What E-mail Marketing is About

It is one of the most popular tools for marketing strategies and it is also highly effective.

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What is this E-mail Marketing?

Email marketing is a form of digital marketing, where you use e-mail to send messages, product announcements, discounts, sales, audience education, and updates to potential as well as current and past customers to promote your business’s products and services.

It can also be used to convince your receivers to take a specific action like making a purchase, signing up for a trial, booking a demo, or registering for an event.

It is one of the most popular tools for marketing strategies and it is also highly effective. When used effectively, it can convert prospects into customers, and turns one-time buyers into repeat customers and raving fans.

E-mail marketing began roughly around 40 years ago. And while e-mail marketing nowadays has moved from one-size-fits- all mass mailings and instead focuses on personalization, optimization, content, and consent. It has gotten easier since marketing automaton handles most of the heavy-lifting for you.

In the long run a good and well-designed e-mail strategy will not only help you drive your sales but also help you build a community around your brand.

Why Use E-mail Marketing at All

Today, there are 4 billion e-mail users daily. And the number is expected to keep increasing. Research also suggests that 99% of e-mail users check their e-mails everyday and 58% of individuals read their e-mails before checking social media and news.

So why do nothing. When you can capitalize on this to gain more customers for your business. On any social media platform, your account could be blocked or banned but your e-mail list is yours and no one can take that from you.

Below are some of the reasons why you should use e-mail marketing:

1. E-mail Marketing Has Larger Reach: Today, when signing up for anything from a website to a newsletter subscription, you are required to provide an e-mail address. E-mail has 4.26 billion users while social media has 4.74 billion users, which are spread across the various social media platforms. What’s more most social media platforms send notifications to your e-mail when someone tags you, likes your post, or comment on it.
2. E-mail Marketing Delivers Your Message: if a marketer is asked to choose between adding a subscriber to their e-mail list, or gaining a new Facebook fan, he/she should choose the e-mail subscriber. Because 90% of e-mail gets delivered directly to the recipients inbox, whereas only 2% of your Facebook fans will see your post on their news feed.
3. E-mail is The Preferred Communication Channel: Many people consider social media as a personal way of communicating and keeping up to date and in touch with their friends and family. They log on to see photos and updates from people they care about. E-mail on the other hand is considered a more professional medium and people expect to receive information through that channel.

Types of E-mail Marketing

1. Welcome E-mail: This type of e-mail is one of the more important e-mails you will send to your new subscribers, it welcomes them and encourages them to learn more about your products and services.
2. Dedicated E-mail: Also known as standalone e-mail is a custom e-mail that you send to your list of subscribers. It contains information about only one offer.
3. Sponsorship E-mails: Also known as e-mail drops. This is when you borrow or rent another brand’s e-mail address so you can have access to their subscribers. Essentially you negotiate with the owner to send a message to his e-mail list on your behalf.
4. Survey E-mails: This is an e-mail you send to your contact list to collect data and feedback through questionnaires and surveys.
5. Newsletter E-mails: This is an e-mail that you send periodically to your e-mail list to inform them about the latest news, tips, or updates about your new products or services.

How E-mail Marketing Works

E-mail marketing works by bringing you together with prospective customers via e-mail. To do that you, need their e-mail addresses which can be collected by creating a sign-up option on your website for those that are interested, using social media, or you can even be old fashioned and use paper notices.

Also make sure to never add an e-mail without the owner’s permission and make sure that the recipients understand that they will be e-mailed regularly.

How To improve E-mail Marketing Campaign

There are 5 T’s to a successful e-mail marketing campaign. Which are:

1. Target: All campaigns in your marketing strategy must resonate with your target audience. All their experiences must be personalized by anticipating what they need and want. Convince your recipients to take action.
2. Tease: Teasing your audience is one of the most effective ways of triggering their curiosity and building their anticipation. Giving them a sense of exclusivity, like their favorite band is sharing a special secret with them.
3. Teach: To make sure your campaign generate results, your e-mails should always touch the recipients questions like; “will this product be of any use to me?”, “can it solve my problems?”. If your campaign fails to teach your customer the value of your product or service, it has failed. To incorporate this tactic you can avoid hard selling by offering education insights instead.
4. Test: Your e-mail marketing strategy cannot be proven to be effective unless you test it. The A/B testing method is one of several e-mail testing methods. It works by sending two varying e-mails to two sets of subscribers. At the end of the test you will find which of the sets had the best results.
5. Track: It is like testing. However, you track your e-mail marketing and how much it has contributed in your marketing success. By continuously monitoring you will be able to take better and improved decisions based on the data.

Advantages of E-mail Marketing

1. Cost-Effective: E-mail marketing is very cost-effective in the sense that it costs almost nothing to send e-mail messages. There are no advertising fees, printing, or media space costs.
2. Permission-Based: Your e-mail list consists of people who have chosen to receive e-mail messages from you. People who are genuinely interested in your goods or services are more likely to engage in your business.
3. Adaptable: E-mail marketing can be used to reach large audiences or smaller targeted list.
4. Less Obtrusive: Contrary to telemarketing, your recipients can read your e-mail at a time that is convenient to them. They can unsubscribe if they feel like they no longer want to receive your emails.
5. Flexible Design: You are able to send your e-mail in any format you want whether plain text, graphics, or attach files due to the availability of design options.

Disadvantages of E-mail Marketing

1. Size: if the e-mail file is too large the the recipient might lose interest before it loads.
2. Cost: While sending e-mails are free, additional costs might be incurred due to exceeding a word count or adding images.
3. Design problems: Since your recipients access e-mails across multiple devices, you have to make sure that the e-mail must be designed so that it appears as it should across multiple devices.
4. Competition: Since e-mail marketing is a popular form of marketing, your e-mail is not the only one flooding the receivers inboxes. To stand out from competitors, you might need to invest in strong copywriters.

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