The Power of Customer Feedback on Email Marketing Campaigns
Feedback from a customer is slightly different than a testimonial. Feedback provides information about a specific detail or process (maybe positive or negative) while a testimonial (mostly positive) focuses on the entire experience. You can use feedback in numerous ways to enhance the quality of an email campaign.
Understand What Subscribers Need
Wants and needs are two separate things. And while you want to satisfy both, satisfying a need is usually more profitable. Use feedback to better understand what subscribers need from you - and then provide it.
For example, send a mass email asking if the number of email you send each week is appropriate - some responses will surprise you, others will not. But if the overall consensus is that you send too many/too little messages, you can easily adjust to meet the need for more/less by changing email frequency.
You can do the same for types of content, products, education, and other aspects of your campaign or business in general.
Test Email Marketing Options (and Your Own Theories)
Feedback can be used to back up your own theories about email marketing. If you believe hosting a webinar or podcast once a month would be a great way to engage subscribers, ask them if this is something they would actively participate in. Before you spend the time and money in creating additional educational materials such as a webinar, gauge how interested your subscribers would be in attending. If the response is luke warm, consider trying one webinar just to be sure and go from there. Hosting a few webinars each year instead of every month may be the better way to go.
Product/Service Improvement
If you make and sell products or provide services to customers/clients, ask for feedback once or twice a year to see where improvements can be made. Add a place for people to upload feedback to your website or blog. Use social media pages to encourage people to leave feedback and comments whenever they feel like it. Always add links to your website, blog and social media pages to bulk emails so subscribers can quickly visit these places at any time.
Dealing with Negative Feedback
If you receive negative feedback, don't despair and try not to take it personally. Take advantage of the feedback and use it to make positive changes to your business. All businesses receive feedback that isn't the best from time to time. But it's what you do with it that matters most to customers, clients and subscribers.