23Digital and direct

Are your emails helping to make a good first impression?

Emails are a huge part of the modern business landscape. They’re a vital communication tool that helps to keep people all around the world connected quickly and effectively – whether its friends and family or customers and businesses.

However, they’re by no means perfect. They might take seconds to send, but the idea is to connect and make a good impression on the recipient.

So how can you make sure your emails always hit the mark?

TAKE ON A NEW DIMENSION

The first thing you need to do is to remember how powerful a good email really can be. It can connect you with a potential customer in an instant, giving you an unprecedented opportunity to communicate directly with a huge audience.

Once you start to appreciate its power with fresh eyes, that humble little email will take on a new dimension and you’ll be better equipped to make it stand out in your customers’ inboxes.

The first thing people notice when they get an email is the address it’s come from.

Put yourself in your customers' position – if you get an email from a Hotmail account, are you likely to think it is from a serious business? Probably not.

A BUSINESS YOU CAN TRUST

Getting your company name – or a key message – in your email will make you look much more professional. For example, the email that may have brought you to this page was from a ‘storm-media’ address. You instantly know that we’re a business you can trust and not just a one man band, run out of somebody’s spare bedroom.

It’s only a minor thing on paper, but when it comes to checking your inbox, it can mean everything. It shows that your company means business and can help to give you a level playing field where you can show off your products more easily.

MAXIMISE YOUR ONLINE PROFILE

Best of all, getting an email with your name on it isn’t that difficult. All you need to do is talk to a company like STORM. Our digital media team can easily set up bespoke email addresses. In fact, it’s all part of setting up a domain name, which will also give you space for us to develop a website to help you maximise your online profile.

This will give your customers a fully joined-up experience, with emails and a website that all have the same name and give a sense of brand confidence that is worth its weight in gold.

REINFORCING YOUR WHOLE BRAND

Once they’re in place, your emails are then the perfect platform for further branding. They can be styled up to carry your logo, colour palette and strap lines, reinforcing your whole brand every time you send a message – whether you’re answering a customer query or chasing an order.

And, when they’re finally ready to send, you need to make sure you use them wisely. Always take time to check – and double check – what you’re sending to existing and current customers, make sure you ‘spell check’ everything and use every email as the chance to showcase the professionalism of your company.

Emails are an underappreciated marketing medium and are perfect for promoting your business – you just need to treat them with respect and it could pay dividends.