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How to Manage Risks and Maximize Rewards of Co-Employment

Posted: 03 Sep 2019 12:00 PM PDT

  • Hiring shared employees can provide much-needed flexibility for small businesses.
  • Talk to staffing agencies to make sure you can trust them before signing on the dotted line.
  • Understand the co-employment dos and don'ts for both sides.
  • Talk to the staffing agency about worker benefits, and confirm that the vendor provides comprehensive benefits.
  • Write up a contract — the most important part being the indemnification language, which spells out who's responsible for claims when something goes wrong.

Many businesses are wary of co-employment, when two or more businesses hire the services of an employee, as many failed to adopt clear policies on the matter in the past. But those that avoid this arrangement are missing out on the benefits that hiring a shared employee can bring.

In fact, more companies than ever are using temporary and contract workers to their advantage. In 2018, U.S. businesses employed more than 3 million shared employees each week, setting a record for this type of employment, according to the American Staffing Association.

When it comes down to it, hiring shared employees is no riskier than hiring regular full-time employees — as long as you take the necessary steps to manage the risks and maximize the rewards. And it can provide some much-needed flexibility for small and midsized businesses.

Choosing a joint employer

Organizations of all sizes have benefited from hiring temporary employees to help increase production levels, fill in for staff leaves of absence, and meet crucial deadlines, to name a few.

And small and midsized businesses that don't have a human resources department can also benefit. By partnering with an employer of record (EOR) or professional employer organization (PEO), companies can outsource HR responsibilities. The level of support the company receives depends on the service agreement and should be clearly explained.

But be picky when entering into a co-employment relationship. There are always risks when hiring employees, but the main difference when hiring shared employees is the relationship you enter into with a staffing agency, or joint employer. [Want to know more about PEOs? Check out our reviews and best picks.]

4 ways to reduce co-employment risk

Use these co-employment risk mitigation tactics to ensure you partner with the right joint employer:

1. Know that you can trust your staffing vendor before signing on the dotted line. Make sure to talk to staffing agencies about their policies and procedures to ensure all responsibilities are being handled correctly. 

Avoid co-employment liability by protecting yourself from lawsuits. If staffing agencies carry workers' compensation insurance, workers who get injured on the job in most states are limited to filing a claim with the agency and not your company. If you're in a state that doesn't recognize the exclusive remedy rule, ask your partner to add you as an alternate employer in its workers' compensation policy.

Before entering any kind of agreement, learn what steps the staffing vendor takes to reduce risks for itself and its clients. How does the agency prepare for new laws implemented? How does it communicate required employment notifications? Are its compensation and benefits competitive enough to attract the type of employees you need? Find out what the agency's screening and testing process looks like, and ask questions to make sure the vendor truly understands your needs.

2. Know where your responsibilities begin and end. Understanding co-employment dos and don'ts for both sides is key. Employers need to ensure their staffing agency has a plan for several possibilities. Here are a few to ask about, but employers should read up on their legal responsibilities upfront:

  • Immigration: Will your staffing vendor handle I-9 forms, which verify the identity of a worker and his or her ability to work legally in the United States? Will it respond to immigration audits and work eligibility issues?
  • Discrimination/harassment: If the staffing agency is not aware of its role in mitigating claims of discrimination or harassment, your organization could be at risk. The agency should partner with you by taking the complaint and conducting an investigation (within their abilities) and communicating with you about the incident. The agency should then determine which company is in the best position to conduct a thorough investigation.
  • Upset workers: If you are working with a temporary staffing agency, will it counsel an upset worker and reassign him or her to another employer if that worker is a bad fit at your company?
  • California law: Organizations that use the services of a temporary staffing agency can be held accountable for the staffing agency's negligence if it doesn't pay overtime to a worker who has earned it in California.
  • Family and Medical Leave Act: With FMLA absences, a staffing or payrolling partner will take the lead. But the company employing the worker will share in helping to find the worker a job when he or she returns to work.

3. Discuss benefits with your employment partner. Talk to your staffing agency about worker benefits, and confirm that the vendor provides comprehensive benefits. Because of the Affordable Care Act, many staffing and payrolling agencies offer health insurance, which typically includes high-deductible plans paired with health savings accounts. Agencies can avoid paying tax penalties to the IRS by offering these plans and can keep rates affordable to you.

