Check Issuing is all about that check you get in the mail. You know, the checks businesses send out to clients or service providers. We are all about helping you brand your company via logos put on your check and 1099 tax automation. We are a top-tier third party check disbursement company and one of the best direct mail companies also.
But we also know a thing or two about mail – email and direct mail – as a promo tool. And we see people make email mistakes all the time. If you want to utilize email and direct mail for leads and promotions, you should know a few ironclad email pointers! Continue reading to learn how to send a promotional email the right way.
Email Privacy
Don’t mess with privacy. Make sure people can easily unsubscribe from your list. Make sure the email list if YOURS, not something someone sold you. Make sure that people intended upon being on your list. You want more than anything, before you ever send even one email, to be can spam compliant.
Subject Lines for Promo Emails
If no one opens your email, no one will see your promotion. Further worsening this scenario, your IPS will start pushing your email to spam folders or just not delivering it at all, depending on who the IPS are. You need your emails to get opened, however, not at the expense of straight up lies. Be crafty, but make sure your subject is related to the context of your email text once they open it. Deceptive subject lines are very frowned upon by the FTC.
Great Opening Paragraphs
Your email campaign first paragraph needs to suck someone in. If it’s a promotional deal, sell them fast. If they have to read too much, you can forget about getting their business. Be quick and to the point in your promotional email format. Use action terms. Make them feel its a deal they just can’t turn down.
Be Mobile
Most people look at their mail on mobile smartphones. So what does that mean? You should always be looking at how your email format works on every notable smartphone, using every email app (Gmail, Yahoo!, Hotmail, etc.) I know, that’s a lot of work, but you’d be surprised at the improvements one can make here. Write a business promotion email template and use it for every campaign. Also, follow these business tips for your email best practices.
Resources:
Promotional email template
Discount offer email template
Email marketing examples
Should Your Business Collect Emails or Social Likes?
Wait, did someone say “emails?” Are we kidding? Well, Check Issuing never kids my friends. Actually, we totally do, but just not over this matter. Yes, email was dying, but here’s the thing: It did not die. In fact, it morphed itself into a bigger animal than ever. And now everyone is back in the game.
When you talk about social likes, in almost every case you are talking about Facebook. If you visit a business website, you almost always be asked if you’d like to either follow them on Facebook or sign up with your email for a newsletter. It used to be predominantly Facebook, but now the offers have been pretty heavy on email signups.
Email is now back.
Email took some time off. When social media and instant messengers and heck, even texting, came into the picture, people just stopped using email (or so we thought). But once Google figured out how to organize email folders that regular consumers, young and old, could understand, things changed drastically. People started heavily relying on email again. And, the biggest change of all? People starting either not caring about spam, or wanting it, because it was organized perfectly.
The second part is Facebook. A few years ago, Facebook lowered reach on all business pages. When you post a message to your business page followers now, only maybe 10% see the post or content unless you either pay, or the post or content goes viral.
The lowered reach of Facebook incentivized mailing again. Plain and simple, one email user became worth more than one Facebook like.
So its simple, right? Just email? Nah, you should still focus on both, the main point is, email is still as strong as ever and it should not be overlooked by any business.
The Effectiveness of Direct Mail Promos
Email. Remember a few years ago when email was a dying technology? I, in fact, recall many people saying they’d never use email again. Instead, they’d rely on instant messenger. For some, that was a big change: people were already habitually using email and weren’t excited to change. No one likes changing habits. And that’s exactly what Google saw when it updated it’s Gmail.
Just when everyone thought the email was dead, Google used people’s comfort with the “dying technology” to its advantage. It created tabs which automatically organized the email box. What was once a chaotic problem with spam soon became a readable, easy to decipher inbox? And when this happened, everyone won, including the mailers.
The old way that email was set up caused people to get frustrated and jaded by email offers whereas the new way actually caused people to go LOOKING for offers in promotional Gmail tabs. Because of this, email click-through rates and open rates boomed back up. And complaints dropped.
The goal of direct mail has changed.
What used to be a game to “get in the inbox” has changed somewhat. Getting in the inbox is still important, however, if you are mailing legit offers, your odds of getting into the promotions section are highly increased. But the new problem is that you are in an inbox with tons of other offers.
So how do you get the email opens and click-throughs?
Your subject line must be good in order to attract attention from the email user. I can already tell you that shock style subjects are no longer that great because users got used to seeing them. You want to go more with accuracy that reflects your offer, painted up with funny and action-oriented. Front load your subject line with actions words like “buy, download, register” and be accurate.
For click-throughs, pay attention to the text inside of the mailer. Many mailers report that showing the actual price increases sales. Keep it short and sweet if you are selling a product.
Check Writing Services Should Be Outsourced For Cost Savings
Business owners must manage a variety of costs at any given time. If they do not, they face potential failure. One service they provide is check writing for their employees. This, of course, is the process of writing and printing up the checks that employees have earned. While it may seem simple, the costs of this process can actually stack up quite quickly. To avoid paying too much, it is best to transfer the work to an outsourced provider.
The costs per check issued by a third-party provider are often much less than the costs of doing the work in-house. Cost estimates show that the typical check issued by an outsourced provider comes out at two dollars. These services and their cost are explained by Chron.com,
For companies choosing to outsource payroll, basic service costs between $.80 to $2 per employee per payment according to Entrepreneur. A base account fee is added to that amount.
Therefore, one may add a minor expense to their overall business account and suddenly have their payroll system taken care of entirely. That is the kind of luxury that most are willing to spend a little money on.
Your personal outsourced provider may offer additional services at an additional cost which could be worth it to you. Consider for example how much it would be worth to have direct deposit as part of the overall check issuing services.
Granted, direct deposit alone may add an extra four to nine dollars for each check issued. However, the employees of most companies expect this level of service and appreciate it when they receive it. Otherwise, they may consider their employer lacking in sophistication.
The Tax Burden
Taxes are a critical reason many elect to go with an outsourced check issuer. This third-party has trained professionals who know how to handle payroll taxes. The vast majority of the time these companies get it absolutely right on every check. However, every company owner should be aware that the burden of responsibility for any tax errors still remains with the employer.
