Using Email Marketing to Build Customer Relationships

If you’re interested in email marketing, you most likely know it is the oldest and most effective digital channel, with an impressive 36:1 ROI(1). While this statistic is impressive, some companies bombard your inbox. In fact, in 2022, it was estimated that 33% of marketers sent weekly emails and 26% sent emails multiple times per month(1). That’s a lot of emails, and it’s why so many of us try and keep our email addresses somewhat private.

I personally have an email address for the “important stuff,” like emails from my kid’s school. I also have one for the “junk,” where I send order confirmations and promotional emails. It’s my way of self-filtering emails before they even get sent to me (and I am not the only person who does this). It’s similar to what Gmail does with the primary, social, and promotions tabs. Whether it’s me pre-filtering emails or Gmail, marketers seem to hate it. 

I often get this question from clients: “How do we ensure we land in our customer’s primary folder?” 

I typically respond by asking: “WHY do you want to land in the primary folder?” 

They want to be at the top of the inbox and be seen no matter what, which is understandable. But why dwell on something that we simply cannot control?

Let’s think about this a little differently. When I open my “junk” inbox, I typically open it because I have the time and attention to go through it. I typically am more likely to purchase something during this time as well. As a marketer, I am A-OK with that. The chance for my customer to engage with my email is higher, and I didn’t have to persuade them to be in that mindset.

Yes, you can argue you’re missing the people who purchase more spontaneously or the opportunity to gain inbox recognition, but landing in that promotional folder isn’t as bad as you think. 

There are a handful of people or company emails that I consistently open, no matter when they came in or what folder they landed in. Why? Because I want to hear what they have to say. Those companies have built relationships with me and frequently send me relevant emails. 

My clients should ask: “How do we get them to open our emails every time?” 

Answer: Establish a relationship with them by sending them relevant emails! 

How to Start Establishing a Relationship with Email Marketing

Here are four tips on how to start establishing a relationship through email marketing:

1. Ask your customer for some details 

I work with small to medium-sized eCommerce clients, so having access to second-party or third-party data isn’t in the cards, usually due to limited budgets. This is why having zero-party data (given directly from your customer) or first-party data (collected from your customer on your channels) is extremely valuable. You don’t need to know everything about your customer (nor do they want to share everything!), but ask for things you know you can use to tailor their journey. For example, if you sign up to be on my email list, I ask if you are open to providing some details so I can tailor my emails to you. 

2. Use the details you collect from emails

Many companies have plenty of data but don’t do anything with it. This one is simple…use the data that you collect! This data can help you truly understand your customers and increase the amount of engagement that you receive. Your customer will think, “Wow, they know who I am!”

3. Consider past email click data 

If customers aren’t open to sharing details, or a limited number of them are sharing, remember to use what you have at your fingertips. For instance, say you are a jewelry company and have someone on your email list who has never purchased from you. You can slim down what they may be interested in based on what they clicked on in the past. Suppose you offer necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. If the contact has never clicked on necklaces but has clicked on bracelets in numerous emails, email them about the bracelets you offer. 

4. Send more than sale emails 

We all love a good sale, but your emails shouldn’t always be about what’s on sale. That gets old real quick, and you’re not going to build a relationship that way. Instead, you’ll teach your customer they should never purchase something if it’s not on sale. Share a story about how your business started, why it’s important to you, or things happening in the background of your business. Maybe a woman named Mira was the brain behind one of your products. Send an email about her and how she came up with the product. 

It takes time to build a strong, loyal relationship with your customer. But with some simple strategies applied to your email marketing, you can nurture a strong relationship and a customer who buys again and again. 

If you want to learn more about email strategies and how-tos, sign up for my email list. I’d love to connect! 

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References:

(1) Kirsch, Katrina. “The Ultimate List of Email Marketing Stats for 2022.” HubSpot Blog, HubSpot, 30 Nov. 2022, https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/email-marketing-stats