Staffing and payrolling agencies that must attract highly skilled workers, such as IT and engineering professionals, also have options to offer more comprehensive plans. These can be two to three times more expensive than high-deductible plans. Companies using staffing firms can expect to pay either a monthly premium or an increased markup for the comprehensive health plans. Highly skilled workers also expect dental plans, short-term and long-term disability, and 401(k) plans.

Because of discrimination rules, staffing firms typically only offer one or two plans to their workforce, making it difficult for companies to customize benefit offerings. However, some staffing firms offer a selection of benefit classes, which provide more variety. And PEOs have more flexibility to customize to specific needs.

To reduce the risk that contingent workers are eligible for your company's benefit plans, companies should:

  • Review benefit plan documents for 401(k) and all health and welfare plans and talk to providers of those plans. The documents should define employment status, identify which employees are eligible, and define which workers are excluded.
  • Define all categories of workers in your company's employee handbook. Spell out which workers are eligible and which are excluded.
  • Review your offer letters and ensure they include a paragraph regarding benefit eligibility or exclusion of benefits.
  • Have legal counsel and HR review these documents.

4. Seal the deal with a contract. Set rules and ensure both parties know where they stand in the contract. The most important part is the indemnification language, which spells out who is responsible for claims when something goes wrong.

EORs and PEOs should indemnify the company from any claims that are a result of the EOR's/PEO's responsibilities. Each state's rules are different, so be sure the language meets the legal requirements where you employ workers.

The agreement should clearly define each party's duties and responsibilities, including obvious items such as background checks and drug screenings, wages, tax withholding, and day-to-day supervision. Some less obvious issues that should be included are employee training and provision of safety equipment (particularly important in the industrial, agricultural, and healthcare sectors), and payment of any relevant sales taxes. It is also wise to address potential areas of dispute, such as what happens if you want to hire a worker directly. Addressing those issues upfront will help avoid confusion, strained business relationships, and even costly lawsuits down the line.

You should also request certificates of insurance from the staffing agency that includes coverage for general liability, professional liability, hired and non-owned automobiles, workers' compensation, crime and cyber insurance.

There are always risks associated with hiring any employee, but following these steps will help you reduce co-employment risk while providing your SMB with the help it needs to get the job done and reach your goals.

How to Create a Successful Company Blog

Posted: 03 Sep 2019 10:00 AM PDT

My own business depends on blogging better than my competitors, and it's not easy. 

I'm in the education space where it's my blog versus university websites. Online Study Australia competes for traffic against universities with tens of thousands of students.  However, I've learned that a well-executed strategy can beat, or at least compete against big, high-authority websites.

Here are my tips for anyone who wants to drive sales and grow their business with a company blog.

1. WordPress does the job.

For most small businesses or even large ones, WordPress is the best blogging platform. Anyone with a little technical ability can run a WordPress blog. And, with themes and plugins, it's got loads of power. Using WordPress also allows you and others to maintain the blog.

If you need the blog to be separate from the rest of your site, install it in a folder such as articles, news or even blog. That means your blog will be on a URL like example.com/articles/. This produces better Google rankings than using a subdomain (like articles.example.com) or a separate site. [Looking for the best web hosting provider? Read our recommendations.]

2. Be strategic and invest in each post.

Each addition to your blog should have a strategic purpose. If it doesn't, you are probably wasting time and resources.

Nonperforming content bloats and clutters a blog. Don't make the mistake of believing that every post you churn out adds value. You may be better off rewriting or even deleting old posts that fail to bring in traffic or deliver sales.

For consistent success, each post should be worked to a high standard and marketed. Both activities take time and effort. That's why, for most businesses, investing in a limited number of effective posts is better than high-volume publishing.

You know those people who tell you to create a blogging schedule, like every day or three times a week, etc.? Don't listen to them. How often you publish depends on your capacity to keep producing high-quality content. A single successful article can be more valuable than a hundred losers.

3. Create some high-traffic pages.

A few pages that bring in big traffic numbers is a good way to launch your blog. These pages have one purpose: to get eyeballs onto your site. They don't actually have to make money, which is why I recommend creating a few pages, not loads of pages.

As examples, the topics for two of my higher traffic pages are "free online courses" and "a downloadable timetable for students." These pages have limited commercial value by themselves. But they more than pay their way by boosting blog readership and authority.

