I’ve been working on retention a lot with my clients lately and they all are under the impression that they just need to be in their client’s faces more often in order to retain there business. While that does help with retention, we can use social media and email marketing to do more touches with clients more often. 70% of people say they always open emails from their favorite companies so it’s all about sending over relative campaigns that are in line with the service you offer. You want to make sure you are one of your clients favorite companies based on the service you provide.

Email marketing is a great way to have your clients full attention. Whether you are sending out a “happy birthday” drip campaign or sending out a “Renew with us” sort of email, you will have their attention even for a few short seconds. These emails will be going to your clients computer or mobile device and will be the main visual for them at a given time.

With mobile devices being the most used more often than computers for checking email, making sure your campaign looks better mobile is a great mood. In fact, 91% of consumers check their email at least once per day on their smartphone. So remember that when building out the campaign. Apps over desktop opens have more than doubled over the last few years. The great thing about mobile opens is that your client has the potential of pulling that email up at any time and while they are on the go. Short concise campaigns are the way to go for short touches with your clients to remind in their minds. With apps like “unroll.me”, “Sanebox” or now even the “Gmail” app has the ability to block email sender, it is more important than ever that your email campaigns are effective, attention grabbing and important for the list you are sending to.

Effective email marketing campaigns can do wonders for your retention but that list of prospective clients needs cater to differently and that’s a topic for another time.

When thinking about effective emails, there are a few key tips to use when you are planning your next email:

1. Make sure the theme/topic of your email applies to your audience. (Don’t send a renewal email to a new client!)
2. Make sure your subject line addresses the true topic of your email campaign.
3. Use aesthetics wisely. Too much color or not enough can result in a bad visual experience for your viewer. Imagery is important as well.
4.  Keep the emails short and to the point. Fluff or filler isn’t always needed. Some cases it’s okay but not typically. Things like “Happy holidays” or “We missed you” sort of things are fluff completely but with those it’s all about making sure that you are short and direct.

Ideas for effective emails for retention:
• Company newsletter
• Community newsletter or local calendar of events
• Anniversary of service
• Birthdays
• Discounts or changes in service
• Cross selling
• Reminder emails – ie. filing your taxes, holidays, etc.

Remember these notes when constructing your lately retention email to your current book of business. I have attached some resources to assist as well. A few of these articles have some great insight into engaging subscribers and have visually appealing emails as well.

• https://litmus.com/lp/2016-state-of-email-report
• http://www.verticalresponse.com/blog/play-nice-in-the-inbox-7-tips-for-a-well-designed-newsletter/
• http://www.verticalresponse.com/blog/12-months-of-inspiration-for-engaging-with-your-email-subscribers/

Party on. Ambushed.