• The importance of Email Marketing for Retail Stores
• Building your E-mail List - Tips For Retail Stores



• Internet Marketing Tips for retailers
• E-mail Marketing For The Hospitality Sector
• Email Marketing Ideas For Restaurants

The Importance of Email Marketing for Retail Stores

As a retail store advertising your products through a viable medium is vital in driving your sales up and improving traffic. One of the most well-known strategies among both sellers & consumers is e-mail.
Emails permit businesses to communicate with clients at anytime and people can get access to those messages from nearly everywhere.
As an e-mail marketing specialist, I am addressing these e-mail marketing tactics so that you can apply them while promoting your retail business to your clients.

• Pay attention to your customer's interest
  Retailers know very well that their customers come from different sphere of life. Each one has his purpose to visit your retails store and purchase. Therefore your e-mail marketing messages need to be segmented around your clients' interests. For each segment of your clients you may use different message and different call to action to see the best results.
• Build your e-mail list
  The entire process starts with building your mailing list .Your customers are those who bring profit and value to your company. It is essential to ask for their basic contact details, ask for name, mobile & e-mail. For a better segmentation, you may ask about the location, how often they visit your store, what they like most.
  
  As a retail marketer, you need to concentrate on creating quality e-mail lists instead of just creating contact lists. You need to be able to identify your high performing e-mail list to communicate with. Always remember that you are building your business reputation through your professional targeted messages.
• Optimize your e-mail template for mobile
  I am sure you are aware of the huge number of smart mobiles' users these days. A big number of your customer will unfold your e-mail using a smart device. If your e-mail template was incompatible with these devices, your message will go unnoticed and the chance of capturing your audience will be lost.
• Customize your message
  Similar to any other communication tool, your message needs to be interesting and relevant to your customers' interests. Your e-mail must reach according to your customers' expectation.
  
  Determine what your goals are and what specifically you want to promote. Do you want to encourage people to visit your store in person? Do you want to get people calling into your store? Do you want people to be purchasing a specific item? Do you want people to talk to their friends about your store?
• Offers & Incentives
  Subscribing to your business e-mail list must be a privilege to your clients. Therefore you must compensate your subscribers with exclusive offers and incentives. This action will not only make them feel special but it will create loyalty & repeat business.
• Do An Analysis Of Your Email Marketing Results
  After you've sent out your campaign, it is important that you analyze the results. This will allow you to be better at email marketing down the road because you will have a good understanding of what works better with your specificaudience and what is not as effective.
  you can answer questions like "Are my campaigns more effective when I send them Wednesday morning or Friday afternoon?", "Do more people open my campaign when I mention a specific discount in the subject?", "Do more people come into the store if my email has an offer that only lasts a limited-time?"
  While the above is important, Eyemails has designed a dedicated newsletter system that will allow you to see who specifically opened your email, who clicked on one or more links, who forwarded it to their friends, and more. These numbers will help you measure the effectiveness of your campaign.
  It is not surprising to see that various stores have stopped using traditional marketing in favor of e-mail. So get ready to take the plunge and send your retail store marketing to the next level.
  "Thanks to our e-mail list we are able to communicate exclusive offers and promotions to our loyal subscribers so they can benefit from them before anyone else. This is how we express our appreciation and gratitude" said Ms. Saply Vartanian Carpet Plus IT Administrator.

About the Author:
Salah Nasereldine: (Eyemails CEO) An Email Marketing Specialist and Consultant with more than 7 years of experience in his field. Salah worked with many large & small companies and helped them promote their products through email and social media marketing. During his career Salah filled different roles in the online sector, focusing mostly his effort on Email Marketing with one purpose "To enhance the relation between Businesses and Customers" using the new technologies of information and communication.
Specialties: Email marketing, Online Presence, Email Deliverability, Email Marketing Automation.

To know more about Eyemails and how we can collaborate for success contact us on:   www.eyemails.com

Building your E-mail List - Tips For Retail Stores

In a recent article Salah Nasereldine - Eyemails eMarketing Specialist, talked about the "The importance of email marketing for retail stores" . In this article we will share with you some tips on how to build your retail store e-mail list.

Whenever you decide to communicate with your clients by e-mail, Remember, you don't want to be labeled a spammer. A nice way to start is to make sure you get permission to email your clients before they are added to your mailing list.

