What is Email Marketing?
Email marketing is the act of sending out more promotional messages to inform, educate people, or force them to perform a particular activity. This digital marketing strategy includes email newsletters, sales promotional emails and company announcements. With an effective email marketing strategy, brands can become customers and one-time buyers can be turned into loyal, consistent customers. So, whether you have a small business, online store or big company, email marketing can do wonders for you. All you need is to find what your audience wants and use it to create powerful newsletters. However, you should keep in mind that email marketing requires users’ approval. This means you’re a guest in their inbox, so you have to use good email. Failing to understand it or believing that your email campaigns are special can have negative consequences.
Is Email Marketing Effective?
The most important question is, is email marketing worth it? Despite the general belief that email marketing is dead, it can’t be any more from the truth. Most adults check their email at least once a day, spending an average of 51 seconds reading each email, while spending less than 10 seconds on an Instagram post. Research shows that people spend almost half of their time working from home to check their email, and email marketing is one of the easiest ways to reach relevant audiences. Apart from this, there are many benefits that are listed below.
How Does Email Marketing Work?
While email marketing is a great performance digital marketing strategy, it’s much easier to do, while at the same time it can be automated. This means that even a complete beginner can get their hands on it and quickly learn the ropes and succeed.
An Email List
To start sending your email marketing campaigns, you need to have an email list. Your email list is practically a database of email addresses of people who have chosen to receive marketing messages from your brand. To make sure you’re sending successful email marketing campaigns, make sure your email list is active. There are various ways to create your own email list. One of the most effective ways is to provide a boost that your target audience will be interested in. In return, they will provide you with their email address.
An Email Service Provider
Email Service Provider (ESP), also known as the Email Marketing Service, is a platform that helps you manage your email list. At the same time, it allows you to split your audience and create more personalized messages that resonate with them. If you use ESP, you can also create automated email marketing campaigns. Based on the behavior of your audience, you can automate which actions are taking place. In this way, almost every contact can be customized so that higher engagement and conversion rates can be achieved. Finally, modern SPSs are capable of integrating with other marketing tools you use, such as CRMs and eCommerce sites, so you can streamline your processes.
A Specific Goal
The final element of the course is the clearly defined business objective. Without it, there is a risk of sending marketing messages that your audience simply ignores. To give you some examples, email marketing can be used:
- Creating new leads
- Increase brand awareness
- Drive More Sales
- Increase engagement with the brand
- Build a relationship of trust with the audience
Keeping a clear goal in mind before creating your email marketing campaigns ensures you’re on the right track to success.
Types of email marketing campaigns
There are many different types of email campaigns. Here are some common ones marketing teams have developed over the years and still find effective:
1. The Welcome Email
2. The Promotional Campaign
3. The Seasonal Campaign
4. The Triggered Email Series
5. Post-purchase drops
6. The Re-Engagement Campaign
7. The Newsletter
8. The Abandoned Cart Series
1. The Welcome Email
This is not the most common email campaign, but it is one of the most effective. If someone signs up to receive emails from you, this automatic email is welcome. By sending a welcome email, you have the opportunity to build some familiarity with the new subscriber. When they are very open with you, you can also teach them about your brand promise. Let them know that you’re seeing them: acknowledge and appreciate their decision to engage with your company. Here’s the beginning of a beautiful relationship!
2. The Promotional Campaign
This is very common in email marketing campaigns and is one that you are most familiar with. If you have a new product or service or want to reintroduce existing ones, send promotional emails to suit each section of your email list. With introductory deals for potential customers and special access or other offers for existing customers, they can meet every person on the purchase journey.
3. The Seasonal Campaign
Separating the advertising email campaign is seasonal campaigning. On any major holiday, such as Black Friday, summers, return to school, and other recurring seasonal events, it’s an even better holiday, great opportunities to let people know what you need to make it an even better holiday, graduation or holiday. These types of email marketing campaigns have a build-up and follow-up before the event which means there are many opportunities to send you an email.
4. The Triggered Email Series
Automation is one of your best friends when it comes to email marketing. If your subscriber clicks on the offer, when buying, withdrawing, or leaving the goods in their cart, it prompts the marketing software to send a customized email for each specific action. Attack when the iron is hot. According to DMA’s 2013 National Client Email Report, 75% of email revenue is generated through induced campaigns, rather than a size-fit advertising campaign.
