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Your company’s computer system is probably capable of doing more useful things automatically than you might realize.  You may or may not already have these ideas coming out of your system but they are worth reviewing and considering.  They increase your value to your customers’ buyers and this helps to ensure future customer sales.  Review these managed, but automatically generated emails, to see if they might be helpful to your organization and valuable to your customers.  Always remember to tell your customers the notices are offered as a convenience and can be stopped when they choose to do so.

Examples of email notifications helpful for customers and vendors:

1. Shipments announcements: Once your firm creates a computer generated packing list or shipping document, arrange for an email containing all of the information to be sent to the customer’s buyer that generated the purchase order to your company.  Keep him informed.  He will be the first to be notified of the shipment and he will appreciate the notice.  He no longer has to call your firm, hope to reach someone that is available while he wastes time on the phone, wait further once he reaches someone while your employee looks for the shipment notice and then depend upon that person to tell him the information correctly.  Offer this as an option and volunteer to send the notices to as many email addresses as requested by your customer.
2. Vendor payment notices: Once your system cuts checks to pay your vendors, an email setup with the vendor’s accounts receivable department would appreciate an email that states a wire payment has been sent, or a check (including check number) has been mailed today, or will be mailed tomorrow.  This email will describe the customer’s purchase order numbers, your firm’s invoice number, the dollar amount and any debits or credits included.  This will help to avoid incoming collection calls and tells an appreciative vendor that your promised payment is on the way.
3. Inventory stock status notices: Setup an email notification system that allows customers to sign up to be notified of product balances you are currently carrying in inventory.  A customer may want to know what you are carrying in stock.  This notice would pick up the current balance and subtract any outstanding open orders that have not picked the stock.  Customers could go through a list and pick the stock numbers they would like notification or status.  They could choose weekly, semi-monthly, monthly, every 50 days, every 10 days, etc.
4. Early notice of sales, public and restricted: Offer to send emails for announcements of sales on anything the buyer wants to review.  Maybe he wants to know about only those things he has bought in the past, or he may want to know about everything that is offered.  Give him the choice.  If his purchase volume warrants it, allow him access to your store days early to buy items before they are offered publicly.  When giving access, assign access level numbers and make your customers want elevated access status.  An example of this might be to issue passes (email, mail, offered with invoices possibly.  The customer might be stamped Level One which gets access first to private sales before all others.  Level Two comes in after level one, but before the public, etc.
5. Anniversary dates of any kind: Offer to send email announcements and specials and do so only if accepted.  Once that happens, make sure to mark anniversaries of doing business with your customers.  Make it worth their while to open your emails.  Examples:  1.  On a 3rd year anniversary with a customer, send a certificate worth 10% or 20% off purchases in any of your locations for a specified time.  2.  On a customer’s birthday, offer a discount coupon with the email sent to them.  3.  Send coupons for brand names that the customer has purchased in the past with the store credit card.  4.  Send an invitation to the customer to visit the store ‘afterhours’ for snacks, samples, small retail offerings, drawings, etc. held for loyal customers.  Arrange this before the store opens or after doors close, you decide.

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