Are You Overlooking the Gold In Your Email Folders?
By Marty Foley
Posted Wednesday, November 24, 2004
If you've been using the Internet for some time, most likely the folders of your email program have become crammed with copies of different types of email messages you've sent and received in days gone by.
Perhaps to conserve hard drive space or to reduce clutter and confusion, you've saved few copies of past messages. Or maybe you've saved many in the past but have later been tempted to delete them.
Let me suggest that those old email messages may contain more value than you've ever imagined. I'm going to share some ideas in this article that may help you look at them in a new light and to gain more value from them.
1) FAQ Page Creation and Updating.
As you look through archived email messages, are there certain questions that prospects have often asked about your products or services? Remember that for every prospect who takes the time to email you a question about one of your products or services, there likely have been several more with similar questions who haven't.
In order to save time for yourself and your prospects in the future - and to close more sales - you may be wise to compile answers to common questions into a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) web page or autoresponder. At the very least, you may at least be able to reuse your replies to previous questions to answer future ones, instead of creating them from scratch each time.
2) Ad Copy Improvements.
The same idea applies to your ad copy. The more questions, concerns or sales objections you leave unanswered or unaddressed, the more potential obstacles stand in the way of a prospect's buying decision. Your email archives likely hold valuable clues for ways to better address those issues by updating and improving your ad copy.
3) Ideas for Additional Income Streams.
Past email correspondence with prospects and customers can reveal additional related challenges, problems and goals of those in your target market. Hidden within may lie the spark of ideas for additional products and services that would appeal to them.
4) Article Ideas and Research Material.
Looking for material for a new article? A quick scan through some of your old email messages should turn up several topic ideas and research material.
5) Info-Product Material.
The same idea also can be applied toward product creation. Some of your previous original writings may be incorporated - along with other original material you create - in a new information product.
6) Testimonials.
What about those emails you've received from customers who've raved about your product or service? If you haven't already, drop them a line thanking them for their kind words and ask them for permission to quote their testimonials in future marketing efforts. Likely, more will grant permission than not.
7) Potential Joint Venture or Networking Partners.
Networking with and arranging joint venture partnerships with other Internet entrepreneurs who market products or services complementary to your own can be an effective marketing strategy. Your email folders likely contain many good candidates that you might approach on an individual basis.
Note: There are so many joint venture possibilities that you likely won't have time to pursue them all. You'll have to be selective when choosing JV partners.
8) Site Improvements.
One commonly overlooked fact is that the same web site can look very different from one computer system to another. Sometimes visitors may send an email to let you know of these or other usability problems they've experienced on your site, which you may be totally unaware of. Such feedback can reveal ways to improve the sales effectiveness of your site by making it more user-friendly.
In Closing...
Before you delete all those old messages archived in your email program, it can be well worth the time it takes to scan through them to see how you might apply some of the above suggestions. You may uncover some very valuable "nuggets" whose value you have previously overlooked!
About the Author
Marty Foley reveals uncommon e-commerce success strategies and tactics in his highly-acclaimed, Internet Marketing Goldmine: (http://ProfitInfo.com/catalog/v3/) He also consults personally with serious Internet entrepreneurs to help build and boost the profits of their online enterprises, through his members-only Insiders site: (http://ProfitInfo.com/catalog/v5/)
