If you operate a small business in today’s online world, then selling comes with the territory. There are emails to write, social media posts to schedule and products to promote. A never-ending process that often sees you shout from the rooftops hoping anyone takes notice.

But what if you stopped getting caught up in your promotional goals, and instead made your customers the centrepiece of all your marketing efforts? You can create an environment  where people can’t wait to hear from you because every interaction with your brand seems highly relevant and specifically designed for them.

As a strategic copywriter and customer delight fanatic, audience-driven words within a strategic customer journey are my bread and butter, and I’ve seen the incredible results that come from intentional marketing where the customer calls the shots first-hand. It’s a powerful shift that not only builds genuine, long-term relationships with your customers, but also infuses a fun-factor into your marketing agenda. And with a growing number of convenient tech tools at our fingertips, crafting a customer experience that makes you stand out for all the right reasons has never been easier.

SEGMENT YOUR EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS Paying attention to your customers’ buying patterns sets you up with priceless insights about their interests, habits and potential next purchase. Today's leading email marketing providers come with countless powerful features to create specific sub-groups of subscribers all looking for the same thing. That allows you to shift your email marketing approach from ‘emails to the masses’ to ‘emails to those who care’. And once you start sending highly specific offers only to those who put their hand up, your email open and click rates as well as your bottom line increase steadily.

MAKE TRIGGER LINKS YOUR PAL Trigger links are regular email links infused with hidden superpowers. They can set off certain actions based on a subscriber’s interest they’ve shown in a particular product or service. (For example, an email welcoming a new subscriber to your mailing list is a trigger link.) Best of all? The recipient doesn’t have any idea (unless you want them to) that their link click has added them into the mix. This amazing strategy puts your customer in control of their inbox, gets their buy-in and can trigger automated email sales sequences, exclusive offers or add them to the waitlist for your upcoming launch without you having to lift a finger. 

WOW WITH PERSONAL VIDEO MESSAGES Personalised video messages is my love language. Making these moments of surprise and delight a firm part of my customer journey a few years ago has sent my 1:1 lead conversion rates through the roof and triggered my obsession with going above and beyond for my course students, collaborators or 1:1 clients. It’s a winning strategy that takes on average 30 seconds per video message and drastically grows your customers’ brand affinity while you’re at it. Whether you record them to celebrate milestones, client results or to welcome new email subscribers, your audience will love it!

USE WEBSITE POP-UPS TO MAKE BUYING EASY Pop-up boxes done badly can be super-annoying and interfere with your shopping experience. But what if you used them to create a buyer experience that feels easy and bespoke? For example, on my website I’ve used pop-ups to help the browser choose their own adventure, create a bespoke path through my self-paced offers and fast-track the process of working out whether I’m the perfect copywriter for them. Pop-ups are also a great way to present offers that align with browsers’ interests and present perfect-fit freebies.

HAVE INTENTIONAL CONVERSATIONS As small-business owners, we’re incredibly close to our products and the way we go about business. And the assumptions we’re operating from can often lead to a disconnect between how we market our products and what our audience actually needs to hear to be ready to purchase. Gathering customer feedback via strategic, automated post-purchase surveys allows you to step away from those assumptions and to uncover the true desires, objections and pain points standing between your audience and their purchase. It’s a process worth following every time you plan to launch a new offer or want to refine your messaging. 

ALLOW SUBSCRIBERS TO CALL THE SHOTS Our inboxes are busy by nature, so it’s a smart move to put your subscribers in charge of theirs. Give them the chance to opt out of certain campaigns, celebrations or events like Mother’s Day while staying on your mailing list. It’s a clever strategy that will decrease your unsubscribe rate while boosting your subscriber buy-in. I certainly value brands who are transparent about what’s to come a whole lot more than those who blast me with irrelevant emails on a daily basis without an escape route. 

For more strategic copy and customer delight tips from Nadine Nethery and her business CAN DO! Content, check out her website over here.

For more small-business stories like this, visit frankie.com.au/strictly-business, or sign up to our monthly e-newsletter. Have a small-business story you’d like to share? Pitch it to us.