With Valentine’s Day approaching (it’s this coming Sunday in case you forgot!), it’s important to remember that the basic rules of relationships apply to customer relationships as well. As an email marketer, think about how this applies to the emails you’re sending – are they personalized love sonnets or generic prose from the bargain card bin?  Are you in touch with your prospect’s interests and desires, or a two-bit Romeo who says the same line over and over to everyone?  Let’s review some of the basic rules:

Find out what they like and how often they want it
Offer choices – one subscriber may want to hear from you weekly, another prefers monthly. One may only want your discount offers, while another may want to read informative content. Provide a menu and you’ll make more people happy more of the time.

Don’t ask for her number and wait forever to call
If someone signs up for your newsletter and doesn’t hear from you for a week or two, they’re going to feel unloved. Strike while the iron is hot: set up an autoresponder to send a gentle word or two: “We’re thrilled you want to hear from us. Here’s our latest issue, and we’ll be sending more news soon.”

Make it personal
Our relationship is blossoming: you remember my birthday, what I’ve done in the past and you’re getting a good idea of what I might like in the future.  This is where you set yourself apart from other suitors.  By leveraging your database of demographic information, purchase history and website page visits, you can put together a sophisticated personalization program that will make everyone you talk to feel special.

Baby, don’t go
Fail at the above, and you may see people walking out on you. Before you let them go, try to find out why they’re leaving – is it bad breath, too frequent communication, or irrelevant offers? Checkboxes and an open-ended comment space on your unsubscribe page can give you insight so you can improve for next time.

When I say, “Stop Calling Me!” – I mean it!
Process unsubscribes immediately. Nothing is more irritating than getting a message that it may take 4-6 weeks to “process your unsubscribe request”.  Get the message – when it’s over, it’s over. Keep sending messages after a breakup, and irritation can turn to badmouthing, which hurts your reputation.

If you need a little coaching in the customer-romancing department, OpenMoves can be your virtual Cyrano de Bergerac (think: Steve Martin in Roxanne). Just contact us and we’ll have you sweeping customers off their feet in no time.