5 Questions to Ask Before You Email Your Clients
Email is a powerful and effective tool to reach your customers, and it’s quite helpful when starting an online business. It can help you build better and stronger relationships with your clients and even drive your revenue up.
However, it does not automatically lead to all of your ideal or desired outcome. You and your virtual assistant need to work on it and ensure that it is engaging and relevant enough to be read. Otherwise, emailing your customers would be like talking to the wind. You keep trying to communicate, but the truth is that you are just being ignored.
To ensure that you are using email in a beneficial way, here are five questions to ask before hitting that send button.
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What results do I want out of this?
Whether you want a certain number of users to try your new product or get more upgrades within the month, your goal should be clear to you. For instance, your product has a new feature that you want people to know about. In this case, you need to answer why you want to inform them about this — is it for them to find more use for your product and establish its relevance to them? Is it for them to try the new feature and decide if they would be willing to pay extra for it?
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What specific actions do I want my clients to take?
Your clients need to take certain actions before you can reach your goal. You can’t really expect them to give you your desired result immediately after reading your email. You need to guide them through it and allow them to take the steps that will lead them to the ultimate outcome.
In the case of a new product feature, you could offer a video tutorial of how it can be utilized; this will give them an idea about the uses and benefits of the new feature. Alternatively, you could offer a free trial (if it’s going to be a paid feature) so that your customers can have first-hand experience.
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How can I use the preheader text to my advantage?
A preheader text is like a snippet of the actual message, and you can use it in so many ways to make your email seem more enticing for your clients. Instead of just leaving the default preheader text as is, you can use it as a way to tease your reader into actually opening your email.
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Is my message straight to the point?
Do away with long and winding introductions. Your customers will appreciate it more if it takes only a couple of minutes to read your email. Always cut to the chase; this will make your clients more interested in what you’re saying. Make it a point to take away only a few minutes of your readers’ time.
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Will I be able to measure the performance of my email?
It’s best to have data from which you can set a benchmark. This will easily show you if you’re getting positive results from your email. This is only one way of measuring the effectivity of your email; you can formulate more stringent criteria to know if it’s delivering the results you want.
Email is definitely a great way to communicate with your customers. Learn everything you can to improve the quality of your emails, and you will surely reap valuable results.
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5 Must-Use Words When Writing Headlines
A variety of things can make up a viral post, but there is no perfect formula that will ensure that your content will spread like wildfire on the internet. The best that you can do is to understand how different variables contribute to the success of your content.
One of the biggest factors that you need to consider is your headline. The headline is basically a sneak peek of what your content is all about, so it should be able to effectively capture your audience’s interest in a snap.
When creating headlines, it is important to choose your words carefully. Readers can judge your entire content based on your headline. For them, it’s either worth sharing or not worth clicking on it at all — it’s now or never.
To help you craft better headlines that will lure your audience to read on and share your content, take note of these five must-use words.
You and Your
These words easily tell the readers that the content was created for them — to benefit them in one way or another, whether it is by learning something new or getting tips or answers to their questions. The impact is also quite different as the content is obviously directed to the reader, which is pretty hard to ignore.
Number
Insert an interesting figure in your headline and your content will surely receive a lot of clicks and views. Online readers love this because it readily gives them an idea on how concise or extensive your content is. Depending on the purpose of a reader, it could be better to use a lower or a higher number. Casual readers usually want to go over the main points only, so they get attracted to headlines with smaller numbers.
How To
This is a generation when a lot of people are interested in trying DIY projects. Whether it’s fixing cars or learning some makeup tricks, giving them tips on “how to” do this and that will certainly grab their attention.
Why
“Why” is a key word when writing headlines because it promises an explanation to readers. It can also give the impression that the content is all about vital information.
Video
Video content is becoming more popular to online users. Make sure to take advantage of this by indicating in your title or headline that your article includes a video as well. You can do this by simply enclosing the word “video” in parenthesis at the end of your title — for instance, 5 Ways to Defend Yourself in Dangerous Situations (Video). You can also incorporate the word in the actual headline, as in The Only Inspiring Video You Need to Watch Today.
Writing headlines is a tricky part of content creation; that’s why it can require a bit of your time as well. However, when you hire a virtual assistant, you can be sure that someone is really paying close attention to this task. Apart from admin support, you can also get a VA to assist you with the creative side of your marketing efforts.
