Email Marketing In association with Eircom

EMAIL: A KILLER TOOL FOR SUCCESSFUL MARKETING

Niall Feely, Head of Business Markets, Eircom

Niall Feely assesses the importance of email for SMES in the face of increased competition.

It is not surprising that many small businesses view email in simple terms: as a basic send, receive and document storage box. What many don’t realise is the power of email in maintaining excellent customer relationships and gaining new business. Companies who utilise email to the maximum see immediate benefits; not least the significant cost savings against more traditional methods of communication.

MIS CONCEPTION

There are many reasons why companies do not take advantage of such a simple but powerful technology. First of all, there is the misconception that because email involves technology it is inaccessible and costly. Niall Feely, Business Markets Director at eircom explains, “while many of our small business customers use advanced web tools, SMS, and email software, a great deal of them use none at all. Because they have not yet overcome the technology barrier, they are missing out and this means they tend to over-rely on more traditional methods such as post and phone. While both are obviously important, neither comes close to email in terms of customer impact and cost-effectiveness. Another reason why customers tend not to take advantage of email is poor previous experience of email campaigns.

According to Feely, use of email marketing is like all marketing tools; there is a right way and a wrong way. “Typical mistakes centre around overuse, poor layout and use of generalised, impersonal messages with no real tracking mechanism in place,” adds Feely.

CUSTOMER NEEDS

The power of email also extends to understanding your customer needs. A simple email questionnaire with a small incentive typically yields a far greater response than a postal or phone questionnaire. Customers appreciate the non-intrusive element and the fact that they can respond simply at a time that suits them. With its market leading broadband packages, eircom has added a number of web business bundles to help customers get started. For as little as €4.95 a month, companies can avail of a domain name (.com) and ten company email addresses.