Consumers have higher expectations than ever, and businesses have had to face that consumers now drive the market if they want to stay in business.
Even though modern shoppers expect easy online shopping, real-time communication, and nearly instant delivery, the most important thing they look for in a business relationship is trustworthiness.
1. Always use the same “from” name and your email address.
You’ve probably read dozens of articles about improving your subject lines, and you probably test them regularly using A/B testing. But that little bit of information next to your subject line is just as important: the “from” name.
If you always send relevant emails with the same “from” name, people will start to think of good things when they see your “from” name. And because they’ll want to get those relevant emails, they’ll look for your “from” name and be less likely to miss your emails in their full inboxes.
So what name should you use for “from”? Your company’s name or a specific team member’s name? I think you should use both. By using both, you can build trust in your brand and make it feel more personal at the same time.
You could try “[Team Member First Name] @ [Company Name]” or “[Company Name] — [Team Member Name].” It would help if you tried a few different things to see what works best for you.
The email address that your emails come from is just as important. In short, it should be about you. HubSpot ran an article at the end of 2014 about the growing marketing trend from person to person.
This trend has become even more important as life has become more automated, but the basic need to connect with others hasn’t changed.
Sending from an “info@” email address or another non-personal address is better than “no reply,” but sending from a personal email address will get you better results if your goal is engagement.
2. Utilize Personalization & Contextualization Techniques
Personalization is a must to build trust with customers and prospects. Customers today don’t want to feel like they’re just one of many. Instead, they want to feel like they’re understood and valued.
Marketers can make useful content and not just a sales pitch if they keep track of each person’s goals, problems, interests, and preferences. It gives you a return on investment (ROI) in the form of new customers, but it also helps people see your company as an expert they can trust.
Building a business relationship on trust isn’t just the “right thing to do”; it will also determine the value and longevity of your relationship with a prospect or customer.
As the “age of the customer” goes on, “trust” will continue to play a bigger role in how people buy things. Modern businesses need to invest in building trust now to reap the benefits of long-term, productive business relationships.
3. Give out useful information.
Suppose we were talking about how important it is to use forms to learn more about your subscribers and make your content more relevant to them. This strategy might be controversial, but I think that not all of your premium content should be locked behind forms, especially the content you share with people who are already subscribers.
Giving things away for free is a sign of generosity. Generosity is a good way to get people to do what you want them to do because it uses two of Dr Robert Cialdini’s principles of influence: being likeable and giving back.
People are more likely to do what you say when you give away free content and don’t ask for anything in return, even if it’s just personal information through a form. We are more likely to listen to someone’s advice if we like them and they have done something nice for us.
Use forms if you want to send out relevant content. But sometimes, giving away content that isn’t vague behind a state can build goodwill that will eventually lead people to do what you want them to do.
4. Bring in people who know about the subject.
We give way to people we think are better than us. If we believe someone knows more about a subject than we do, we think about what that person says. Since the 1970s, marketers have used this fact to their advantage.
Advertisements use well-known experts. Ads use quotes from renowned experts. Marketers have spent a lot of money using experts to show trustworthiness.
In a recent study by Relevance and Nielsen, a researcher found that 85 percent of buyers look for trusted expert content when making a purchase, either all the time or sometimes. People won’t believe you just because you say something is true.
But as a content creator, you don’t need to be a well-known expert with impressive credentials. You can get these experts involved and use the credibility they add to your content.
Research whatever you’re writing. Use quotes from experts. Use studies and reports as references. Talk to experts and use what they say in your content.
5. Include social influence.
People don’t only believe what experts say, though. Social proof is another way to persuade the people who get your email. People are hardwired to follow the rules.
We learn from what other people do. If people we can relate to are doing something, we want to do it. People act in ways they wouldn’t if they were by themselves. This is the reason why mob mentality is common in social situations.
But social influence can be a good thing, and you can use it to get your subscribers to do something. You can use powerful forms of social proof like testimonials, case studies, and reviews in your emails.
So stop imagining that email replies will dance down your computer screen. Using these tips, you can make your email marketing dreams come true.
Author’s Bio:
Kas Andz is a multi-award-winning marketing leader, and the founder of KAMG. He is one of the top digital marketing experts in the UK and has helped companies and brands across Europe, North America, and Asia to achieve greater revenue and expand sustainably. He also tries to play football when he can but doesn’t succeed as well as he would like.
