People always ask the question, “Don't customers hate unsolicited email?”  “Isn't this spam?” 

If a customer bought something from you and they enjoy the products you sell, the answer to both questions is "NO."  You will get a few people that object, maybe 2-3% of the email list.  All you have to do is just remove them from your list so that they never get the emails again.

 

How much is too much in terms of sending out these emails? 

We've never gotten complaints from 2-3 emails a month.  You might be able to get by with one a week, but I've never tried it.  We've gotten such good results with 2-3 emails a month that it made no sense for me to force the issue with more emails, which could cause a higher % of people to ask to be unsubscribed from our customer email list.

 

How I Write My Emails

When it comes to emails, I've tried all different styles over the last 10 years, but several years ago I began to just be real with my customers.  Treat them like real people.  It works for me.  Just like "this website" is real.  Of course if your product is crap, your service is crap, your customer service is terrible, you're lazy, or you're a scam, obviously you can't be real. 

 

So my emails to customers aren't just like a stagnant Amazon.com email coming from the head corporate marketer's desk. I make things a little more personal.  I wouldn't just list the products with the price above them.  I would hype them up and put a message like "The Brand New Britney Ring Is The Hottest Ring Out There!  You MUST Have This Ring.  To show our appreciation for your business, we would like to offer you 20% off on this ring (with coupon code)."  "Thanks so much for your business.  You've made us #1 on the Internet!"  Emails like this worked for me much better than, "Here's our new products, here's the price, here's our website domain."  WOW.  I can't wait to go buy those new products. 

 

I try to act like an actual human is writing and sending out the email, someone who has the same life experiences as you do.  I'm not a corporate exec and my only goal in life is to clean out your pockets.  That's not me, and the style I use works for me.

 

Depending on what business you're in many times the same product or service is available from dozen's if not hundreds of different sources on the internet.  Some sites have the same price as you and some are cheaper.  I've found that being great at what you do and being real with people can help your business.  Most of the time price is price, but if there are a few sites out there with comparable prices to yours, your email could make the difference in you getting the sale.   

 

Customer Incentives

I never send out an email unless it has a money off coupon code or it's a sale email.  I always felt it was stupid for someone to announce to me that they have new items in stock but no sale.  Using the coupon code also allows you to track sale results for the email.  And of course the discount doesn't even have to be real.  If you want to sell something for $20, sell it for $25 with a $5 off coupon.