Sales Person Email Tool for Customer Communication

Sales Person Email Tool for Customer Communication


TinyLetter Logo for Fill the Funnel Post

I have set up hundreds of accounts with Email Service Providers (ESP’s) including services like Constant Contact, AWeber and MailChimp for clients and individuals. Each has it’s own strengths and ideal customer. I am a big believer in the power of email communication when done right. An advantage that each of these services brings is the requirement that your customer or prospect  “opt-in”, to request to have you send them email. It used to be that a new employee came into the company with an empty customer list. Things have changed and now even those newly hired employees might have 500 or more Twitter followers or Fans on Facebook. A simple desire to send out an email to all of their followers and connections about their new role with your company was near impossible and unwieldy at a minimum. Social networks are changing the fabric of relationships. You need to be able to plug into their connections as soon as possible.

The challenge up until now has been that these services are designed to serve the needs of large companies with tens and hundreds of thousands of email addresses in their database, with features that the big guys need. Marketing departments with Email specialists are common. Individual reps and entrepreneurs could use them but they were cumbersome to set up and too complicated for many to use consistently.  MailChimp acquired an email company with a different vision this past August by the name of TinyLetter that brings a different solution.

TinyLetter was created from the ground up for the conversations with those you have connected with on social platforms. You can’t use Gmail for this, as they have a limit of a few hundred recipients per day (for security). If you want to send quick notes to your customers, prospects or followers, TinyLetter is your answer. Some have called it “MailChimp Lite” but it is more accurately viewed as “Gmail on steroids”.

What makes TinyLetter so different?

  1. It was built from the ground up by someone who is NOT from the email marketing world,
  2. It’s utterly simple (because of #1),
  3. Being utterly simple will make mobile app development for TinyLetter really easy,
  4. TinyLetter lets you read replies, so you can continue the conversation with your contacts.
  5. The signup process is very simple and personal. It’s less like a formal survey (where you’d enter your title, select interest groups, etc), and more like an about.me, or flavors.me page.
  6. There are no templates. It’s all about your content letter.

Notice #4 in the list above. You can actually read replies. Try that with your full-powered Email Service Provider.

If you make a living by selling something, you know the importance of quality communication. TinyLetter gives the ability to have people ask you to communicate with them (via a sign-up form), and then easily provide valued, timely information efficiently and with no hassle.

Here is the link to register for TinyLetter. Give it a try. Then send me your Registration link in the comment area below so we can help you grow your list.

If you want to stay up to date on all the new Web Tools that are coming out in 2012, and learn how they might be of help to you grow your business, sign up for Fill the Funnel’s Web Tool Update by clicking here.

Full disclosure, I have grown past TinyLetter with over 8,000 of you already subscribed to the newsletter, so my newsletter and customer lists are Powered by MailChimp.

 

HTML or Plain Text Email – Which Do You Prefer | The Web Tools Guy – Miles Austin - 11 years ago

[…] wrote last week about a new newsletter provider on the scene called TinyLetter that provides a simple “text only” message capability while still providing the […]

Nigel Edelshain - 11 years ago

Miles,

I just subscribed to your TinyLetter. Let me see how that feels…

Nigel

HTML or Plain Text Email – Which Do You Prefer - 11 years ago

[…] wrote last week about a new newsletter provider on the scene called TinyLetter that provides a simple “text only” message capability while still providing the […]

Ayeen Benoza - 11 years ago

This is a great way to start the year. Thanks for sharing another new tool Miles, I will definitely check this out. Happy new year! http://bit.ly/ayeen2

Nigel Edelshain - 11 years ago

Miles,

Interesting. Thanks again for being on top of so many great tools.

When I read your intro I thought “these guys have nailed my need” but as I signed up for TinyLetter I see it’s more like “sort of”.

What I would like is a simple solution to email my Rolodex (500 people). Preferably right out of the CRM they live in (for me currently Nimble). Nimble just introduced integration with Mailchimp but it’s export not sync so not quite there. If you use Salesforce.com, it’s closer with Salesforce’s mass email feature – limited to 250 emails per day I believe.

Seems like TinyLetter assumes I’m sending an e-newsletter but that’s not the use case for me. It’s “staying in touch” with my social network as you said in your intro. And I don’t do that just with newsletters – more like conversations, aka “normal” emails.

Better tool out there for this? What be your thoughts Sir Miles?

Nigel

    Miles Austin - 11 years ago

    Happy holidays Nigel. I feel your pain, but I think that TinyLetter might work better than you think. As I have started to use it, I am using more like a “staying in touch” tool than a Newsletter format.

    To try it out and see what the experience is like, feel free to use this link to subscribe to my TinyLetter account and let’s explore how this might solve your need together.

    Anyone else that wants to see how this works in real life just use the link at:
    http://tinyletter.com/fillthefunnel

    I won’t send you more than a few notes, but let’s see if this is a workable solution for some of you.

    Let me know how your experiences go.

      Tshombe - 11 years ago

      That’s a great idea, Miles. I’m going to sign up to check out how you use/used it.

Tshombe - 11 years ago

Hi Miles,

This sounds very cool, but I have a question. You emphasize that you can read recipient replies with TinyLetter, but you can do that with MailChimp, too. I also am able to send an email directly from my email client without having to go through MailChimp’s templates, if I choose.

Is the biggest differentiator ease-of-use and simplicity?

    Miles Austin - 11 years ago

    Hello my Portland friend,
    You are correct on all counts. You clearly have some depth of experience with Mailchimp if utilizing MailChimp’s Email Beamer feature, etc. but many users don’t have that knowledge. If readers have the time to learn some of the full-featured capabilities available, then I recommend running with it. If you don’t have the time, or the inclination to learn these things, then I think TinyLetter will be a welcome option for many. Ease of use and simplicity yes, as well as a very low intimidation factor when you log in to get some work done. Hope I can get to Portland early in 2012.

      Tshombe - 11 years ago

      Hi Miles,

      Thanks so much for the reply, and yes, I’ve had some challenges myself with getting Mailchimp to do what I want it to, as I’m a company of 1. In some ways, I wish it were more intuitive out-of-the-box, but it does well what it does well.

      I can’t say I had the time to learn the capabilities offered by Mailchimp, and I probably would have liked a simpler solution early on. “Low intimidation factor” has a nice ring to it!

      Would love to see you in the New Year whether you come down or I come up!

      Happy New Year, Miles!

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