5. Post-purchase drops
This is an email series that does not need to be sold, but will be sent to follow up on the purchase. Your email engagement will not end if someone buys one of your products or services. Only then will you begin to build customer trust and loyalty by being careful and helpful. Starting with order confirmation, email plays an important role in ensuring that your customer is satisfied with shipping confirmation and follow-up emails. You can offer additional products and services to ensure that any issues are fixed.
6. The Re-Engagement Campaign
A re-engagement campaign is a series of emails sent to inactive subscribers. Has it been a while since you heard from someone who had previously shown interest or bought it? Send an email with an offer they can’t resist, or with information you know they’ll be valuable, and renew that stalled relationship again. Let them know that you remember them and the best times you’ve been together.
7. The Newsletter
It’s only a smart email through a newsletter or digest routine communication between you and your list. Create valuable content for your subscribers and constantly share it with them. When associating your brand with content that subscribers value, this will keep your company and products in mind. The content can take the form of useful tips, product updates and a little bit of entertainment.
8. The Abandoned Cart Series
Abandoned cart emails can actually be a kind of email marketing campaign. Like other automated campaigns, these are emails triggered by the user’s actions. People like to shop online, want to fill their cart with anything that looks beautiful at the moment, and then, for many reasons, don’t finish the purchase. Some estimates suggest that 70% to 80% of e-commerce shoppers have dropped the average card. Email automation helps by triggering an email reminder to encourage shoppers to return the items in their cart.
Benefits of email marketing
Today’s marketing arena is very competitive and in demand, so marketers need to find the best strategies to survive. With email marketing, you can become a successful email marketing gladiator with a successful business.
Email marketing is cost-effective and increases sales
The costs of email marketing are much lower than those of many types of marketing. There are no advertising fees, printing or media space costs. It’s important for small businesses to plan well where to find their marketing efforts and budget. Fortunately, email marketing is not only the best way to communicate with a target audience, it’s also very efficient and cost-effective. It is 40 times more efficient than social media, and the purchasing process takes place 3 times faster than social media. Moreover, people consider email to be the most reliable and professional channel. With the right elements such as user reviews and testimonials. Finally, don’t forget that emails are scalable in terms of open charges, click-through rates, changes, and more.
You can create targeted and customized content
Strong email marketing solutions enable each recipient to split your email list at any time or stage of the customer’s journey and create personalized content with information, offers, and messaging that suits their needs and interests. You can create multiple campaigns with a variety of copies, including the recipient’s first name at the beginning of the email. This has not only attracted the customer’s attention and created a better connection, but has also been shown to increase both engagement and click-through rates. Nowadays, social media provides great tools and platforms for even small businesses to grow. Emails on the other hand provide a versatile platform to create more detailed and informative content. Since the audience who receives your emails is already interested in receiving and listening to it, they will spend more time exploring and reading your content.
It improves customer relationships and brand-awareness
In addition to customizing your emails, creating a newsletter called Club or Member creates an exclusive feel that you can support by creating relevant content. As a small business, you can’t offer free products or services. Instead, create excitement for your subscribers and offer sneak peeks: are you ready for the season, ready to release new products, or make fun of them at an upcoming discounted price. Letting your audience know what’s going on makes them feel like they’re part of the group, creates a sense of community, which can lead to better brand awareness and increased sales.
Permission Based Channel
Email marketing is based on how the customer provides you with their email address and shows interest in your brand. Therefore, getting permission to send your marketing messages, randomly showing ads, and believing that they will work means that there is a greater chance of actual engagement and changes. Also, the fact that your visitors can choose to unsubscribe from your email list and stop receiving your messages helps you maintain a healthy email list and make good use of your budget.
Increases email marketing reliability
As mentioned earlier, those who receive your emails will also want to hear from you. Especially in the rental sector, it is very important to showcase your expertise in your field, as it reduces the chances that customers will guess a second time. If they like and trust your brand, they are less likely to hesitate when making a purchase decision. Becoming a well-known expert in your industry means creating relevant and informative content for your subscribers to engage with. Don’t be afraid to reveal your best secrets: For example, share your teams’ favorite ways. The transparency and personal input of your team will increase reliability and most importantly customer retention.
You will receive feedback directly
Emails are a great way to improve communication with your customers, and the ultimate goal is to increase website traffic and sales. Fortunately, most marketing tools offer simple and understandable metrics that you can track, the most important being: ROI, conversions, list development, and click-through ratio. These metrics help different audiences have a better understanding of which content works best, as it directly shows how many people have opened your emails and which links have been clicked the most. For example, if it’s a good open rate, your audience is more engaged and wants to hear from you at any time.