attain desired business outcomes. The business case for such communications lies in the fact that email has achieved near ubiquity in a fully connected world. Therefore, businesses must leverage this mode of communication to stay competitive in global markets. In addition, email can be used as a business tool by entrepreneurs, small businesses, large organizations, and trans-national enterprises.

The first step toward creating better loyalty emails lies in the realization that email is an intensely personal form of communication. Every business must invest significant time and resources to create interesting email communications that hold the customer’s attention and enable the business to expand its mind share among customers and clients. A ‘welcome’ email must be mandatory when customers sign up for online businesses. This first step must be initiated by the enterprise in a bid to introduce itself to new customers. We note that the import of said email message should be succinct because customers tend to be busy. The email should also contain the connecting co-ordinates, such as a toll free telephone number, email address, and social media handles. We must bear in mind that this email sets the tone for all future communication between customer and the business; therefore, a business must adopt a professional approach when creating the said email.

Every business that is interested in retaining its customers should consistently track its online metrics. The information that issues from these metrics can help the business to craft better loyalty emails. For instance, an e-commerce retailer that engages with customers via periodic emails can use the email platform to inform customers about new products and services. This action is significant because it signals corporate intent to communicate with every individual customer. We remain aware that shopping apps have emerged as the most preferred mode of online shopping in the modern world, but the use of email communications serves as a second electronic channel to engage with online customers. In addition, customers that disengaged abruptly from their online app or abandoned a shopping cart midway may be gently reminded via emails to resume their shopping expeditions. These follow-up actions should be seriously pursued by every enterprise because such actions can help to spur customer loyalty.

Customer education represents another perspective that can help a business to ideate and create better loyalty emails. Businesses and enterprises must make it a point to educate their customers on the utility and aesthetic aspects of certain products and services. We note that interesting nuggets of relevant information and factoids can help to keep emails fresh and engaging from the customer’s perspective. Therefore, a persistent email-driven campaign may be created to improve customer knowledge, because this approach bears the potential to increase the levels of customer engagement. Further, educating the customer remains critical because every customer may not be in a position to constantly monitor and assess market offerings. In addition, research into human behaviour suggests that high-visibility campaigns tend to attract more customers to a business enterprise. Thus, the information sharing approach can help every business to win customer loyalty over the long term.

Colours and the combinations of colours should feature prominently in the creation of better loyalty emails. The human eye is engineered to discern an endless palette of colours and this fact should be leveraged when enterprises design emails for customer consumption. Experts should ideally help the enterprise in email design so that the brand image and the commercial message are melded to spur customer loyalty. We must note that most consumers use desktop computers, connected tablets, and smartphones to browse apps and websites; these devices are engineered with high resolution displays and this makes the use of colours all the more important. In addition, visual design of the email should be attractive so as to retain readers’ attention. This is critical to avoid any conflicts between brand colours and email template colours.

Email reviews that seek the customer’s opinions on a certain product can be important in deepening customer engagement. This email can be sent to the customer’s registered mailbox immediately after online or offline purchase mechanisms have been completed. We note that this feedback mechanism can contribute significantly to the creation of better loyalty emails. This email-driven conversation between the brand and its customers assumes importance because it signals the fact that the commercial organization is interested in the customer’s point of view. The conversation also implies that the business is not driven solely by a dollars-and-cents approach, and that the business remains interested in a long term engagement with its customers.

Customers that opt to enrol in multiple loyalty programs operated by a business should attract preferential treatment. This holds true for both online and offline businesses. The enterprise may choose to create better loyalty emails for the benefit of such customers. The template and content of such emails should be customised for every customer that qualifies for said program. For instance, a civilian commercial aviation operator may choose to offer slabs of special discounts or extra flying miles to special customers. In addition, the enterprise may seek to make the customer experience special by embedding electronic links that lead to a variety of information (such as new rewards, a monthly reward statement, status achievements, etc.) pertaining to the special treatment meted to such customers. We may state that this denotes a purely commercial approach to doing business, but the fact remains that regular flyers must be treated preferentially because these represent extra revenue for the airline operator.

A personal email from a chief executive officer can help to engender significant reactions, such as loyalty, from clients and customers. The said email could contain a brief update on business performance in recent quarters, a review of customer feedback, and the new business initiatives currently underway. We note that the personal touch remains an important aspect of creating better loyalty emails. This is especially true for budding enterprises that have yet to create a mass clientele and remain unknown operators in the market. Frequent and meaningful communications are important for such businesses so that the brand can attain enhanced exposure in the public eye. A timely message from the top executive can help assure investors, clients, customers, and suppliers that the business is being expertly stewarded and the returns on investment are expected to match stakeholder expectations.

In the preceding paragraphs, we have surveyed some of the techniques that can assist businesses to craft better loyalty emails. Every serious entrepreneur and business enterprise must work to deepen customer engagement and must cherish the ensuing customer loyalty. Email is critical to such efforts owing to the permanent nature of the said medium, the absence of limits on cyber real estate, and the ubiquity of email in-boxes in modern times. A competently crafted business email can potentially boost customer retention, demonstrate the seriousness of corporate intent, strengthen customer relations, and enable a business enterprise to mark its territory.

 

Learn about a new approach to better customer service!

Interactive Guides for Superior Customer Service

Develop interactive decision trees for troubleshooting, cold calling scripts, medical appointments, or process automation. Enhance sales performance and customer retention across your call centers. Lower costs with customer self-service.

Interactive Decision Tree