Business: Guard against conflicting messages.

Guard against conflicting messages.

Written by Roy Bartell

Guard against conflicting messages.

Did you ever consider that, without knowing it, you may be inadvertently sending repparttar wrong messages to your customers? Consider repparttar 105482 three following points:

What you promise versus what you do.

You can send a conflicting message if you lead customers to expect a level of service that differs from what you normally provide. Over-eagerness to be more responsive, or to match or exceed a competitor's service, may cause you to commit to an overly ambitious level of service. Customers who fail to receive repparttar 105483 promised services quickly learn to ignore your claims and to expect instead, repparttar 105484 level of service they are actually receiving.

What you imply versus what you do.

Even without making an overt promise of service, it's easy to crate a conflicting message. My customer surveys, for example, tell customers their feedback is important? Consequently, some customers assume they will be informed about repparttar 105485 survey results or any changes that will take place as a consequence of repparttar 105486 results. Such notification rarely takes place. As a result, if changes are implemented, customers see little connection between their feedback and repparttar 105487 changes. Failure to follow up on what customers perceive as a promise may be one reason that lower response rates are seen in any subsequent surveys.

Ezine Readers Not Biting? Change the Bait, Part II

Written by Jessica Albon

Ezine Readers Not Biting? Change repparttar

Every day we get dozens of letters from frustrated company newsletter publishers who want to know why their newsletter’s not selling like they think it should.

While every newsletter and each audience is different, we’ve found 9 areas that often need improvement. This month, we’ll discuss focus, format and measurement.

4. Focus: What’s your newsletter’s goal? Is it to increase sales 15%? Is it to increase name recognition for your brand. To cut down on calls to your help desk? Whatever your goal, you’ll want to make sure everyone who works on your newsletter understands that goal and how they can help reach it.

A manufacturing company recently contacted us when they discovered only about 25% of their readers remembered receiving their newsletter. We took a look at their layout to suggest changes. First, we discovered they printed their company name just once in repparttar 105481 entire (very lengthy) newsletter! Plus, though they used HTML, repparttar 105482 newsletter looked nothing like their other company materials, and it didn't even include repparttar 105483 company's logo!

Because repparttar 105484 manufacturing company wanted to build name recognition, they needed to start by helping readers associate repparttar 105485 newsletter with their company. For all newsletters, this means using your company name throughout repparttar 105486 newsletter. For HTML newsletters, this means keeping repparttar 105487 look of repparttar 105488 newsletter in line with your company image as much as possible.

5. Format: The formatting of your newsletter absolutely matters, and it relates strongly to your goals. A newsletter that’s designed to increase sales should make it easy for readers to buy (lots of clear links, pictures if appropriate, etc).

Before you make any other decisions, though, you have to decide whether to publish only in plain text or to also offer a HTML version. Our clients have found HTML to be anywhere from 50-75% more effective than plain text.

With HTML, you can include pictures of your products, use colors to emphasize special offers, and repeat elements of your image to strengthen your brand both on and offline. Plain text, however, is easier to send (since with HTML you need to send both), so if you only have time for one version, make it plain text.

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