Email marketing is one of the oldest means of business promotion that still has a high value in the world of business today.
Of all the newest methods of marketing, email marketing is still very much relevant and conversational today, because take, for instance, you run a social media promotional content or ad, your target audience needs to be online to see your ads. That is right!
Now, if they are not available online at the period your targeted ad is scheduled to run, they will obviously miss out on seeing the ad.
If you run a Google ad, your targeted audience also needs to be available on the web to see your ad. And what if they are not available at that moment? What happens to your promotional content?
But the result is not the same for email marketing. Communicating with your clients or prospective clients through email marketing delivers your message straight to their inboxes. This allows them to see and read your content without worries.
In this post, you will learn the basics of email marketing so you can effectively achieve your marketing goal.
What is Email Marketing?
Simply put, email marketing is a marketing channel used to promote the products and services of a business.
Now that you have learnt what email marketing is, you may want to know how this marketing channel works.
How Does Email Marketing Work?
Every marketing campaign has a purpose, so if you choose email marketing, do it right to get the desired results.
1. Your email list
At this stage, you already have all the email contacts you need for this exercise. A good way to build an email marketing list is by a lead magnet. You probably offer something for the email address.
Maybe a coupon, free eBook, free guides or webinar and many of them. By offering this, people sign up with their email addresses and you store them in your database for your email marketing campaign.
2. You need an email service software
Email service provider makes your email marketing campaign easy. By the way, what is an email service provider?
An email service provider is an email marketing software that manages email lists. Well, it is that straightforward.
Using this software for your marketing campaign gives room for automation. You can as well personalize the engagement and conversions.
3. Your marketing goals
Your goals are the reasons for the campaign. Having clearly defined goals helps you to know the right thing to do and measure your results.
Your goals could be:
- To boost your brand awareness
- To keep your customers engaged
- To generate leads
- To drive sales
The list does not end here. Identify more marketing goals, add them up to the list, and let your goals guide you with the campaign.
Arrange your email list in accordance with the subscriber’s demographics. Thereafter, you create an email specifically tailored to get your consumers to carry out an action. This ‘action’ is your goal now, which was discussed above.
The next thing to do is to send emails using an email service provider and automatically monitor the progress of the campaign.
Pros and Cons of Email Marketing
Email marketing has its own advantages and disadvantages, just like all other marketing channels. But the good news is that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.
You will discover here the good and not so good side of this marketing method.
Advantages of email marketing
- It’s inexpensive
The amount of money you spend on email marketing is less compared to other forms of marketing. There are a good number of email service software. Check for the one that works for you and sign up.
- It’s scalable
This means that you can reach a large audience with email marketing
- Good conversion rate and sales
You can let people know about your new promotions and offers through email and they can click on the link straight to the landing page. This can lead them to decide whether to buy. But in most cases, they buy.
- It saves time
Email marketing gives room for automation and with this, you can automate sending emails to subscribers depending on the action they took on your website.
- It’s shareable
It is easy for people to share your mail that interests them with other people. Promoting your brand through word of mouth.
- Ability to personalize mail
You can personalize the messages you send to your customers
Disadvantages of email marketing
- Inability to get an email list
Sometimes getting an email list could be a daunting task, but it’s never possible. And sometimes you may not get enough emails for your campaign.
- Rules and regulations — there are rules governing email marketing. An example of such a rule is that you can not disturb people with unsolicited emails.
- Spam — some people might subscribe to your email list but can still report your mail as spam.
- Delivery issues — sometimes for your message to deliver successfully might be an issue.
Top 10 Email Marketing Software
These are all email marketing tools. The good thing about them is that you can use them at no cost. So, with any of these, you can start your email marketing campaign right away.
With HubSpot, you can design emails independently and also optimise them to improve the quality of your results.
2. Mailchimp
You can engage your audience with Mailchimp’s branded emails. They automated it for beautiful results.
3. Omisend
You easily customize your email template to fit your brand. The features are stunning and amazing.
4. Sendinblue
Personalize your customer’s journey with Sendinblue. It has features like marketing automation, segmentation, CRM, and transactional email.
Another marketing tool with beautiful features. You can always start with the free plan.
6. Sender
No coding, drag-and-drop builder, responsive emails and free template gallery. It is easy to use.
7. Mailerlite
You can strengthen your customer relationship with Mailerlite. East tp automate and monetize.
8. Sendpulse
You can speed up the growth of camping with Sendpulse. It has all the features you will need to succeed in your marketing campaign, such as email verifier, transactional email, automation, etc.
9. Moosend
It helps you to build email campaigns with fast results. You can grow and automate your marketing, personalize your email, manage your audience, and track your effort with Moosend.
10. Drip
This is an email and SMS marketing tool you can use to grow your eCommerce business. It promises forms and pop-ups, segmentation and personalization, insights and guidance.
How to Automate Your Email Marketing
Automated email marketing is the method of automatically sending a series of emails to your subscribers. So, for your campaign, using an email marketing provider, automation is quite easy.
Here are a few things to do:
- Keep it segmented
Every email marketing starts with the segmentation of your list. This simply means that segment your subscribers according to the data you have about them, to make it more personalized.
- Designing of Workflow
Once the segmentation of your email list is done, then it’s time to give your workflow some good design. Design is necessary so that all the goals of the different campaigns are being fulfilled.
- Choose the correct triggers
Here you choose the correct triggers that will automatically send the emails.
Conclusion
Email marketing has been such a great marking channel for a long time. You can achieve your goals with it, so if you have been paying less attention to it, you don’t have to anymore.
People are embracing email marketing more now
Follow all the points listed above and see positive results in a considerable time.