What is Email Marketing
What is Email Marketing
Email marketing is one of the mediums of “Digital Marketing”. Basically as the word suggests it is marketing done via emails. It is one segment of Internet Marketing which encompasses via websites, social media,blogs etc. Currently due to increased use of smart phones and social media 94% of people use emails as the medium of communication, while 61% use social media.
In any kind of financial transaction now a days emails ids are in use and people day by day are preferring email communication which is also paper less and helps to preserve the environment.
Many people are found to be buying an email list to market their products and sending mass mails but this is not the right way to do it.
A Marketer needs to create his own recipient list rather then using the above method. Making a personal list makes the marketing more effective. Wishing the customers on their birthdays and anniversaries, sending regular updates about the Companies development, schemes, discounts, new stocks etc, increases customers loyalty.
Tips for building an email list
Marketer needs to adhere to the CAM-SPAM Act, option to unsubscribe and the Marketers name and contact details for the customer to contact. If the marketer is sending Newsletters then the he needs to stick to the schedule. He needs to ensure that the letter is published on the same day and time.
We just should not send the mails for the sake of sending. Content of the mail should be to create a rapport with the customers, it should contain suggestions for better deals, good product quality.
Advantages of Email marketing
- Low risk
- Low cost as no prints, no postage. It involves investing in a software to automate, track and evaluate their mails. This may result into small overhead expense but this would me much less than the other modes of marketing
- Easy to start….email marketing doesn’t require huge team in order to be successful. It requires creativity with attractive content by using simple plain text, fancy templates, videos, images and logos
- Enabling automation will reduce the cost and time
- Enabling targeted messages. Suppose there is a Franchisee in a particular country who is offering sales on the goods, then via email on those targeted audiences would be receiving the mails of promotion.
- Data can be easily analysed
- Personalized approach to customers
- Boundless access to customers due to globalisation.
- Quick response to concerns
- Email messages have a wider range of formatting possibilities
- Instant impact as one can see results immediately after sending the mails For e.g a mailer having details of 24 hour sale is as brilliant marketing ploy as it creates a sense of urgency and temptation as the mailer would be containing attractive offers.
Moving to some down siders now
- Emails branded as spammer…if we keep sending too many mails that doesn’t value the audience. Some receivers are too lazy who will not unsubscribe the mailer and keep throwing it to the trash folder. We need to make sure that we aim to get a clear feedback from your subscriber. If u do not want to end up in a spam, we need to choose a trustworthy email service provider ensuring not to send unnecessary mails
- Moving out of the list: People do unsubscribe regularly but we can learn from his by keeping an eye on the % of unsubscribers. It will help you to improve the quality and content of the mails to reduce the subscriber rates which is the most frequently occurring disadvantage of email marketing
- Adhere the laws: Due to spammers there are very strict laws across countries. We need to know the laws of different countries before making the mailing list. One needs to know about the spam filters enabled so as not to enter into any kind of law violation.
- Mail delivery issues: Subscribers are often found changing the mail ids. Hence the very purpose of sending he mail is not met and it may result into undeliverable or may never be read.
- Keeping the readers engaged: After a certain point of time receiving the same mailers every time brings annoyance. This because mostly because the content is no longer of any relevance to the reader. Make sure that this does not happen to you. We need to analyse the database in order to cater the need of the receiver.
- Formatting issue: One of the disadvantage is that the mailer would be opened in many devices and one cannot make out how it will look on a particular screen size. Hence the designing should be done with lot of care so that it fits in all types of devices and screen size
Summary
Hence to summarise in the today’s digital marketing world which is increasing at a galloping speed; email marketing is the best tool if utilised vigilantly. Every second person now a days is having a smart phone and is having a email id to access it. Everyone checks their mail box once or twice a day. A marketer has a pretty decent percentage of chance to connect to the customers
Today it doesn’t matter what industry you are in or what product you are selling, being a part of your audience’s daily routine (and getting their attention) is a hugely valuable marketing activity. It has the calibre to drive traffic to your website, online store, blog, and social media channels and help you reach your marketing goals quicker than many advertising platforms can.