📝 Body Copy

Want more sales? Start with the customers you already have. Retention, or keeping what you already have versus finding new, is the untapped profit center of any business.

A recent article in Forbes describes retention as the key to growth for services businesses.

Why?

From the article:

“Harvard Business Review noted that acquiring a new customer is typically five to 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing one; a robust customer success strategy preserves margins, stabilizes forecasts, and reduces the volatility inherent in chasing new deals.”

In other words, getting old customers to buy again is cheaper than finding new customers. Additionally, it’ll keep your stress levels in check as you do go out and try to find new customers because you have your old customers keeping you afloat.

But it’s more than that. Retention ensures good business.

If you focus on your current customers and finding ways to keep them happy, this will inevitably result in a better product or service as you implement your current customer’s feedback.

Nice little flywheel of product/service > feedback > iteration > better product/service > feedback, etc.

I need to quote from the article again -

“Customer success is business discipline……That’s what keeps them coming back. When customers succeed, so does the business. Retention improves, advocacy grows, forecasts stabilize, and organizations have more room to focus on innovation and scale.”

So what drives this entire process?

Email.

Email is the most effective retention channel because it is the vehicle by which you create, maintain, and grow the relationship you have with your customers.

Here are just a few ways email helps you maintain that relationship:

1. After purchase - Send a thank you, send tips or instructions, ask for feedback.

2. “Win back” - Check in after a month or two, send a product or company update, give an incentive to reengage.

3. Broadcasts - Like a distant relative you speak to once a week or once a month, check in and send an update. Ask for an update in return. It’s good to hear from old friends and family.

📣 Call to Action

How much does email marketing cost? And is it worth it?

AWeber spells it out with an example.

If you’re the business owner and you’re taking control of the email marketing, then it terms of the tools it costs you to send emails, you’re looking at less than a dollar per day.

Want to hire someone to do it for you? That can cost in the hundreds to thousands per month.

When it comes down to a cost per email though, even if you hire help, you’re looking at a few cents per email.

Let’s check out this quick example.

You run a fitness studio with 1,200 people on your email list. You send two emails a month. You do the emails yourself. Estimated cost? $63/month.

Is it worth it? Is it a better use of your time to upload Reels to Instagram and TikTok?

McKinsey says email marketing is 40x more effective at acquiring customers than Twitter and Facebook combined.

The average ROI for email is $36 for every $1 spent.

So if you had average performance, you should make 63 × 36 = $2,268 per month from email as this yoga studio owner.

Say each Yoga class is $20. That means to break even you need $2,268/$20 = 113 classes booked from email to get average performance.

Your list is 1,200 people, so 113 classes are if about 10% of your lists books just once.

Is this realistic? Certainly.

🧠 Vocabulary

Defining and Demystifying Email Marketing Terms

Today’s term: DMARC

What is it: Domain-based Message Authentication.

Explain it to me: You get a letter in the mail from your best friend. But the handwriting is weird. The envelope is stained. Something is off. You wonder, did my friend send this? DMARC checks this for you.

DMARC is a secret code that helps email providers like Gmail check if an email is actually from who it says it’s from.

How it works: DMARC is on your domain. When an email comes from that domain, DMARC tells your inbox that it’s actually from that domain.

It’s like TSA at the airport checking identification. You can only get in if you are who you say you are.

Why it matters: DMARC is important for getting emails into the inbox, otherwise known as deliverability.

🛠 Resources

• What’s an email audit? How do you do it? [LINK]

• What are broadcast emails? [LINK]

• Authenticity is essential for small business success. [LINK]

🤔 Social Insight

👋 Signoff

Wishing you a good week.

All the best,

Bryan and The Email Update Team

P.S. Is this email useful? Tap the poll below or reply to this email. I read every response as I’m always trying to make this better for you.