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Top 5 Photo And Video Editing Tools Every Virtual Assistant Should Know
Working as virtual assistant means that you need to be flexible and versatile with the skills and services that you provide. Data entry and customer service should not be the only fields of interest that you should hold if you want career growth and success as a virtual assistant. It’s best that you also learn how to do photo and video editing which is fast becoming to be an in-demand skill set. You’ll also need the proper tools to create stunning images and compelling videos.
To assist you with this, here are the top 5 photo and video editing tools every virtual assistant should know.
Photoshop
Probably the most popular photo editor available today, Adobe Photoshop is one of the best tools in terms of image manipulation. What’s good about Photoshop is that even if it’s packed with different features, the program or the tool itself doesn’t lag. This is important especially when you need to edit images if you’re an Amazon seller VA, eBay seller VA and even a social media VA. Usually, time is of the essence with tasks like these, and you need to edit pictures quickly with flawless results.
Canva
Another popular tool in photo manipulation is Canva. Unlike Photoshop, Canva is free but you’ll need internet access to use it. With a user-friendly interface and ready to use templates, Canva has become a favorite among virtual assistants. If you’re a beginner in photo editing and would want to learn the basics easily, then Canva is for you.
Camtasia
Considered as one of the most popular capture and video editing tools available today, Camtasia been around for over a decade. Because of this, it has been the considered as the standard for video editing software today. Camtasia boasts of its diverse video editing tools that can easily be learned by an interested virtual assistant. With basic tools such as recording, trimming, adding music and connecting videos, Camtasia also offers different special effects like adding captions and texts, annotations, adjustment of audio with additional features like video transitions and animation.
ScreenFlow
If you use a Mac, the recommended tool to use for video editing is ScreenFlow. Useful for bloggers who would want to bring in more traffic, ScreenFlow allows you to create or to edit product reviews, product demonstrations and even recordings of Skype interviews. As for Marketers, this program can be used to create and edit promotional videos for products or services you provide. With the help of special effects and animation, it helps virtual assistants create more compelling videos for their clients.
PicMonkey
Another online photo-editing tool that virtual assistants can take advantage of is PicMonkey. Useful for social media campaigns and inbound marketing, PicMonkey allows users to manipulate photos to make them more interesting and compelling. It also comes with a variety of templates and fonts that will help you make an attractive poster or banner for social media posts. It’s also a useful tool in creating collages for products your client wants to promote. You can also use PicMonkey to create logos, business cards, posters and online greeting cards. All of these features make PicMonkey a versatile tool in helping virtual assistants do incredible things to meet a client’s demand.
These are the top 5 photo and video editing tools every VA should know. Once you determine each tool’s advantages and disadvantages and where its features are best applied to, it would then be easier for you to choose which tool you have to go with. Make the most of what these tools bring to the table and use accordingly. At the end of the day, you’ll get exceptional results that will surely earn the praise of your clients and your audience.
Next: 7 Tools To Make You More Efficient
20Four7VA recognizes the challenge of effectively managing an online business – and we are very eager to help. Our company specializes in eCommerce VIRTUAL STAFFING SOLUTIONS, providing customizable and scalable solutions to small, medium, and large enterprise business owners so they can focus on growing their business.
Ready to have access to incredible people with incredible skills in the most cost-effective way? Give us a call at our toll free number 1 (443) 856-4882 today!
READ MORE3 Ways Buyer Personas Help You Connect with Customers
When starting an online business or any enterprise, it’s important to know who your customers are. This doesn’t mean that you have to be able to identify each of them but to have an idea about their specific needs and the traits they have.
Creating a buyer persona will help you understand your customers, and you can use this to develop products, produce relevant content, and ultimately drive your sales up.
How do I create a buyer persona?
Buyer personas are fictional, and they are basically generalizations of the customers you’re interacting with. However, it’s essential to have a solid and credible basis for your buyer persona. You don’t decide on a buyer persona based solely on what you think.
There are various ways for you to establish the common characteristics of your customers. Some of these methods are surveys, research, and interviews. You might want to tap your team to help so that you can get in touch with more customers and prospects.
