About Email Marketing
Emails existed way before the internet was even a thing. In fact, the first email was sent in 1971, 12 years before the internet was created. And while technology has changed a lot since then, email remains one of the most popular and effective communication tools.
Today, with over 4 billion email users, email marketing has become one of the most popular marketing channels. This marketing technique involves sending targeted and personalized emails to a group of potential or existing customers to fulfill a marketing goal.
While email marketing may seem like a relatively simple concept, a lot goes into creating and executing an effective email marketing campaign.
What is Email Marketing?
Email marketing is a direct marketing channel that lets businesses share new products, sales, and updates with customers on their contact lists. Its high return on investment (ROI) makes it crucial to most businesses’ overall inbound strategy.
Modern email marketing has moved away from one-size-fits-all mass mailings and instead focuses on consent, segmentation, and personalization. This may sound time-consuming, but marketing automation handles most of the heavy lifting for you. In the long run, a well-designed email marketing strategy not only drives sales but helps build a community around your brand.
A brief history of email
The very first email was sent in 1971 by a computer engineer named Ray Tomlinson. The message he sent was just a string of numbers and letters, but it was the beginning of a new era of communication. Tomlinson was also the person who introduced the usage of the “@” symbol in email addresses.
In 1978, a marketing manager at Digital Equipment Corp named Gary Thuerk used this new method of direct communication to send out the first commercial email to let people know about a new product.
Importance Of Email Marketing
Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to reach your customers. In fact, a study by Litmus found that email has an ROI of $36 for every $1 spent on email marketing. That’s a pretty good return on investment!
Besides the monetary benefits, it can also help you in the following ways:
- Build engaging relationships with your customers: Email allows you to develop a relationship with your customers and build a rapport that would be difficult to establish through other channels as it provides a more personal way to connect with them.
- Personal channel to fulfill marketing goals: Email is a highly personal channel that allows you to deliver targeted content to your audience which is relevant to them and helps you achieve your marketing goals.
- Controlled marketing: Unlike Facebook, Instagram, and Google, you have more control over your email list. You can segment it, choose who receives which emails and even send different types of emails to different segments.
How Does Email Marketing Work?
In simplest terms, email marketing works by sending out a commercial message to a group of people via email. Typically, recipients will see your message in their inbox and can decide whether to engage with the content or ignore it.
However, an email marketing campaign is much more than just sending out mass messages to a group of people.
It involves the following steps:
Getting Permission
You can’t just add someone to your email list and start sending them marketing messages. That would be considered spam, and you could get into serious trouble for it (low deliverability rates, blacklisting, and legal action could all be taken against you).
Instead, you need to get permission from each individual recipient before you can add them to your list and send them marketing messages. This is known as opting in.
Segmenting And Building Email Lists
Once you have permission from a recipient to send them marketing messages, you need to segment your list based on different criteria so that you can send them targeted content.
For example, you might segment your list by:
- Location
- Demographics
- Interests/Hobbies
- Past Purchases
- The type of relationship they have with your brand
Sending Relevant Content
When it comes to email marketing, relevancy is key. Your recipients shouldn’t feel like they’re being bombarded with irrelevant messages that have no value to them – they should only be receiving content that’s of interest and that’s going to add value to their lives.
While your marketing message can be anything from upselling to cross-selling, the main goal should always be to provide your recipients with content that they’ll find useful.
Can I combine email marketing with other types of marketing?
Absolutely, as indicated in an earlier section, email marketing can be used for specific promotions, special events, announcements, and a variety of other purposes where information can be disseminated via email.
How important is the email subject line?
The subject line is crucial! A poor subject line can cause your email to end up in the spam folder. If it isn’t captivating, it may not grab the readers’ attention and be deleted before it is even opened.
The subject line should make the reader want to open and read the email. Here is an example of some good subject lines:
- We’re waiting for your order. Save 50% today.
- Check out this new product geared to make cleaning your home easier.
Connecting with your audience
The best way to connect with your audience is to create email campaigns that have value. Cost savings, new products, new services, and product benefits show the reader that the email has value to them, and they should keep on reading.
Marketing by email is a great way to keep your business top-of-mind with customers and prospects so they don’t think of your competitors. When done correctly, your email marketing campaign can show great success and lead customers to act, which is what all businesses want when developing their campaigns.
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