4. Produce useful content for your target audience.

Whom do you most want to visit your blog? From a commercial standpoint, the answer probably should be people who are interested in purchasing the product or service your business sells.

Try to create content that your target audience will find extremely useful at the moment they are contemplating a purchase. For my blog, I do that by creating pages for people browsing online courses.

5. Use Google search for topic ideas.

I'm a big fan of using Google search to discover what your buying audience is interested in. You want to write on topics that attract them. That's how you bring in large numbers of potential customers.

Suppose you run a financial planning business. Search "financial planning" on Google. At the bottom of the page in related searches, you may see phrases such as "financial advisor [your city]" or "financial advisor near me".

In this example, prospective clients want to find a local advisor. That's what the blog should give them. Some possible article topics could be "[your city]'s most trusted financial advisor" or "financial advisor in [your city]."

Also, think about the level of competition for the search term. Especially when your blog is young and lacks domain authority, it's more realistic to target narrower ("long tail") phrases for which there is less competition. To illustrate, you could blog about "financial advisors in [your suburb]". As your blog matures and you have a few successful posts, you are better positioned to target more competitive terms.

6. Design landing pages for ad traffic.

The quickest way to get online traffic for your business is to advertise. You can run digital ads on popular platforms such as Google AdWords (which includes YouTube), Facebook and on local news sites, and even other blogs.

For digital ads to be effective, the people who click them should arrive at a page that convinces them to buy your product or service. That's where your blog comes in. For each ad campaign, you can design the ideal landing page for converting visits into sales.

7. Blog for your customers and search engines.

A more challenging method for drawing customers is to rank your blog on the first page of Google for commercial search terms. This is my preferred strategy, because it keeps working after you've stopped spending money on it. And your blog gains strength with each successful post.

Ranking well starts with creating content for two audiences: your customers and search engines. Blogging for your customers means creating content they are interested in and will genuinely find useful.

Blogging for search engines is about helping computer algorithms understand that your content is valuable and relevant to your target audience. Some of the many strategies you should employ include placing keywords in titles and subheadings, producing varied text on the topic and linking to important pages from other parts of your site.

8. Hire freelance writers.

Hiring freelance writers is quite easy and, depending on whom you hire, is generally cheap. For example, you can hire elite-level writers at iWriter.com at a rate of less than $20 per article.

Paying for writing services may be worthwhile even if you have good writing skills. You can use freelancers to produce first drafts or research topics you are unfamiliar with. When you find a great writer whose style you like, you can continue hiring them and effectively train them to write for your business.

While I recommend hiring freelance writers, you still need to be closely involved in the process of creating content. Writers perform better when they have clear instructions and receive constructive feedback. You also need to make sure the final copy achieves your content and marketing goals.

9. Invest in digital marketing.

The success of any blog, especially new ones, relies on digital marketing. Digital marketing includes advertising, which is about creating highly clickable ads that reach your intended audience.

Another of the digital marketing activities is search engine optimization (SEO). Part of SEO is optimizing blog pages for search algorithms as described earlier. In addition, it's essential to gain links from other sites by doing things such as outreach and guest posting.

Editor's note: Looking for the right online marketing service for your business? Fill out the below questionnaire to have our vendor partners contact you about your needs.

 

Be patient with SEO – it takes time. For most blogs, search engines tend to be slow ranking new content. It might take several months, for example, for your fantastic new article to start appearing high up in the rankings.

Digital marketing is more effective and, frankly, more fun if your company blog is really strong. After years of doing it, I've settled on one overarching strategy for successful blogging: Produce something to be proud of and then market it for all it's worth.

5 Accounting Mistakes That Cost Small Businesses Significant Growth

Posted: 03 Sep 2019 08:00 AM PDT

  • The vast majority of small businesses handle all of their accounting and bookkeeping on their own.
  • If you do hire an outside professional, make sure they are either a certified bookkeeper or accountant.
  • Small businesses are best served separating their personal and businesses expenses.
  • Small businesses should always be preparing for tax season

When it comes to growing your business, few decisions can pay off as significantly as how well you set up the management and oversight of your firm's finances.

That's typically the task for an accountant or bookkeeper, but many small business owners go it alone, attempting to balance the complex burden of managing their books with everything else they already do to keep their business going.