If you don’t have anyone to assist you with this task and all the marketing efforts resulting from this initiative, you should consider remote staffing services. Having a virtual assistant will surely take away a huge bulk of the work from you.
How can buyer personas help me connect with customers?
There are many benefits of creating buyer personas, and here are three specific ways that it can help your business connect with customers:
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Producing personalized and highly targeted content
When you know and understand your customers, you can come up with messages that are specifically tailored for them. This makes your content more appealing and engaging, and it will prove to be more effective in reaching your audience.
It’s possible to have varying buyer personas that would represent different segments of your audience. In this case, you can create messages that are suited for each of these segments. So instead of sending the same email to all the customers in your mailing list, you can further categorize them according to their buyer personas and send them more personalized messages.
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Raising sales conversation to a different level
It’s not enough to tell your customers about the benefits, features, and prices of your products or services. You have to make them feel that you really know what they need and that you can empathize with them. When you have a buyer persona and you understand it well, you can make sales conversations with customers feel more emotional and natural. This way, you won’t appear too aggressive, essentially giving your clients a better experience.
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Creating new strategies
By having buyer personas, you can better understand your customers’ needs and priorities. You can recalibrate your current strategies and make adjustments. You can identify the strengths of your program and work on improvements to ensure customer satisfaction.
Lastly, here’s another tip: Don’t forget to give your persona a name. It will make it easier for you and your team when referring to your buying persona, and it also enables everyone to envision and think of him or her as a real human being. (more…)
READ MORE5 Typical Reasons Why Content Marketing Isn’t Working For You
Content marketing is an essential component of online marketing strategies for business startups as well as established enterprises. If done correctly, it can take your brand off the ground and result in a loyal following among your audience.
However, if the opposite is happening, there must be something wrong with how you utilize your content, and it could be any of these reasons.
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Your content isn’t any different.
If you’re producing the same type of content as other websites, there’s no way you’re going to stand out from a pool of similar work. That’s why it is important to create your unique voice as a brand. This will set you apart from the multitude of content on the internet, and it will be easier for people to remember who you are.
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Your content is not relevant and engaging.
When creating content, you should put yourself in the shoes of your audience. Ensure that the content you’re putting out there is informative and helpful. Show them how certain information is applicable to their actual lives. This will prove your relevance to them, and this will also be the reason why they will keep turning to you for more info.
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You are not promoting your content.
Or if you are, you might be doing it wrong. This is definitely one of the most common pitfalls for businesses; they think that content marketing simply stops at the creation of content.
The reality, however, is that people will not magically land on your content once they search on Google.
Well, sure, you might get lucky and be found by a handful of people, but this will not drive traffic to your website — getting it out on social media will.
Nevertheless, you shouldn’t rely on social media alone. Other ways that you could promote your content is through email newsletters and marketing emails. You can also try asking influencers, bloggers, and site owners to share your content. Sounds like a lot of work? Your virtual assistant is surely capable of helping you out on this.
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You don’t have proper documentation.
You need to keep track of all your content by properly documenting them, and this is not simply to make things organized. Without a documentation, validating your strategy would be a problem. Moreover, content documentation can also help you identify opportunities that you might be missing out on.
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You don’t have a solid content marketing strategy.
Content marketing isn’t just about producing various types of content. There should be a system in place; otherwise, you will only keep wasting your time and losing resources. On the other hand, when you have a strategy, you can figure out what’s going wrong and work on improvements.
It could take a while before you reach the point where your strategy is proving to be effective, but when it does, remember that it doesn’t end there. Over time, your tactic will be outdated, and you’ll need to tweak big and small things to keep up with the dynamic world of digital media.
Having a blog and regularly updating it is fine; it is certainly advisable. However, keep in mind that content marketing is not just about that. It will require a lot of work, but the payoff will definitely be worth it.
Next: 7 Email Marketing Sins Every Marketer Should Avoid
20Four7VA recognizes the challenge of effectively managing an online business – and we are very eager to help. Our company specializes in eCommerce VIRTUAL STAFFING SOLUTIONS, providing customizable and scalable solutions to small, medium, and large enterprise business owners so they can focus on growing their business.
Ready to have access to incredible people with incredible skills in the most cost-effective way? Give us a call at our toll free number 1 (443) 856-4882 today!
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