Happy New Year!
We tracked some amazing data during the last 6 weeks. It will take quite a while to process it all, but as soon as we have something valuable to share we will publish it out there as an eBook, webinar, or other online blog post. Stay tuned!
The New Year marks a time when many people and companies will start new projects or set new goals... and make those infamous unrealistic resolutions that never last past February 1st. Well, this year we'd like to provide a little suggestion as well.
Try email marketing, and stick with it.
As expected, ever since December 25th our email box hasn't heard a sound; well, maybe a few crickets. Several months ago we signed up to the email lists/newsletters for nearly 100 different jewelry stores around the world. Our signup lists includes large retailers like Jarred, large e-tailers like BlueNile and JamesAllen, and a plethora of independent jewelry stores.
In late October we started to receive email newsletters and ads from a few, and as November progressed, we were receiving a few more email solicitations on a regular basis. By the time the 2nd week of December 2011 arrived, we were receiving emails almost daily from the same handful of retailers, perhaps only 20 out of the 100.
Admittedly, not many people will sign up for your email newsletter when you advertise it on your site. But consider that the few who do are willing to hear from you. They are willing to receive your emails on a regular basis. These are people, who have freely invited you to contact them, so why are so few jewelers doing it?
The holiday season is a special time when consumers are more willing to read all those email offers in hopes to find the right deal, or best value. During the 3rd week of December you could successfully send daily emails to everyone on your list without worry they will unsubscribe. You can't get away with that the rest of the year, but you should at least send an email once a month.
Our suggested New Year's Resolution is for you to commit to sending an email to your customers at least once per month. Put an email signup form on your website, signup with an email company to make the sending process easy, gather email addresses from customers in your store, and then just do it!
Start today.
Gather all the email addresses you have already and send out a short email simply saying "Happy New Year! We wish you the best of health and happiness for 2012." Don't try to sell anything; just wish them well. Then toward the end of the month, you can send out another email telling them about all the great Valentine's Day specials you have.
Make the time for a New Year's Resolution that will actually make you money.