Only about one-third of small U.S. businesses employ a bookkeeper and just under a quarter employ an accountant, according to Accounting Today. The same survey found that 66% of small business owners had no plans to hire an accountant.

A broad swath of small business owners are tackling the myriad tasks required to pay bills, invoice customers, cut checks to employees and contend with past-due accounts, among other accounting tasks. While that might work for very small businesses, it often opens the door for firms to make accounting mistakes that undermine their growth and siphon precious time and mental focus from other important areas of their business.

Here are five accounting mistakes that can derail growth for small businesses, and how to avoid them:

1. Failing to hire an experienced finance professional

Even experienced accountants and bookkeepers make mistakes, but let's face it, they're finance professionals, and you probably aren't. And even if you are, is it really worth the extra time investment to manage your firm's books on your own?

Hiring a professional will help minimize the potential for errors in key areas, such as expense tracking, paying vendors on a timely basis, balancing bank accounts and staying on top of payroll.

Are you certain you're handling employees' withholding taxes properly? Are you keeping track of all your financial transactions, regardless of size? A few mistakes in these areas and suddenly you're not really saving money by not bringing on some qualified help.

You are best served by considering hiring a bookkeeper licensed by the National Association of Certified Public Bookkeepers. They mainly record your business' financial transactions, typically on industry-standard accounting software.

Certified Public Accountants, meanwhile, can assist with tax planning and help you spot trends – and avoid mistakes – in the way you're managing your books. To verify that a potential hire is a CPA, check their license in the AICPA.org database. 

If you can't afford a full-time, in-house financial professional, another option is to hire a freelance bookkeeper or accountant who works remotely. Also known as virtual employees, going this route is relatively easy, thanks to a bevy of freelance sites that match employers with professional freelancers.

Businesses that tap into FINSYNC's virtual assistance network are matched with a skilled financial professional that's best positioned to help the business grow.

Editor's note: Looking for the right accounting software for your business? Fill out the below questionnaire to have our vendor partners contact you about your needs.

 

2. Not tracking business costs accurately

Accounting and bookkeeping lose their effectiveness when records are not kept accurately. And when that happens, you leave your business vulnerable to losing money, being late on important bills, setting yourself up for headaches come tax season and more problems that can get in the way of a growing business.

It's not just errors made when entering transaction data into a spreadsheet or failing to reflect that you paid a bill. Inaccurate financial tracking ultimately costs your business money and undermines your ability to plan for next month or beyond.

It's essential that your accounting system – whether it's just you and a spreadsheet, or the persons hired to maintain your books – keep track of every transaction so that you can accurately gauge the health of your business.

While it helps to have a financial professional handle your books, there is another opportunity to help you or your bookkeeper do their job better: an integrated accounting system.

In an integrated system, the software connects various financial transaction-related functions that a business engages in – paying bills, tracking bank deposits and withdrawals, invoicing clients, cutting paychecks – so that all the transactions are tracked automatically.

One of the key benefits is a comprehensive capture of a business' costs, which is essential to growing and staying profitable.

3. Mixing personal finances with business accounts

Small business owners often blur the line between their individual personal finances and those of their business. It's understandable, especially when a business is just beginning to find its footing.

You head on over to Costco or Wal-Mart and pick up some office supplies and, because you're already there, add in a few on-sale items for your home.

But it goes beyond combining business and personal items on a single receipt. More than one-quarter of small business owners and managers don't have a separate bank account for their business, according to Clutch.

That's not a good move. Mixing up financial accounts can make it tougher to sort out your personal from business transactions, which could be a big headache when tax time comes around. This has the potential to cause you to miss an expense that you could list as a business deduction.

It could also be a problem when you apply for a loan or a line of credit, as lenders want a complete and accurate snapshot of your business' finances when they consider your loan application.

If you've been using your business and personal bank accounts interchangeably, wean yourself off the habit. Open a separate business account. You'll likely get some incentives to do so from the bank where you have your personal account.

And if you're still using your own personal credit card for business purchases, apply for a business credit card. Major banks like JPMorgan Chase have cards that cater to small business owners and offer cash-back bonuses on purchases.

If you find that you're in a bind and don't have any choice, separate business and personal purchases so you can set aside business receipts.