The simplest and most practical way is to ask customers for their email during the check-out process. Simply having your staff at the cash say: "Can I have your email address so we can occasionally email you special promotions?" Consumers usually respond positively to special offers and most will be willing to give their email address to you if you are willing to give something back (coupons, invites to exclusive in-store events, exclusive subscribers offers, other special promotions, etc).

As retail store you may organize on site contests where people can win a prize. The prize can be anything you think will entice your customers, from store items, to a free give-a-way, to anything else you can imagine. To participate in the contest you may ask for the email address. Make sure you have it clear for your customers that you will be sending them e-mails.

You online presence is crucial these days. Incorporate to your website a subscription form for you visitors to fill and submit after reading the terms and conditions. Updated news & events, special promotions and offers on your homepage will encourage more and more users to subscribe to your newsletter and be the first to know about your activities.

Social Media is an almost free marketing tool these days. It may not require a huge investment but it for sure requires time and knows how. Taking advantage of these Social networks to encourage more people to subscribe to your e-mail list can be considered as a fair return on investment. Facebook can be the perfect tool to help you build your e-mail list by creating a dedicated tab and highlighting the benefits of being a subscriber. You can make use of the paid features of Facebook to promote more efficiently your page and build your e-mail list of fans.

Building your mailing list for email marketing is not something that will be accomplished overnight, so don't be worried if it takes a little bit of time to really build up a substantial list size. Building your mailing list is an ongoing process, and it may take several days or weeks or months to get your mailing list to the size you wish for.

To know more about Eyemails and how we can collaborate for success contact us on:  www.eyemails.com

Internet Marketing Tips For Retailers

Marketing online is just as important for a retail store as any other marketing tool. Even more, online marketing is booming exponentially due to its successful & cost efficient results.
Whether you sell products online or have a one-page website, "never" neglect the importance of your online presence. We will be sharing with you some internet marketing tips for you to apply that will increase your exposure as a retail store.

• Send Press Release: The abundance of online news distribution services is now making it easier than ever for retailers to announce new product lines, special events and other shop news. Online press releases send to your subscribers have proved to be more efficient than hard copies that will rest in their trash bin before they ever have the time to open it.
• Share your knowledge: There are many ways a retailer can appear as an expert or voice of authority in a certain industry. One way is to host classes, seminars or workshops in-store.
  Another effective way to share your knowledge is by releasing online article in a form of a company blog. Your company's blog will help you gain extra exposure online and off. Through the knowledge you share you will be known as the expert in his field.
• Create a newsletter: Newsletter and email marketing is key in keeping in touch with the customers you've manage to get in your store or on your website. It takes a lot of work to gain a customer. Why let them leave without offering a way to stay in contact?
  Submit your site to directories and search Engines: Look for specialized link directories and niche sites to submit your business information and website. These directories can drive highly targeted traffic to your retail store.
• Create your video commercial: Unlike traditional marketing, producing a unique online ad or video to convey your message or brand your store can have an extremely high ROI.
• Join Social Networking: Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube & LinkedIn may or may not help you sell your products but if that's where your customers hang out, maybe you should too.
• Give something away: Not all giveaways must be expensive. A big advantage of marketing online is the opportunity to easily and quickly offer contests, coupon codes, product samples and even valuable content as promotional giveaways.

To know more about Eyemails and how we can collaborate for success contact us on:  www.eyemails.com

E-mail Marketing For The Hospitality Sector

The important question that any marketer or business owner in the hospitality sector should ask is: Should e-mail marketing be a part of the marketing plan?

Before we jump to any conclusion, it is essential to understand that e-mail isn't a way to directly acquire new customers, it's a way to turn occasional customers into loyal, repeat business and to get them to recommend you to their friends.

At Eyemails we adore digital marketing. For years we have collected and analyzed data and we developed a deep understanding of customer behavior patterns. Our knowledge of why people do things has never been greater, and at Eyemails we've been testing, learning and applying our knowledge on how to influence people for years.

When done intelligently – when clear goals are defined by the client - Email marketing can be an incredibly powerful marketing tool for restaurants & hotels.

