One of the main reasons companies publish newsletters is to maintain and strengthen customer relationships. However customers are confronted with an overwhelming number of newsletters. As a consequence, newsletters have difficulty building and maintaining an active and engaged readership. The subscriber list might grow but very often the open and read rate declines over time. Customers have limited mindshare bandwidth and there is lots of competition for it. For many, the relationship building aspect of newsletters is not sustainable.
 
Customers want long-term relationships. They want them because they simplify things in an increasingly complex world. However, they want relationships that deliver value. Customers want relationships that deliver meaningful experiences. These experiences must be emotionally and psychologically gratifying and help them deal with the uncertainty of change and innovation.
 
For this type of customer relationship to evolve there must be a shift from selling things to a focus on issues and experiences compelling to customers. It must take place in the minds of both parties but the vendor needs to take the initiative. The customer must see that the vendor is interested in a win-win relationship. This requires the establishment of trust in the relationship.

Nick Usborne from Montreal (www.nickusborne.com) instills solid customer relationship strategy into newsletters. This guy is good! If you want to learn about newsletters, check out his online seminar at www.marketingprofs.com. Nick’s newsletter strategy is that each issues should have the deliberate intent of getting the customer to desire the next issue. A second principle is that you need to “give before you get.” Don’t ask the customer to buy before you have delivered something of value. Deliver value and meaning to the customer and clearly and authentically signal and interest in win-win.

Nick’s methodology puts into action two other key aspects of building relationship value: get the customers emotionally and psychologically engaged and create a sense of belonging.

What usually happens when a newsletter gives you a snippet of a topics and a link to the full story? Do you come back to the remainder of the newsletter? What’s your enthusiasm for that newsletter in the future? As Nick put it, this type of newsletter might garner more short-term sales but doesn’t usually hold customers attention for long and does nothing to foster relationship value. High customer lifetime value is sacrificed for a shot at closing a deal now.

If you are interested in learning more about shifting the focus of customer relationships, I invite you to download our latest white paper entitled: Elevate the Dialog: The Pathway to Sustainable Profits, Growth and Customer Equity at TheWhetstoneEdge.com/elevate.php

Posted by John Todor on Monday, April 30th, 2007 at 7:55 am.