4. Inefficiently managing billing

Cash flow is essential to keeping a business operating from one day to the next. Billing or invoicing customers efficiently goes a long way toward ensuring that your revenue comes in on a timely basis so that you can tap into it for expenses, payroll and other needs.

But sometimes businesses that don't have a good handle on the accounting end of their operations can fall well short of this. Invoicing gets delayed and, naturally, it takes that much longer for customers to pay, which may leave your business stretched thin to cover its own bills.

That doesn't just raise the possibility of being late on your own bills. Some 82% of U.S. business fail because of cash flow problems, according to Visual Capitalist. Another 29% fail because they run out of cash altogether.

To tune up your billing management, begin by invoicing your customers immediately after you've fulfilled your end of the transaction.

Emailing an invoice is clearly an improvement over sending a bill by snail mail. For a quicker, more seamless process there's also software that can send invoices to your customers automatically.

5. Not properly planning for tax season

Do-it-yourself tax software may be good for preparing a simple tax return, which could be a tempting solution for small businesses looking to save money on an accountant or other tax specialist.

But even those tackling their small business tax filing using the DIY approach can stumble if they haven't taken the steps along the way to properly document their company's finances.

No one enjoys struggling to piece together all manner of receipts and documents required to file an accurate tax return in April because they made the mistake of not being organized the other 11 months of the year. And that goes double for businesses, which must navigate a more complicated route to be in compliance with Uncle Sam's increasingly complex tax laws.

It's not surprising that while more than 93% of small businesses say they are very or somewhat confident in their ability to file their taxes accurately, nearly one-third also says they believe they end up paying too much come tax time, according to a survey by Clutch.

Everyone gets complacent about receipts and records now and again. The best approach is to minimize errors and oversights by ensuring that your business is using an accounting system that seamlessly tracks company expenses, payroll and other basic components of your business' profit and loss statement.

Enlisting a qualified tax professional to check in periodically and do tax-related organizing sweeps of your business can also help spot potential savings or even things that your business could be doing differently well before the tax year is over.

Why You Need a Midyear Business Tax Checkup with Your CPA

Posted: 03 Sep 2019 08:00 AM PDT

With the summer season quickly coming to a close, vacations and barbecues could be crowding out your business tax planning. But, this is the perfect time to review your business's tax and financial plans with your Certified Public Accountant (CPA). Why at the end of summer? Here are some potential benefits:

  • Talking with your CPA now, during their typical slow season, gives you a significant amount of time to act on any recommended business or financial changes. Ask if there are opportunities to save on taxes before filing and if there were any changes made under the new Tax Reform law that became effective in 2018 that will affect the way you file.
  • You can review your business income and expenses year-to-date and your forecast for the remainder of the year. This will enable you to assess and potentially adjust your estimated tax payments for the rest of 2019.
  • Midyear reports and assessments can offer insights into trends and successes, pinpoint possible weaknesses, and identify potential problems that may arise. If you're growing, this can help you invest in your business. Alternatively, you might need to take more conservative measures.
  • Organizing your finances now will save you time later when preparing documents for end-of-year earnings – and decrease the potential for any surprises.
  • Once you review and discuss your business's financial and tax status with your CPA, you can meet with your internal key people and outside professional advisors (financial advisor, retirement plan advisor, business consultant) to get everyone's feedback.

In my experience, small business owners typically wait until the end of the year to think about their tax returns. Why scramble later when you can check in now and ensure you get the most out of your returns?

There's no time like the present

Have you ever been told that you could have saved on your taxes, but it was too late? Too often, small business owners fall victim to that. Checking in with your CPA can help you avoid tax mishaps and ensures that you make better business decisions for the upcoming year.

Meeting with your CPA at the end of summer will help you form assumptions for the remaining part of the year and develop a detailed tax plan. Every good tax plan involves actionable items that the client should consider in order to minimize their tax liability. Starting this process early gives everyone more time to make decisions and monitor the cash flow required.

CPAs commonly work more than 60-70 hours a week during tax season. During their down season, however, they often have more bandwidth to offer expertise on the past tax season's trends and where they see them heading. Your CPA can help identify areas that need improvement or changes. You'll have enough time to implement them and potentially see your tax returns increase when Tax Day comes around.

