It’s that time of year again, and although things might not be quite what they used to be just yet we’ve already heard from lots of you that you are eager to spread some festive cheer!
So we’ve put together an essential guide on preparing and sending your Christmas mailshots.
Step 1.
What would you like to say?
Our email inboxes have been inundated with marketing emails for the last 6 months or more, simply due to the fact that we’ve all had to live a lot of our lives online this year. So when you’re considering what to say to your clients, you’ll need to make sure your message is relevant and stands out.
An easy way to do this is by looking at what is important to you and your customers and basing your message around this to encourage authentic interaction. For example, this year you might want to focus on rewarding customer loyalty, or a simple thank you for continued support. Not only do mailshots serve as a reminder of your brand to your client base, but regular communication helps to maintain a healthy relationship, too.
Step 2.
Creating your content
When it comes to putting together your mailshot, there are a few options.
If you are familiar with content creation you might want to do this yourself. You can easily put together a professional-looking email, including your logo, message and any external links using the PPS HTML wizard which can be found under activity templates in your tools menu.
If you’re used to using third party software for content creation such as Mailchimp, you can easily export your template from Mailchimp and use it in PPS, too!
If you prefer to outsource the work and have a third party company that creates your content for you, simply request a copy of the final email template in HTML format to allow you to easily import it into PPS.
Here’s some guidance on creating your template with PPS
Step 3.
What to include
Ok, so now you’re ready to get creative! Before you start, make a list of some essentials that you want to include in your communications.
Branding
This can be as simple as including your logo and business name, both of which will help your clients to recognise you and relate to your content. If you can, it’s also a great idea to incorporate your brand colours, font and any other brand assets that fit the situation, too.
Personalisation
Using merge fields in PPS you can ensure that personal details such as your client’s first name are a part of your template. Including a client’s name adds a personal touch to your content.
Two-way communication
Make sure that your clients have an easy way to interact with your message to create valuable opportunities for relationship building. You can do this by including your practice contact details, including external links to your website, or having a call to action or ‘CTA’ button which allows your clients to easily interact with your promotion.
To the point
It’s important to try and summarise the purpose of your email in the opening paragraph. This allows the reader to decide whether they want to continue to read on or not.
If you have quite a lot to say (which most of us probably do after the year we’ve just had) consider putting the bulk of your message into a blog post and including a link to where this is published, giving a shorter version of the full message in the body of your email.
If you are running a promotion or conveying important information, try to include the key details or what it relates to right from the start. This does not mean that you need to think of snappy, meaningless taglines, just clear and concise information.
Step 4.
Getting the message across
Once you have decided what you want to say and how you are going to put it together you will need to decide how to deliver it.
Sending via PPS
PPS has a built-in reports wizard which allows you to identify groups of clients based on criteria that you specify. Using this functionality you can send your message to a particular group of people, or reach out to all of your clients.
Follow our Marketing and mailshots guide for sending your mailshot via PPS from start to finish.
Exporting data
If you’d like to send your mailshot via third party software like Mailchimp, you can easily export the necessary client data using the PPS Reports Wizard.
Follow our step by step guide here on using PPS Reports.
Step 5.
Sit back
Put your feet up and grab a cup of tea and some biscuits! This won’t really impact your mailshot at all, but you deserve it after all of the hard work.
