SETTING UP AND USING EMAIL A quick and easy way to stay in touch with everyone

78% of small and medium-sized businesses say they saved time by using email* It’s an easy way to support your sales efforts and keep your customer service levels high – and the spare time it creates can come in really useful. With email you can reach millions of potential customers in just a few clicks, and if used to support what you’re already doing it can be a great start to your digital strategy. Find out more about setting up and using email at lloydsbank.com/godigital. *Statistics sourced from the Optimisa Report 2012, commissioned by Lloyds Bank.



Benefits

• Improve customer service. • Save time. • Improve record keeping. • Save money. • Be more environmentally friendly. • Use as legal proof.

INCREASE RESPONSE FROM EXISTING AND NEW CUSTOMERS WHEN YOU GET YOUR BUSINESS ONLINE Save time Cut down the time and resource you spend going backand-forth to clients, partners and customers by using email for routine communication.

Improve your record keeping Store and organise your emails easily by placing your on-going communications into different folders and archiving conversations for future reference.

Deliver better customer service Meet and exceed your customers’ or benefactors’ expectations by answering their complaints and queries quickly, via email.

Save money and be more environmentally friendly Using email will reduce the amount of paper you need to run your company, cutting costs and decreasing your carbon footprint.

Use it as legal proof Protect your company by communicating on a platform that’s legally binding. In certain circumstances, emails can be used in court as evidence when dealing with business disputes.

How to do it Choose a free or paid email option When you use a free email service, such as Gmail† or Yahoo† your email will look something like [email protected]. For a more professional solution, use a paid service like Google Apps for Business† or Microsoft Office Outlook† which will allow you to use your website, so your email address looks something like [email protected].

Sign-up Once you’ve chosen your provider, the sign up process will ask you to complete a form, and download any software if necessary. Here’s an overview of what you can expect:

• Free, basic email address – You’ll likely be asked to

provide your name, birthday, and the country you’re located. You can also choose how your email address appears ([email protected] or [email protected]) and a password to keep your account secure.

• Paid email account – You’ll have to fill out a registration form as with the free account, and you will also need to link your email to your website, so your address looks like [email protected]. This will involve contacting the company that hosts your domain name (mycompany.com).

Introduce email etiquette into your company Develop an email policy to ensure you and your staff use the tool appropriately. Here area some best practices to follow:

• Standard response times – Aim to acknowledge

customer emails as soon as possible, even if you need more time to come back with an answer. Standard response times will vary from a couple hours to a couple days, depending on the nature of your business, but as a general rule of thumb: the quicker, the better.

• Friendly, professional tone of voice – Unlike face-toface conversations, the recipient can’t read your tone of voice or expression. So it’s important to use clear and polite language to ensure your organisation comes across as professional and welcoming.

• Proper email formatting – Start all email conversations

with a greeting and end all emails with a Thank You, Regards or alternate closing phrase and your name. Consider adding further information such as business name, address and phone number to give the recipient alternate ways to get in touch.

Use email management tools Advanced tools can increase the efficiency and professionalism of your business communication. Here are some tools that are available from most email providers:

• Email signatures – Create a custom ‘signature’

with contact details and company logo to appear automatically at the end of every email you send.

• Label emails and file them into separate folders –

Similar to files on your computer, you can label emails by category and place them into different folders so you can easily access them in future.

• Archive emails – Preserve important emails for future reference by archiving.

Keep your company’s data secure Use email security tools and follow specific email protocol to help ensure your company’s sensitive data remains safe and secure.

• Avoid clicking on email attachments that

seem suspicious or that have been sent from untrustworthy sources.

• You can set up ‘spam’ filters and choose the intensity

of security levels to help eliminate harmful links and email attachments making their way to your company email accounts.

• Change your email passwords regularly. • Sign into your email account under a secure, trusted

Internet connection, such as at home or work rather than a café for example. Find out more now at lloydsbank.com/godigital

Case study The Giving Card A discount card with a difference, The Giving Card allows cardholders to save money and give to charity at the same time. Annual subscribers get discounts at numerous high street shops and receive £10 to donate to their charity of choice. By doing business online, The Giving Card was able to save time by automating the entire sales process from customer sign-up, to managing the charity donation and, finally, the shipping and fulfillment of cards. The company has also implemented a digital marketing strategy that focuses on social media. By setting up online, The Giving Card noticed many benefits, including:

Dan Taylor, founder of The Giving Card, commented on his company’s success: “We operate online because of the opportunities it affords us. We carefully researched our audience and listened to find the ways in which people want to be communicated with. One piece of advice that I would give when it comes to thinking about the right digital strategy for a business is to carefully consider how online activity can support and supplement what you’re already doing. It doesn’t have to be ‘all or nothing’; sometimes the best thing will be to see what activity needs online support and start your digital strategy in that way.”

• A 70% better response rate from email campaigns and online marketing than traditional face-to-face sales.

• The ability to direct people straight to the Buy Now page. • Increased engagement outside normal working hours, with the majority of online traffic coming from people visiting the website in the evenings and on weekends.

Whereas on the high street shops may open from 9 to 5, [online] we are a 24/7 operation.

• A strong Twitter presence of over 8,000 followers.

Lloyds Bank is a GO ON UK founder, the UK’s Digital Skills Alliance. Together we aim to make the UK more digitally capable by:

• Investing in digital skills. • Building a national programme of action. • Inspiring innovative solutions to help the 10.8 million adults not currently online.

Useful links† Email for businesses: www.enterpriseitguide.com/working-together/ email-for-business Protecting important data: www.enterpriseitguide.com/security/ protecting-important-data

Together with other Go ON UK founder partners, we are committed to encouraging and supporting organisations and individuals to understand the benefits of using the internet.

†Please note that these are just examples of the types of search engines and web directories available and Lloyds Banking Group does not endorse the services they provide. While all reasonable care has been taken to ensure that the information in this guide is correct, no liability is accepted by Lloyds Bank for any loss or damage caused to any person relying on any statement or omission in this business guide. This guide is provided for information only and should not be relied on as offering advice for any set of circumstances and specific advice should always be sought in each instance. When using these services your agreement will be with the relevant third party and their terms and conditions will apply. Lloyds Bank shall not be responsible or liable to you for any failure by the third party to provide these services in relation to use by the third party of any confidential information supplied to them by you.

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