A unique and sometimes underrated channel of marketing is email marketing. Mail marketing is one of the oldest forms of marketing, which has now developed into email marketing. However, as available and accessible as this form of marketing is, it is easy to take it for granted.
An interesting aspect of email marketing is that its use is not limited to some niches. Email marketing can be used by marketers, institutions, companies, businesses, and anyone who wants to send messages to people in mass quantities.
Email marketing defined
Email marketing is a direct marketing technique where individuals or businesses send engaging and promotional messages to personalized emails to market their products. This form of marketing allows you to target particular customers or individuals and continuously market to them.
Email marketing is more relevant than ever before. It allows you to stay in contact with customers and website visitors and keep buyers up-to-date with the latest products and promotions. One of the strategies used in email marketing is giving out special offers to customers on merchandise deals. For example, a new restaurant might send an email to family and friends offering 50% off every food purchase.
Email marketing is the most efficient channel to reach people. Even with the increase in the popularity of social media and other platforms, email users are said to continue growing. The latest email users statistic for the United States shows that 90% of Americans above 15 years old use email. The highest user of email by age range is between 25-44, and the penetration rate is 90%. According to recent statistics, by 2023, there will be an estimated 4.3 billion global users of email users.
What do You need for Email Marketing?
To start using Email marketing, here are some things you will need to start with.
- Email List
An email list is a database of subscribers that have subscribed and given you the authority to send them emails. To build a successful email campaign, you need an engaged and active email list.
There are several ways to build an email list. One of the simple ways is to create a lead magnet (it can also be referred to as an offer). The offer has to be catchy to get the attention of the customers and interesting enough to the audience in exchange for their email address.
- Email Service Provider
An Email Service Provider(ESP) – also known as an Email Marketing Platform – is the software used to design and execute automatic email campaigns. The application helps send and receive emails. You can also manage your email list, build email templates, and send bulk emails to your audience. Though most email service providers are free, there are features available to premium subscribers.
Using an Email Service Provider helps to trigger the audience after completing a specific action like; sending a cart reminder if a user adds an item to the cart and doesn’t checkout. These enable you to personalize interaction, which improves engagement and open rates.
- Defined Goals
Anyone who wishes to build an email list must have a goal for creating the list. There are different goals people have, and here are some of them.;
- To drive sales
- Keep customers engaged
- Brand awareness
- Increase in customer loyalty and life span value.
Types of Email Marketing
- Email Newsletters.
It is a one-off means of communication. It can be used to send important account information, promotional messages, products update, and so on that will be of interest to your subscribers. Newsletters are a very popular form of email marketing and are usually sent out regularly.
2. Promotional Email
Promotional emails are also quite common in email marketing. It is to sell a service; however, if you have not built a relationship with them, it will seem odd to send a promotional email. This is why it is essential to add more value to them first. Then, later on, you can send discount offers to them. Or start with catchy and valuable content, then end with a promotional offer.
3. Survey Email
Customer surveys only help you to get better at what you do. The survey email gives insight into what you are getting right, what you are getting wrong, and what you can improve on. It also helps to know customers’ interest in your brands and understand them better.
4. Milestone Emails
There are several stages a customer goes through while interacting with the brands. As they go through the subscribers to a customer cycle, it is very important to list out customers’ anniversaries and birthdays. Your milestone emails are there to celebrate these moments.
Advantages of Email Marketing
- Direct connection
Email Marketing helps you to be directly in contact with your customers. People’s inboxes are often on their “To Do” list, and your email can be a part of their list. Plus, because most people check their email multiple times daily, your message is more likely to be seen.
- Email provides more control
Rather than other social media marketing platforms, you don’t own the platform. If the platform ceases to exist, all your hard work sinks with it. However, with email, you own the relationship you forge with your subscribers.
- Scale measure
An email Marketing campaign can be easily scaled as your audience grows without compromising quality or straining your resources.
- Measure of success
Measuring the effectiveness and efficiency of a marketing campaign is crucial and makes automated email marketing very easy to achieve. You can check your open rate and determine the customers you get from the email list to know the success rate.
- Easy to share
It is easy to share your email content, especially with the right email service provider. It will be delivered to each person’s mail, and everyone will receive the email at once. This differs from social media marketing, where only specific people will see it depending on the platform’s algorithm.
- Environmental friendly
Email Marketing is preferable for the environment to direct marketing by postal mail because nothing is printed.
Disadvantages of email marketing
- Spam
Spam irritates consumers. If your messages aren’t targeted to the right people, the recipient might delete your email or even unsubscribe. You need to ensure that your email marketing complies with privacy and data protection rules and that it is sent to the people who want to receive it.
- Expertise needed
For a successful email campaign, you must make sure that you have the right copy, design, and marketing list. If you don’t have any of these skills, many might end up unsubscribing or you might have a low open rate.
Conclusion
Email Marketing is one of the most profitable marketing channels, with a return on investment ranging from 3600 % to 4400%. That is between $36- $44 for every $1 spent on email which is a lot considering the returns from other forms of marketing. As a business person who wishes to have personalized access to their customers, email marketing is a form of marketing to invest in.