Email marketing is a low-cost promotional tool restaurants & hotels of all sizes can use to get targeted messages directly to customers. While no one wants to get more junk in their inbox, people do enjoy useful information and discounts -- especially consumers who have shown an interest in your establishment. If you can adapt your traditional marketing methods to email, you'll save money and get customers into your restaurant more often.

• Where to start? If you are just starting out, then you can manage basic e-mail marketing in-house using your standard e-mail service. As soon as you capture a handful of contacts, you will see dramatically improved results by using a professional service provider like Eyemails. We always make sure your e-mail campaign get delivered to the inbox; we provide you with detailed reporting and we automate your data cleaning process and give you more time to focus on what you do best. Here some keys to follow for best returns on your campaigns:

• -Make it easy for people to opt-in
• -Contact your subscribers regularly
• -Build relationship with your readers by offering them special or exclusive offers
• -Consider your campaign timing

• Ask for permission
  

• -Encourage people to opt-in to hear from you. Make it easy for them to do that.
• -Add a subscription form to your website and ask for permission to e-mail regularly your subscribers.
• -Only ask for information your really need. The more info you ask the less is the subscription completion rate

• Subscriber's Journey
  Plan the entire journey a customer takes, from receiving, opening, to clicking and finally converting. Email newsletters are a tool to get customers to click - but if your landing page isn't optimized you've wasted your time.
• Your Readers
  Make your readers feel special by offering special deals or by working to develop a special relationship with your readers. The more personal you can make your approach, the more engaging it will be.
  Engage with your readers by giving them insights about your business from behind the scenes, let them know who's behind the business, give professional tips related to your business, food & drinks recommendations. Think of you e-mail as a letter to a friend and not as an advert.
  Get more personal with your readers by wishing them Happy birthday or even best wishes on holidays. The response rate to such personalized messages is usually double.
• Don't Neglect People
  Give people the permission to contact you. If anyone has gone through the trouble of giving you his contact details, the least you can do is to reply to any raised issue even if it is a simple Thank you letter.
• Consider Your Timing
  Know when to send your emails. Your campaign timing can have a big impact on your results. The best timing is usually mid week when people are more likely to read and respond from work. If you're a restaurant, late morning when people are thinking of lunch it works well. For bars the afternoon is often better. Sending late night or first thing during the week will get you poor results. Most people try to clear quickly their inbox in the morning especially on Mondays.
• Track results
  It is very important to measure your campaign response. Eyemails will do it for you and provide you with invaluable insights. The most common criteria are: Open Rate & Click Through Rate (CTR):

• -Open Rate: show you the number of people who opened your campaign and loaded images.
• -CTR: show the proportion of recipients who clicked on links in your email. This is important to identify which call to action appeal more to your customers.

To know more about Eyemails and how we can collaborate for success contact us on:  www.eyemails.com

Email Marketing Ideas For Restaurants

• Fun Facts
  Rather than sending standard descriptions of your menu items or specials, send customers fun facts about the type of cuisine you serve or news about nutrition that makes them want to visit you. For example, if you offer healthy dining, send information about a new study that shows that a particular food can help lower cholesterol or a so-called miracle food that really isn't.
  Don't be boring -- just because someone visits a Mexican restaurant doesn't mean they want to know the history of peppers.
• Contests
  Engage customers with email by offering a contest. Make it simple so it doesn't take much time, since many people check email at work or several messages at a time. You can make everyone a winner by offering those who answer a question or two correctly a 25 percent discount -- consider it a coupon they have to earn. Have them answer questions that make them learn more about your restaurant or reinforce what they already know
• Coupons
  Send a coupon customers can download and print or show to a waitress on their smartphones. Tie it in to a special or time of the week, such as one of your slowest days for business.
• Less is More
  Limit your email marketing in frequency and length of message. If you bombard customers daily, they'll ask to be removed or block you. Don't send text-heavy emails. If you want to provide more information, provide a link to your website where they can find more about you. Always include driving directions to your restaurant.
  You'll need to provide an opt-out method for those who don't want to receive your emails and honor those requests after they arrive.

An article by Dave Samuels, Demand Media (link to add: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/email-marketing-ideas-restaurant-owners-42848.html)

To know more about Eyemails and how we can collaborate for success contact us on:  www.eyemails.com