The Internet - Where the Customers Are

E-mail can be a very effective tool for marketing your products to buyers around the world IF you know what you are doing and follow certain rules. The important word here is -IF-. Those who do not know what they are doing or do not follow the rules quickly get a bad reputation and rarely have successful campaigns.

Some of the companies on the Database List of USA Importers and Wholesalers () have included either their e-mail address or their web site address.

Our Exporting to the World Using the Internet () database list has the email addresses and/or web site addresses of companies around the world (including the USA)

Why is e-mail so popular? First of all its easy to get. When you register your URL web address with the internet service provider (ISP) as mentioned above you automatically get several e-mail addresses. It is important that you have at least three basic e-mail addresses. Buyers are looking for them and if you don?;t have them it raises suspicion about your company.

Your e-mail address after the @ sign will be your URL that you registered. For example if the URL is www.goldentextile.com, this company?;s e-mail address including the @ sign will be ?;?;..@goldentextile.com?;. Buyers want to know where they are sending their messages. For this reason you should be very specific about where the message is going. Goldentextile@goldentextile.com is a poor e-mail address. It does not give any indication what department the message is going to.

Every export company should have at least these three e-mail addresses: sales@.., export@.. , and support@.. . The three e-mail addresses for the company above would be sales@goldentextile.com, export@goldentextile.com, and support@goldentextile.com. By using the first two e-mail addresses the buyer knows that the message is going to the sales or export department. Having the support@goldentextile.com address tells the buyer that there is a department that can help them if they should have a question or problem after the order arrives. Having these e-mail addresses at your company greatly improves the chances of a buyer taking your company more seriously. Not having them means that the buyer may not know how to contact you.

Free E-mail Addresses = Many Lost Orders

You should never, never use a free e-mail address (like yahoo, hotmail, netvigator) for business. Never. Buyers do not trust these e-mail addresses. Always remember that image is more important on the internet than it is face-to-face. When you send an e-mail message to an importer the first question the importer asks him/herself is: Does this look like a serious offer or is this person trying to cheat me.

Having a free e-mail address like yahoo or hotmail is like using a public coin-operated pay phone for your company telephone. Using a free e-mail address says to the buyer We are not serious enough to get our own telephone, but if you call this pay phone number located in the street near our office we will run out of the office and try to answer it. Free e-mail addresses are bad news.

Another of the many reasons you should not use free e-mails addresses is because of security. Buyers will often send confidential information in an e-mail message. This might include credit card information, bank account information, or confidential company information. If this message is sent to a dedicated e-mail address (like export@goldentextile.com) the message goes from the buyers computer to the buyers ISP, to the exporters ISP and then to the exporter?;s computer. The chances of this message being stolen are reduced.

If, however, the buyer sends confidential information to a free e-mail address (like goldentextile@hotmail.com) it goes through several ISPs on its way to the exporter. The chances of the message being stolen are greatly increased. For this reason, buyers do not like to use free e-mail addresses.

Having an e-mail address like export@goldentextile.com shows that the buyer has registered the URL with the local internet service. If there is a problem the buyer can be found through the internet service. Companies that try to cheat other people use free e-mail services (cheatyou@hotmail.com) because they do not have to officially register. If you complain about this company there is no address on record for follow up.

The bottom line is this, if you have a free e-mail address get rid of it now. Register your company URL address with a local internet ISP and get a dedicated e-mail address. You will notice a dramatic increase in the number of buyers that will contact you.

The second reason that e-mail is so popular is because it is cheap. It costs nothing more than your time. No paper expense, no postage, no envelope expense.

The third reason its popular is that sending e-mail messages is relatively easy. Yes, you must keep a database and make sure it is up-to-date. Yes you must compose the message. But anyone who can use a word processor can also write an e-mail message.

Effective IF You Do It Right

There is a right way and a very wrong way to market your products by e-mail. First lets discuss the right way.

You should always have the person?;s permission before you send them a sales e-mail message. The common question is How can I ask them if I can contact them until I contact them? Good question. Heres the answer.

Go through all the e-mails of prospective buyers that have contacted you in the past. Send each of them an e-mail asking if they would like to be on your mailing list. Many of them will say yes.

Secondly, there are e-mail address lists that you can buy (). These are e-mail addresses of companies that might be interested in your product. But you should contact them first and ask for permission to send them a sales message.

The third way to get permission to send prospective buyers an e-mail is have them opt-in for your list. On your web site you will announce that you have periodic announcements of your products and if the viewer wants to get on (or opt in) the mailing list that they should contact you.

As an example, exporters who want to get on a mailing list of a free monthly newsletter offering advice and trends on marketing to the USA should go to www.americanimporters.org/pages/emailfor.html .

Also add to the list the e-mail addresses of people you meet at trade fairs and got letters from. Over time, you will have a very nice list of the e-mail addresses of prospective buyers who want to hear from you.

If you have a new product that you think the buyers might be interested in you can send a message to everyone on your list. Do not send too many messages however. One message every two or three months is enough. Less than this and they forget you. More than that and they thin you are sending too many.

Make the messages you send as interesting as possible. In addition to introducing your new product you should also include some interesting information. Buyers will read it if they think they will learn something. They may or may not read it if it is only a sales message.

Write your messages just like you would a sales letter. Use upper and lower case letters (not all capitals) and complete words (no abbreviations).

How NOT to do E-Mail Marketing

One thing that you do not want to do, never ever, is send a sales e-mail message to someone who has not asked for it. It is one of the worst things you can do.

It?;s very tempting to do. You find the e-mail address of a company that might be interested in your product and you say to yourself, Ill send them an e-mail. What do I have to lose?. The answer is that you have a lot to lose.

Sending a sales e-mail message to someone who did not ask for it called SPAM. It is considered a very unprofessional and rude thing to do. SPAM messages are hated by everyone. It is the most offensive and at the same time least effective way to market on the internet.

In short, sending SPAM e-mail messages is not an effective way to sell your products. It?;s a waste of your time and that of the person who gets your unwanted message.

But there is something even worse. Sending SPAM sales messages gives your company a very bad reputation. You become a SPAMMER and buyers around the world hate spammers.

Its this simple. Sending e-mail messages to buyers who have asked for it can be very effective. Sending SPAM e-mail message to people who have not asked for is ineffective and destroys your companys reputation. Please, dont send SPAM.

-Dos and Do nots of an E-Mail Message-

Do make sure you have permission to send that person the message.

Do make the message interesting.

Do have a message at the end of the message telling the buyer what to do if he/she does not want to get your messages anymore.

Do keep your e-mail message short. No one wants to read a long message. Give the highlights and direct the buyer to your web site for more details.

Do answer all e-mail messages in one business day or less.

Do use e-mail addresses that identify your company and the department. Examples are export@goldentextile.com

Dont ever, ever send SPAM.

Dont use all capital letters. It looks like you are shouting or yelling and is rude.

Dont use abbreviations. Its considered lazy. Buyers do not like to do business with lazy people. The question is, if this exporter is so lazy that he writes B. Rgds instead of Best Regards is he also too lazy to make a good product?

Dont use free e-mail addresses. They are not trusted. Examples are oldentextile@yahoo.com.

Dont make the sender guess where the e-mail is going. For example, with webmaster@goldentextile.com the message could be going anywhere in the company. Buyers like to know where the message is going. Always have specific addresses like sales@goldentextile.com.

Dont use different colors and different font sizes on your message. Its considered childish and unprofessional. Use one size and all black.

Dont use a colored background. Again, its considered unprofessional. In addition, they can be hard to read. Always use a white background with black text.