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Holiday Action Saves a Sour Shopping Season
Usually, U.S. retailers earn 20-80% of their entire yearly gross
during the holiday season. But this year, things are different.
The sluggish US economy has prompted Deloitte Research's Carl
Steidtmann to fear "the worst Christmas ever" in the retail
sector.
Short of going door to door in a Santa suit, how can businesses
increase profits and prevent a blue Christmas? Despite economic
gloom, industry leaders have found that an e-mail follow up
strategy can increase sales by a cheery 35%! To weather the
ailing economy, use a follow up autoresponder during your
holiday campaigns.
---------------------------------- What Does It Do?
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Follow up autoresponders follow up with your leads for you. You
create a series of messages, and decide when they should be
sent, (daily, weekly, etc.). Your autoresponder will send the
messages to each new lead automatically. With no further
intervention from you, your leads will remember you throughout
the winter chill. And this regular reminding will mean more
sales during the all-important holiday shopping season.
Give yourself the gift of a higher conversion rate! Follow up
automatically using these simple steps:
* Offer Useful Information * Personalize Your Messages * Track
Your Leads * Broadcast Tailor-Made Offers
---------------------------------- Offer Useful Information
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Write your follow up messages for your leads - not for yourself.
You want to talk about your great service, but your leads just
want to know what they'll get out of it!
At some point, you must have purchased something like your
product. What were you looking for then? Was it information
about pricing, styles, or holiday gift wrapping? Maybe just a
clearer explanation of the product? Figure that out, and put the
answer in your follow up messages. That's what your leads want
to know.
---------------------------------- Personalize Your Messages
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You don't open postal mail addressed to "Current Resident", and
your leads aren't going to read e-mail addressed to "Dear
Internet Friend." People are simply more likely to read messages
that address them by name.
Autoresponders let you use variables to personalize your
messages. This way, you write just one message, but Lenny Lead
reads "Happy Holidays, Lenny!" while Kate Customer reads "Happy
Holidays, Kate!"
Names are only the beginning of the personalization features
available, though. In addition to full, first, and last names,
some autoresponders let you add e-mail addresses, dates, or an
ad category. The best even correct the capitalization in your
leads' names, giving your messages a much more professional look.
---------------------------------- Track Your Leads
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Get even better results from your snowballing list of leads by
experimenting with follow up content and timing. Your
experimentation will be much more successful if you have access
to proper statistics.
Only use a follow up autoresponder that offers detailed lead
statistics. Look for live, graphical stats that show your
incoming leads broken down by day / week / month, all of your
active leads, and leads who have requested removal from your
list.
---------------------------------- Broadcast Tailor-Made Offers
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To get more bang for your holiday buck, look for an
autoresponder that also lets you broadcast extra e-mails to all
of your leads. Some even allow you to send tailor-made offers
only to leads who meet certain criteria.
For instance, send everyone who's been on your list for a month
a special discount. Or, notify all leads interested in a certain
product when a new shipment comes in.
Follow up messages keep leads warm. Use periodic broadcasts to
convert them to sales!
---------------------------------- Prevent a Crummy Christmas
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Businesses of all sizes have seen their sales grow by leaps and
bounds because of automated follow up. Implement your follow up
strategy now to make the best use of holiday leads! Then, enjoy
the season - your autoresponder is following up for you!
------------------------------------------------------ Beka Ruse
is the Business Development Manager at AWeber Communications.
Find a free article archive, and more about automated e-mail
follow up at: http://www.aweber.com/a/p$PUBLISHER_ID/lhs.htm
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References: Sydell, L. (2001, October 23). Holiday Online
Retail, National Public Radio's Marketplace Covert, J. (2001,
October 23). NY Fashion Designers Launch Bid to Revive Holiday
Sales, Wall Street Journal
About the author:
Beka Ruse is the Business Development Manager at AWeber
Communications. Find a free article archive, and more about
automated e-mail follow up at:
http://www.aweber.com/a/p219/lhs.htm
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