How An Offline Business Gets Online Sales

How An Offline Business Gets Online Sales

As you can imagine, farmers aren?t spending too much of their time online. But Earth Fortification Supplies Company (Earthfort), a business that helps with management of soil biology for agriculture, markets to farmers.

So it?s no surprise that most of Earthfort?s subscribers come from offline sources. But what might be a surprise is that Earthfort has a lot of people confirming their subscription and reading their emails, and have 0 complaints on all emails sent thus far.

Earthfort?s goal with email marketing is to increase sales ? and that?s exactly what they?re doing.

How do they do it? By doing things right.

Ask Customers To Subscribe

Earthfort gets most of their email subscribers through their soil sample submission forms:

Clients send their soil samples to Earthfort?s lab in Corvallis, Oregon. You?ll notice on the form that there is a box that needs to be checked in order to add someone to the email list. Earthfort isn?t adding everyone that mails in a sample to their list; only people that specifically request to be added get added.

Takeaway: Make sure you ask for permission.

Think of how many mailing lists you?d be on if every single business that had your email address added you to their list. And think about how frustrating it is when businesses add you to their mailing list when you didn?t ask to be.

Have Subscribers Confirm Their Subscription

For both offline and online subscribers, Earthfort sends a confirmation message for people to verify they want to be added:

This confirmation ensures that:
1. You have a valid email address ? if you send to email addresses that aren?t valid, it can hurt your sender reputation.
2. The person is really interested ? you know they will be more likely to purchase something from you.

On average, over 60% of Earthfort?s new subscribers confirm their subscription.

You can also use the confirmation to get them back on your website. After they click the link to confirm, have them go to a special page on your site that thanks them while also providing easy links to your products and other pages.

Takeaway: Customize your confirmation process. Make sure your confirmation message is clear and personal. If you can, set up a special page for subscribers to land on after they confirm. This page has brought great results for some businesses.

Send Emails Subscribers Want

?We choose to emphasize positive stories and offer information,? says Scott Smith, CEO of Earthfort. ?Our content may be an inspirational story of the success on one of our clients, or we may provide technical information or how-to tips.?

This strategy gives Earthfort an open rate average over 70%. That?s pretty high for an audience that spends more time outside than on a computer. Earthfort also lays out what?s in each email:

The content summary at the top makes this perfect for their busy audience. Scott reports an increase in sales whenever an email newsletter is sent out.

The Biggest Challenge?

There?s always room for improvement. Scott said that Earthfort?s biggest challenge is consistency. ?We need to be consistent in communicating (e.g. not miss a regular newsletter update).? That?s a problem many small business owners can relate to, but there are also plenty of tools to help you out.

Another challenge? Getting all their customers to realize Earthfort has an email campaign and its benefits. By incorporating the check box in their submission forms, they?re doing a good job tackling this problem. If you have mostly offline customers, make sure they see your sign up form in your store or office, and talk to them about the benefits.

How Do You Grow Your List Offline?

What do you do to ensure you have valid, interested subscribers added to your list?

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Source: http://www.aweber.com/blog/email-marketing/offline-business-online-sales.htm

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