Email marketing in simple language means that you can get new contacts or customers by sending emails, or sell in this way and increase your income. An important thing to know right from the start is that email marketing isn’t just about sending mass emails to thousands of people, you can use a variety of strategies and techniques that all happen within the email platform.
In the continuation of this article, we explained more about what methods there are and how you can get good results from email marketing.
What is email marketing?
Using email tools and sending messages to target audiences in order to attract new customers and maintain relationships with old customers is called email marketing. The content of your message can include advertisements, practical content, attractive and different discounts and offers, etc.
You can go for email marketing at any stage of your strategy, such as branding and brand awareness, persuasion to buy, loyalty, customer retention, etc. The use of email has very high capacities, in many cases we are unaware of them and we cannot benefit from it properly.
Having said that, it seems that before starting any topic, we should first look at the history of email marketing and with what purpose it was formed. It is after knowing the preliminary topics that you can implement the advanced and professional parts of this marketing method well.
The history of email marketing
Gary Tuerke was the first to send a mass email to 400 Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) customers 41 years ago, generating $13 million in sales. After this incident, he was called the father of world spam. But he himself believed that because he sent his e-mail in a targeted manner to the target audience, he should be called the father of e-mail marketing in the world.
Between 1990 and 2000, with the widespread use of the Internet, people’s lifestyle and work underwent many changes. In this regard, Hotmail, as the first web-based email service, started its activity for free so that marketers can use its capacities in the direction of digital marketing and reduce the costs of direct face-to-face or telephone marketing.
Little by little, email marketing reached a point where mass messages had to be sent to the target audience’s inbox. Irrelevance of the email subject, advertising and annoying content, sending time, etc. were among the things that, if they were not followed, the emails would go to spam.
But since 2010, email marketing has entered a new phase and the rules of the game have completely changed. On the one hand, the strictures in sending group emails, checking the content of emails, its cheapness compared to other methods, the widespread use of smartphones, the popularity of users in using email, and the emergence of social networks, on the other hand, make the conditions for using email more difficult. He had done it in the past.
But little by little, from 2013 onwards, many people realized how to use this method professionally. Using appropriate content based on the needs and interests of users, using professional software, integrating email with content management systems, using email marketing automation systems, segmenting customers and providing attractive offers made the target audience more involved in the received emails.
Advantages of email marketing
Now it’s time to talk a little about the benefits of using this method after reviewing the history and see how different businesses can use the capacity of this practical tool.
1- Good return on investment (ROI).
In today’s world, when various businesses are hardly willing to spend and on the other hand, their hands are tied to spend a lot in the field of advertising, the issue of return on investment is very important. Managers are eager to see how much they are getting for what they are paying. One of the most important benefits of email marketing is that if done professionally and correctly, it can be a very effective and efficient method. This method has a very good conversion rate and is quite cost-effective.
2- Immediate effectiveness
Just send an email to your target audience and see its effects within minutes of sending the message. For example, if you are going to have an auction or a 24-hour special sale, you can make the most of email. Email marketing and the content within it can well induce a sense of urgency and time constraints.
3- Fast and affordable
Email is one of the fastest, easiest, and cheapest advertising tools that not only has a good ROI, but with a reasonable cost and the right email list, you can achieve incredible output.
4- Custom emails
Not only can you as an email sender customize your messages to get better output and increase conversion rates, but your audience and subscribers also have the right to choose what emails are sent to them.
5- Analysis of customer behavior
Marketing by email is one of the best tools for checking and analyzing the behavior of customers and consumers. You can find out which emails your audience opened, which messages appealed to them, which links they clicked, and which CTAs they reacted to.
6- Easy start
The ease of use of email means that anyone can start their own campaign with minimal training. On the other hand, there is no need for a professional team and a lot of money to start work. You can even use ready-made templates with text, photos and videos. Of course, some Drag & Drop email services have been able to simplify the work for beginner users.
7- Direct message transfer
This method helps to convey the message directly and quickly to the target audience; So that not only will more of them open or even wait for your email, but it also has a good conversion rate. Email list segmentation works very well for businesses that have enough customer information.
8- Content publishing platform
Email alone can be one of the good platforms for publishing content. You can send all or part of your content to your audience in a push email and engage them more. Finally, with an attractive and practical CTA, you can ask them to do what you want.
Disadvantages of email marketing
It’s true that marketing has many benefits, but no system can be flawless, and this tool is no exception. In this section, we will discuss some problems of this system.
spam
If you fail to target your audience properly or if your email is full of promotional content, then recipients may delete your messages or mark them as spam. You have to concentrate so much that you can not only find the right audience, but also prevent your email from being spammed and get a high CTR by providing the right and basic content.
Unsent emails
If you use bulk email services, sometimes your message may not reach its destination. In addition, if you use phrases like “free”, “must click” and…, you should also expect that the email will be spammed or not reach the audience.
Design problems
One of the principles of using email is that the content of your message must be displayed correctly on any device, and this issue forces some to use only text messages in their campaign, which is not really attractive. Designing an attractive and professional email that can be displayed correctly on all screens is really a difficult task.
What businesses use email marketing?