CPAs will evaluate your mid-year point with regard to:

  • Evaluating how first-half performance will affect cash flow and tax planning
  • Analyzing your financial statement to discuss key indicators
  • Identifying potential investments in specific areas of your business that could help create growth and tax deductions
  • Providing feedback on how the new tax laws affect you, including the 20% business income deduction, 100% bonus deductions, changes in the deductibility of entertainment expenses and meals, your current marginal and effective tax brackets, and the potential loss of state and local income tax deductions
  • Reviewing projected net income and possible retirement plan contributions to help you decide whether you should defer more income to decrease your overall tax liability for 2019 and future years

CPAs can also help assess the success of your business goals by comparing your year-to-date revenue with the same time period for 2018. You may find that the business isn't achieving goals or growing at the rate you expected, in which case you'll need to find out why and determine how to make changes. Knowing this information now will impact your decisions and goal setting going forward.

In the same vein, your business may be doing better than projected but you can still benefit from feedback on ways to keep it on track.

How do I save on taxes?

This is the most commonly asked question I receive from business owners. The best approach? Start asking it of your CPA, financial advisor, retirement plan consultants and industry peers to generate ideas and learn what has worked for other businesses. For example, our new tax laws have new rules that provide tax incentives to reinvest in your business.

Does your business have significant growth or net cash flow that you don't want taxed? One option might be to utilize retirement plans that go beyond a traditional 401k plan, such as cash balance and defined benefit plans. These can allow you to defer income of $100,000 to $200,000 per person every year, depending on your age and income. If you and your spouse co-own a company, you can potentially defer $200,000 to $400,000 into a cash balance or defined benefit plan depending on your income levels. If these funds would have been taxed at the highest federal tax bracket of 37%, you could be saving 40% or more because you're not paying federal taxes, plus potentially any state income tax you might owe on these deferred funds.

You can also reap tax savings by investing in your company, including tax-advantaged preparations for a sale or purchase. Here are some ideas:

  • Your CPA can help you look at tax strategies that you'll want to put in place before year-end. This includes your asset budget for this year, such as getting that piece of equipment in time to access the 100% deduction.
  • Are you planning a large transaction? Your tax advisor can help you seek alternative structures for optimal tax savings.

Quarterly estimated tax payments

Don't waste money by paying underpayment penalties to the IRS or your state. Estimated tax payments are due four times a year, and the next one is approaching in September. Meeting with your CPA now will enable you to re-adjust your estimated tax payments based on how your year is developing.

Getting ahead and getting organized

Recordkeeping throughout the year can be a tedious process, but it will benefit you later when tax season arrives. A mid-year review with your CPA gives you time to prepare and organize documents and gather your tax deductions, expenses and receipts. It also helps you figure out who owes you money. Careful, ongoing recordkeeping helps you make better business decisions and create more success within your business.

In summary, I'm not recommending that you skip that vacation to the mountains, beach or Europe, or decline the neighborhood BBQs, but reviewing your mid-year financials is always a great move.  Scheduling time to meet with your CPA to review your year-to-date financials will help you plan for the rest of the year and determine what actions you can take to improve your business and reduce taxes. You'll also be able to confirm you're making the appropriate amount of estimated quarterly tax payments.

Your access to more accurate information, in turn, is critical to helping you accomplish your personal and financial goals – whether you're making decisions on your own, with your internal key people or in working with your other professional advisors.

How to Skyrocket Engagement Using Email Marketing

Posted: 03 Sep 2019 07:00 AM PDT

  • Email marketing is a useful tool for business looking trying to increase engagement with their customer base.
  • Your welcome email is the first step toward getting customers interested in your message and brand.
  • To increase engagement, businesses should focus on personalizing the messages they send to each subscriber
  • Since 82% of consumers stop using a brand after a poor experience, it is critical to follow up to make sure the customer is happy.

Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to generate sales and expose your content to potential customers. While most are familiar with the benefits of marketing to your target audience through email, the key is understanding why it's such a useful tool. 

Consumer engagement is equally important for brands, both large and small. Your goal is to convince new prospects to subscribe to your email list, then engage with them until they become familiar with your website, and ultimately buy your product or service. The question is, how do you get people excited for your emails and encourage them to communicate with you through their text or actions?  

