If you've done well at collecting names and emails over the years, such as from customer information or from people signing up to learn more or stay informed about your business, you may have a very valuable email list on your hands.
Over the years, we've received many emails from clients similar to the one below.
Beth <beth@fakecompany.com>
Can we do anything with our list of emails?
Hey there,
During the last few years we've been collecting the email addresses of our customers. Is there anything that we can or should be doing with them? We just want to make sure that we're not neglecting to do something that we should be doing.
Thanks,
Beth
If you've collected email address, congratulations, you're ahead of a lot of your competitors already. If you haven't, learn more about how to collect valuable email addresses.
Now that you have them, there are a few things that you should be doing depending on who these individuals are in relation to your business.
How to use an email list of current customers
With your email list, you should be thinking about how you can grow your business. However, just because your list may consist of existing customers it does not mean that you shouldn't use it.
Your goal with existing customers should be to turn them into loyal customers or even brand ambassadors - individuals that sing your praises to their friends and families - providing you with free, high-quality, word-of-mouth marketing.
So, how might an email marketing strategy look for existing customers?
- Sending emails consistently, but not to the point of being annoying. Depending on what you have to share, maybe schedule an email to be sent once per month.
- Provide helpful information - don't waste your customers' time. Don't bother them with information about your business that doesn't impact them directly.
- Make it a goal to teach your customer's something new in each email. Do you sell a product that has a certain feature that not many people know about? Or do you offer a service that you believe is really helpful but is often overlooked?
You can communicate with your customers and provide them helpful information without being a pest.
How to use an email list of your potential customers
Sending emails to a list of individuals who are your potential customers is, perhaps, the most straightforward. Basically, you want to turn these individuals into paying customers!
You should be sending them emails about how great your product or service is. This could include helpful information about your product, testimonials or reviews of people who currently use it, pricing offers and information about getting started.
You don't need to worry so much about "not annoying" these users. They're not currently customers and so you have less to lose!
How to use an email list of your former customers
We all have former customers. Unfortunately, customers don't typically stay with you forever.
There's a myriad of reasons why they might no longer be a customer - personal finances, needs, competitor products, etc.
But, these email addresses are still very valuable. At one point, they liked your product or service so much that they signed up and paid you for it. So, your product is still, quite possibly, very relevant to them.
To these users, you should send emails about improvements you've made to your product, pricing offers (exclusive for returning customers), and remind them of the benefits.
Don't let your very valuable asset of an email list go to waste!