02 May John, thank you for your order….
This is the kind of eMail I LOVE to send and I know that customer LOVE to receive. Notice that word “LOVE”… it shows that you *care*.
Sending a note of thanks is so easy and so simple to do that I often wonder why so many people STILL don’t do it! And I’m not just talking about in the ‘online world‘, I’m talking about offline as well… if you do a job for someone in the physical world you should still take the time to say “thank you”, maybe even send them a ‘card’. It will pay you back 100 x over in the future.
However, in the world of online automation it’s essential that you set up a system, that sends an automated “thank you” back to your customers, and there are many different ways to do this.
Most commonly you plug your customer into some kind of auto-responder system which not only sends them a thank you, but also automated follow up messages as well. Ideally you want for your customer to be transferred to your “VIP Customer List” immediately after purchase.
The problem with this however is that if your customer was on your “prospect list” then they ALSO get added to your customer list… it’s not too hard to embarrass yourself if your automated prospect list sends them a ‘why haven’t you ordered yet?’ message, lol.
And yes, THIS happens!
I proposed this scenario to my internet marketing program students at MSU a while back and a number of questions back last time asking… “But what if we don’t have a system that will transfer a buying customer off the non-buying customer list”?
Simple – if you’re using a good old fashioned auto-responder for your customer mail outs, just make sure that your eMails are neither one way nor the other – focus them on customer service and satisfaction and you’ll meet the needs of both.
This would be the confirmation email after the initial subscription (the one that the ‘system’ automatically sends after purchase).
“Hi John; thanks for placing your order for XYZ at www.website.com . In order to receive a special unannounced bonus for all customers, you will need to confirm your email address by clicking on the following link… (LINK – z)”
Sound a little familiar?
That link (link-Z) then confirms them into your double opt-in email auto responder which is hidden exclusively on pages that only *paying customers* have access to.
Two days later you follow up with this message… “Hi John, just wanted to make sure that all went well with your order and download…. If there were any problems please contact us (support desk) or click here to re-enter your order if for some reason it wasn’t completed properly on your end (link to order page and / OTO ).”
This first “follow up” is worded to make it look like it was written *for* customers, but if someone who is not a paying customer ends up on this list, it will work for them as well (and possibly generate extra sales also!)
Doing this will build for you a very warm list of both buyers and interested prospects. These are the BEST type of people for marketing further products later on.
– Paul Barrs