1. Create an engaging welcome email.

There's a good chance that your welcome email will determine whether a consumer continues to engage with your brand. Statistically, welcome messages have the highest open and click-through rate when compared to other email types. Due to the importance of your introduction, you must do everything in your power to get it right. 

 

Editor's note: Looking for email marketing for your business? Fill out the below questionnaire to have our vendor partners contact you with free information.

 

 

Consumers generally sign up for an email list because they are looking for resources available from that website, such as an ebook or a checklist. If you want to start on the right foot, make sure you send consumers the resource you promised them when they signed up. 

But here's the thing – that's the least you can do to promote future engagement. There are various aspects you should consider adding to your welcome email to build rapport with your audience. 

A simple "thanks" can go a long way towards building a relationship with consumers who subscribe to your mailing list. Always try to include a list of things that they can expect to receive from you in the future. For example, you could say something simple like:

"Thanks for subscribing! We have plenty of great content coming your way. Over the next couple of weeks, you'll get some of our best blog posts, an in-depth FAQ page, and some extra surprises! Stay tuned for our email early next week. In the meantime, here's your ebook, as promised!" 

Using the right language and setting expectations for consumers can help forge a connection early, which improves the odds that they will engage with your brand when you send them a followup message. 

2. Make personalization a priority. 

Personalization is commonly used by marketers when creating email campaigns. Generally speaking, personalization is when you create a product, email, or offer for someone in a way that creates value in a personal way. According to Google, 90% of marketers say that personalization plays a significant impact on profitability. 

Segmenting your lead lists can help you create personalized marketing for consumers based on their interests. For example, if you sell pet products online with a weekly email newsletter, knowing the types of pets your subscribers own can increase your engagement. 

Do you think a dog owner would open an article about the best cat toys? Probably not. However, if you sent that article to people who state that they are cat owners or have purchased feline products in the past, it's a safe bet that they will show interest in your content. 

Creating valuable content requires you to dig deep into your customer personas and find out what kind of consumers frequent your business. If we look at the previous examples again, the pet store business owner should find out what type of pet owners frequent their website, and create content that matches those personas. 

Beyond creating articles that cater to your audience, you have to provide tangible value within your content. When creating blog posts, look for stories and perspectives that will inspire and educate. Subscribers want to read personalized content that teaches them something or changes their point of view. Plus, websites that create content typically have double the email traffic compared to those that don't. 

Personalization is not just limited to the blog content you create; it also applies to your email copy and special offers. If you wanted to engage with customers who haven't opened your emails in a while, you could send out custom campaigns explaining that you miss the consumer and offer them a promotion if they come back to your website. Segmented lead lists with personalized messaging is a sure-fire way to skyrocket consumer engagement. 

3. Nurture connections by following up. 

Following up with consumers is one of the best ways to boost engagement and improve your brand. There are various points during the sales funnel where you'll want to follow up with your audience. Beyond the previously mentioned welcome email, you'll also want to connect with subscribers after they make a purchase from your website. 

A stunning 82% of consumers will stop engaging with a brand if they have a poor experience. Checking with every customer who buys something with your website will help you catch consumer issues before they lose all trust in your business. Think of it as a second chance. You get one more shot to make things right. 

Software as a service (SaaS) companies may want to consider following up with their consumers every week through email summaries. Summaries allow you to explain to customers how they have used your product and if there were any benefits. In addition, it helps identify areas of opportunity for customers and business owners. 

Regardless of your niche or product type, building connections with your audience is essential for improving engagement. People are far more likely to work with companies that they relate to, and that treat them well. You have to make sure subscribers understand how you can improve their lives. 

New subscribers want to know more about you, and your long-time followers are eager to engage with your company. Think about the buying process consumers go through when they come to your website. What kind of questions would you have if you were in their shoes? Would you openly ask, or not acknowledge the company if the answers were unavailable? Email marketing is an excellent tool for bridging the gap between layers of your sales funnel. 

There are countless ways to engage with your audience through email. You can send out weekly blog updates, run a contest, send out promotions and much more. All of these different methods work well with audiences based on their interest in your product or service. 

Building brand awareness and using that platform to engage with your audience is an excellent way to keep people interested in what you have to offer. As you're creating your email marketing campaign, think about how you can improve consumer experiences from the moment they see your brand name for the first time. Before long, you'll have an engaged audience eagerly awaiting your emails.
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