Email Marketing is back: all you need to know about it
WHAT IS EMAIL MARKETING?
Sending emails to potential or current customers is considered email marketing. Yes, as simple as that. But like any other field, there is much to explore in here as well. And believe it or not, it is till date one of the most efficient features of digital marketing. If only people were more aware of its advantages.
What are the stats saying?
If people can stop considering the death of email marketing as a real thing, we can convince them about the benefits it is still capable of bringing.
According to a survey by The Manifest, 69% of businesses still use email marketing, with 41% of them sending weekly emails to their mailing list. And every year, 74 trillion emails are sent globally. Of course, the numbers are only skyrocketing.
On the user’s end, stats say that 99% of internet users check their emails every day. Doesn’t that say a lot? Or the fact that the number of emails sent and received every day is expected to increase to 333 billion by 2022!
We hope we have made it transparent that email marketing still has a long way to go. So, let’s get into how exactly you should go about it. We’re beginning with the types of emails you can send to your mailing list.
Types of Email marketing
Welcome emails
Whenever you have a new subscriber on board, you can greet them with an email and thank them for joining the journey. With some subsequent emails, you can guide them with verifications, give your brief introduction and send invites to your social media.
With one email, you can also get to know some details about them like their birth date, place of residence, gender, and ask them how they found you. These are the details you would eventually need for other marketing tactics.
However, make sure you don’t send out more than 3 emails on this chain. Doing so may scare the subscriber away. Also, you can follow the same strategy for people who haven’t subscribed but have recently bought one of your products or services.
Promotional campaigns
Is email marketing effective? It sure is, you just have to use it the right way. If you are launching a new product, going on a seasonal sale, or offering a festival discount, be smart about it. Your consumers would love to know about all this. Promotional campaigns can stir curiosity about your business, attract the attention of the user, and help you promote your brand.
Triggered emails
Studies show that over 75% of email revenue is generated through triggered emails. These are the emails which are sent out to a specific target audience because they clicked on something relevant or put items in their cart but left without buying.
Triggered emails are effective because they only have to do half the job. The task you’re trying to accomplish with the email is already half done because they’ve shown prior interest. So now, you just have to convince them to go ahead with it. This is one of the strategies which clears your doubt, “is email marketing worth it?”. Because it definitely is.
Newsletters
Sending a newsletter is more like communicating with your mailing list on a monthly basis. While they may not help you promote your company or an event directly, they do help you keep users in the loop.
By adding news about your new clients, the exceptional work you did in the past month, or the awards you recently won, you build a positive impression of your business in front of them. And at the end of the day, interesting content always finds an audience, so you’re indirectly growing your customer base by sending out newsletters.
Re-engagement emails
These are the emails targeted to reach an audience that hasn’t been too active on your business platform lately. In such cases, don’t accept defeat. By reminding them about the goodness your brand has to offer, you can always help them find a way back.
Sometimes, users tend to forget about your company due to the competition or simply because of the other things they are attending to. So, a gentle reminder saying “It’s been a while” can work the magic for you.
Benefits of email marketing
All the types we discussed above have their own benefits, which are pretty direct. However, there are other, major ways to benefit from email marketing. With quality content, a good email marketing strategy, and a lot of enthusiasm, you can make a huge difference in your business.
Here are some pros of email marketing which are worth considering.
Reach a global audience
The best part about emails is that you can send bunches of them oceans away, and it won’t cost you a fortune. By maintaining a mailing list, you can reach people who are spread across the world. Thus, it allows you to spread your wings and keep in touch with a global audience without much fuss.
Avail low-cost marketing
It is said that for every dollar you spend on email marketing, you get business worth 44$. Now that is what a cost-effective marketing strategy looks like, don’t you think? Apart from ESP and content curation charges, there’s not much investment that goes into this. In return, you reach your consumers with messages about your brand. Fair deal, we believe.
Remind users about your business
We’ll tell you about the importance of sending regular emails. Sometimes, your consumers forget about your brand. The competition is always strong. So, before they divert to one of your competitors, you’d better want to send an email as a reminder.
When you send regular emails, you stay at the back of your customers’ mind, thus helping them come to you when they need your product or service. Remember that sending an email won’t hurt, but not sending any can cost you a valued customer.
Increase revenues
All digital marketing services in India target at increasing the revenues, directly or indirectly. Email marketing is no exception. The market sees a revenue of 29 billion pounds every year, all credited to emails. A great platform for impulse buying, email lets a user buy something in just two clicks, unlike all other media.
Moreover, by using customer psychology in marketing and sales, you can add to your revenues with the help of just emails. Exciting, isn’t it?
How to win at email marketing
Make responsible use of emails
If you are flooding your customers account with many emails a day, or even a week, you are doing it all wrong. 53% of the people who use the email service feel that they get too many irrelevant emails. And you surely don’t want to be a company your consumer is annoyed with. So, get an optimum frequency on your emails according to the purpose.
As opposed to that, sending scarce emails also does not work out. If you are sending one email in, let’s say, 4 months, your consumers may forget about your business. And they may simply go to your rival company who sends out more regular emails.
So, the importance of email in business is profound, and be wise while making use of it.
Be generous
Even if it is not the 1990s, your customers still love discount coupons. The only thing that has changed is that now, they seek coupons from emails instead of newspapers. Every once in a while, you can send out a discount coupon code in a way that you don’t lose out on the profit.
This way, users who weren’t looking to make a purchase at all, may be drawn towards the discount. And they could end up making the purchase, thus helping you drive the sales.
Shake hands with service providers
Since you will be sending out multiple emails to a bundle of people, you can’t do it manually. Email service providers help with sending emails you have created to a wide audience on your behalf.
While a digital marketing agency in India will help you create an emailing strategy and provide the content, actually sending the emails is something Email Service Providers will do. So better get them on board in advance.
Understand your customer
By mapping their search history, the things they bought, and related searches on the internet, you can get an idea of the customers’ likings and activities. This information can work wonders for you.
For example, if your customers are more interested in this one service that you offer, you can market it more through your emails. Or, if you know that most of your subscribers found you on Facebook, you know to market your Facebook profile more.
You can also use data like their birth date, country of residence, and their preferences to know what kind of content you want to market through your emails.
Give personal attention
Greet your customers on their special days and even at festivals. Moreover, according to their shopping preferences, you can send them a slide of products they’d be interested in. You can also remind them about the things lying in their wish list or do something more creative. It won’t hurt. Customers love personal attention from their sellers.
Make emails mobile friendly
As you know by now, benefits of email marketing for businesses are abundant. Also, know this. More than 50% of the emails are opened on the mobile phone and not on the website. Thus, when you are designing your email, make sure that it is compatible with phones.
If it isn’t, customers may lose interest in going through with the email due to the poor user experience. And we know, that is the last thing you’d want happening.
All in all
Email marketing could be the best thing to happen to your business this year. If you haven’t already begun, now is the time to start sending out those humorous, interesting, and relevant emails on a regular basis. And if you want to be as professional as possible with it, hire a digital marketing expert in India to help you with the task.
Originally published at www.raredevs.com on January 15, 2019.