Many businesses, especially those who have good information and interaction with the audience and know that their email is opened and gets a good CTR, use this tool. In addition, this method works very well for businesses that do not spend a lot on advertising and establishing a relationship with the audience, provided that they can reach their target audience.
Email is also very useful for businesses that have a good plan for customer retention.
Application of email marketing
Email marketing is very widely used and you can use it for various reasons. But these days, in a series of specific cases, this method is used more, which we will examine. Of course, we must remember that email marketing does not mean directly selling a product through email. Among the applications, the following can be mentioned:
1- Welcoming new users
The first and simplest use of e-mail is to welcome a new user to the site or newsletter and thank him for being with you. In addition, you can also send him login information, access to certain sections or other communication methods.
2- Sending an email newsletter
Many users are willing to give you their email in exchange for a free gift or regular and specialized content. You can also make good use of this opportunity and strengthen your relationship with them and maintain it. In addition, you can send regular emails to the newsletter audience in which you have used text, designs, photos, videos, etc.
3- Information about new product or service
If you are going to offer a new product or service soon, you can inform your audience about this news using email.
4- Sending purchase information
One of the most important times you can use email is when you email the receipt, invoice, and purchase details to a customer after a purchase. Besides, if needed, you can also send him the link of the downloadable files. If you are smart, you can also include new purchase offers or related to the current purchase in your email.
5- Discounts and special offers
If you have a discount or special offers for a certain period of time or you are running a special advertising campaign, you can use this method to inform your audience. This helps to keep almost most of the audience informed. In addition, you can inform customers about the last chance to use these special conditions.
6- Notification of events
There may be a special event that is related to your business or that you are attending. Very easily and quickly by using email, you can inform the audience about the event and even invite them.
Email marketing training
Email marketing is a vast field and its complete training is beyond the scope of this article. If we want to mention briefly, the way to do it includes the following steps:
Step 1: Create a strategy
The starting point of any kind of marketing is to create a proper strategy. Having a proper strategy, you can move forward with order and planning.
Step 2: Get an email list
You must have an email list to start a campaign. You can get this list from the lead generation process.
Step 3: Choose the right service
There are various institutions and companies that help you. You have to do the necessary research to find the right service.
Step 4: Design the email
Designing email and registration form is one of the most important stages of campaign implementation. These emails should be visually and visually appealing.
Step 5: Automation of sending emails
You can set the email settings so that after the contact is registered, emails with practical and useful content will be sent to her.
Step 6: Data analysis
You should monitor and analyze the results of your campaign over time. For this purpose, you will need the following key performance indicators (KPIs). You should check these indicators carefully and correct them if you encounter a problem in your campaign.
- Delivery report: shows what percentage of subscribers received your email.
- Email open rate: shows how many subscribers opened your email after receiving it.
- Click-through rate: shows how many percent of subscribers clicked on the CTA button after reading the email.
Email marketing strategies
Now that every day we see the emergence of new tools and newer tricks to attract audiences, we need to see which strategies work better and more.
1- Creating the best email list
Email marketing means nothing without a proper email list. Your email list must be purposefully and intelligently made so that you can get the most and the best output from your campaign. If you want to attract more emails, make sure to create value and benefit your audience.
2- Retargeting
Another important strategy is retargeting. The purpose of retargeting is to retarget buyers who we haven’t heard from for a long time or people who have left their previous cart incomplete for any reason. You must remind them to return to your site to complete their purchase.
3- New and targeted advertising campaigns
Although e-mail is highly communicative and quick-yielding, and on the other hand, we are witnessing the implementation of various and new advertising campaigns, as a result, it is possible to implement different campaigns for different occasions with e-mail marketing.
4- Retention Marketing
One of the actions of any business, especially those that have a product or service for sale, is to be able to retain their customers and encourage them to buy again. Email is one of the best retention marketing tools and you can create repeat customers for yourself while maintaining previous audiences.
5- Newsletter
Newsletters are still attractive to some, and those looking for useful and fresh content will subscribe to your newsletter. In your newsletter strategy, you can send attractive and practical content, a part of the blog post, information about new products, social network posts, etc. regularly and continuously.
What is email marketing automation?
Automation means automation of processes and email marketing automation also means automation of email sending processes. In addition, you can have a professional automation behind your email sending system so that you can make the best use of the information and data obtained.
This method can mean sending emails automatically according to the customer’s purchase history, interests, preferences, specific dates, customer behavior, etc. and helps you to always communicate with the audience in a customized way.
Email marketing campaign
This campaign is like any other advertising campaign and has its own characteristics where you need to define goals, audience personas, content, posting time, budget and KPIs.
In the first step, you need to determine what your campaign goal is. Are you looking to attract new leads, are you targeting previous customers, are you looking for more sales, are you considering a discount or special offer for a period of time and…
The next step is segmentation of the email list or segmentation, which is done based on the persona of our audience. In a simple sense, it means to segment your target audience in such a way that you can deliver the appropriate message to each group.
final word
Email marketing is one of the best and most cost-effective means of communication and advertising that continues to work well even in today’s world with the emergence of new platforms. With the help of this method, you can communicate well with your audience and customers on a permanent basis, keep them up to date with the latest news, send them useful and attractive content, and offer amazing offers to your customers. This cheap system, if used professionally It can have a good output for you.
