When it comes to email marketing, customer perception and sender reputation are closely related. However, they are not exactly the same. Your rates for inbox delivery could be through the roof, but it does not necessarily mean that your audience views your business in a positive light, which might be evidenced by poor responses and slow sales. No matter how you want to look at it, the truth is that perception is reality and critical to managing your brand’s reputation.

The Importance of Reputation Management

Although we are focused on email marketing here, perception is the same whether it is expressed in the verbal or written form of communication. On one side, you have a person or company sending information, and on the other, you have someone receiving that information. As it relates to email, it is often the interpretation of that communication that leads to problems for the marketer. This could be due to frequency, aggressive advertising, or irrelevant content, all of which could have an affect on the perception and consequently, the reputation of your brand.

The key to getting your customers to form and maintain a favorable perception of your brand is making a commitment to manage your reputation, which means everything regardless of what you sell or your position in the market. As one of the most precious assets your brand has to its name, it is vital that you pay close attention to the messages you send your customers and monitor their feedback. This is crucial to being able to react according to their response.

Molding Perception

When taking a proactive approach to reputation management, the manner in which your brand is perceived is something that can actually be controlled. It starts with defining the perception you want your business to have and taking the necessary actions to achieve it. This can be done by crafting message copy and content that defines your business, and gives your brand an identity. Because consistency is critical, make sure this identity is reflected across your website, blog, social networks, and other channels you use to communicate with your audience. Follow this up by regularly conducting surveys and conversing with your audience to find out just how well you are living up to your ideal perception.

Conclusion

While perception and sender reputation are not exactly one and the same, they are both extremely important to your brand. In the business world, both precede you to the point where they could either make or break your marketing efforts. Just think about the potential subscriber who is reluctant to sign-up for your email campaigns because they read somewhere that your customer service was slow and unfriendly, or the B2B client who is hesitant to engage in networking because they heard you were a hard person to deal with. It is your reputation that led to their perception. If you make a dedicated effort to keep your reputation intact, you will not have to worry much about how you are perceived.

Gary San is a best practices activist and advocate for, how to improve your email reputation.