How Important is Email Marketing?

58% of people check emails the first thing in the morning.

There are more than 3.7 billion email users in the world currently with a projected growth to 4.1 billion by 2021. Email marketing is 40 times more effective than other social media channels in acquiring new consumers. People who buy products marketed through emails spends 138% more than people who do not receive emails.  Therefore one must understand the importance of a successful email marketing campaign.

What are the types of emails marketing campaigns?

Email Campaigns can be categorized into 4 types:

[Marketing offers; announcements; event invitations and newsletters]

Salient features of email marketing

• Affordable and customized
• High return on investment
• Wide Reach
• Personalised target
• Networking [Enhance relation building]
• Greater customisation

For someone who is new to email marketing, few basics are crucial. Importance of email marketing, its benefits and strategies and how to start are some of the key basics.

To create strategies one must follow few simple steps

(a) Establish the purpose

Before you start, plan as to what you want to achieve. What should be your goal for the email marketing? Create your own unique selling points that create a product   differentiation. Work on the content. How do want to represent your brand in the email. Entice your consumers with good catchy subject line.

(b) Key performance indicators

Identify the KPI that measure your business performance. This will help to determine and adjust your goals.The KPI’s can be derived from the analytics of your emails. Setup specific measureable goals.

A/B testing is an important email intelligence model which will help to understand different parameters of the effectiveness of the email marketing.

(c) Create the email data base

One needs permission to get an email address. There are many ways to do it. For a potential consumer to share his or her email address, there needs to have a purpose behind.  The consumer should feel connected to your product. There needs to be some sort of enticement to share the email address. You need to create innovative methods to entice your consumes to opt-in. You need to segment your data list. This list should be ever growing.

(d) Get an email service provider

There are many available. Select the one that suite your purpose and goals.

(e) Privacy Regulations Compliance

As an online retailer, privacy and safety standards should allow and give confidence to your consumers to share their email and addresses and make online purchases. Being prepared for cyber attacks and complying with online privacy policies should be one of the top priorities. Obtain permissions from individuals via opt-in forms and explain that they will receive emailers.

(f) The follow up email

The first email should be a great introduction to a new world of experience. It should be able to build expectations.

The first email should be immediate. It should lay out plans as to what can a consumer expect in days to come in the email. It would be great to keep it quick and crisp yet being detailed on the crucial aspects that needs to catch the attention of the consumer. It should be unobtrusive. It should be able to create the brand awareness.

(g) The sales pitch

Empathy plays a key role. The transition from emails with offers to actual sales pitch should be relevant, timely and should be able to catch a consumer’s needs, wants and expectation at that moment. This segmentation with needs, wants and expectations should be done during the database creation stage. Blind random offers will create disinterest in the consumer mind and will eventually lead to blocking of the emails. Create sales pitch for first time buyers.

(h) An engaging email

A subscriber should be able to recollect the brand upon receiving the mail. There cannot be a disconnect. There cannot be long gaps between emails neither there should be too many emails. Build the brand reputation in the email through emotions and storytelling. The email should be appealing. You use multimedia designs in the email to get instant attention, to augment the written content. Emails should be able to create brand awareness, create consideration towards the products, allow consumer to evaluate the product and then a compelling offer to make the final purchase. Post purchase keep in touch with the consumer to gather their feedback. This will help in product enhancements and also better the email marketing plans.

(i) Use of auto responders

As subscribers base increases, following through is effectively done through auto responders. These can be pre-planned with a fixed schedule and helps to stay connected.

(j) The analytics of your emails

Your service provider helps you with this.

Know your “open rate” wherein how many people open your emails.

If relationship is strong, the “open rate “is high.

To increase”open rates” ensure emails do not end up in consumer spam folders. This can be avoided by:

1) Sending emails from verified domains

2) Email template code to be clean

3) Use good IP address

The “click through”  rate tell you as to how many people  have clicked on the link  that you  had shared on the email. This talks about the relevance of the product to the particular consumer and also talks about the correct target market. Timing of the mail is also important. You must think what time and what day emails must go out.

• Make the subject line standout with its uniqueness and encourage curiosity.
• The “unsubscribe” rate talks about the number of people who have clicked on the “unsubscribe” link in the email.
• Try to find when and why they are unsubscribing after opting to receive emails.
• Email marketing has the highest return on investments among all online channels.

(k) Segmentation

Create a segmentation list based  on  consumer behaviour patterns,  age, sex, region, product interest,  frequency of  email updates,  This  will  help to create a more target specific audience  for respective products. Segmentation can also be done based email analytics and thereafter send an email based on their   email activity.

Effective segmentation can double email “open rates”. Remove inactive subscribers from list but only after all efforts have been tried to activate them.

(l) Ease of use

Email marketing campaigns should be relevant with multi device use options.

67% of all emails opened are on mobile handsets. Formats and   contents must be such that mobile users are at ease to use them.

There is full control over every aspect of the email marketing medium, by you, via your content. Use images to make it look less text heavy.

(m) Targeted Reach

Unlike social media marketing, email marketing has a specific targeted reach

(n) Personalise the emails

Tailor makes the content for your consumer. This will ensure better relationship building.

Personalized emails will have 26% more chance to be opened.Write personalized subject line and message.

(o) Email Sequence

Draft a plan on the email sequence. How many emails to be sent? What gaps or duration they need to be sent. In the sequence of emails, plan what topic each email should cover.

Conclusion:

Email marketing is a tried method of doing sales online. Remember that you are a guest in the inbox of a consumer email. Emails should be polite, respectful, specific and relevant. Correct and planed email marketing delivers huge results.

Author Bio:

Sophia, an articulate and passionate writer and love for tech connected to the digital world. specialized in content marketing with an in-build of exploring words, suffering through content in a simple and unique expression. Let’s hold the stage