In the early days of Internet marketing, e-mail marketing was the alpha wolf at the head of the marketing pack. Everyone had an email address, spam-filtering technology was not what it is today and the novelty and newness of the Internet made sending e-mails to total strangers a feasible tactic to produce measurable returns. Times have changed and unsolicited e-mails are met with about as much enthusiasm as television advertisement, but e-mail marketing is far from dead! For those with creative minds and enthusiasm, email marketing still represents one of the most powerful means of marketing available to anyone. But how can you make the best use of it?
Advantages
Compared to direct mail, telemarketing, text messaging and Internet advertising, email marketing has some serious advantages. It’s a relatively non-intrusive form of marketing. It can be exceptionally interactive for readers. It can make use of multimedia like video, audio, images alongside engaging copy. They’re easy to make, easy to send and they can get a great response rate over traditional mail marketing. On the downside, emails are not a very persuasive form of marketing; it’s all too easy to see a sales pitch coming and hit the delete button before the email has even been read.
But that’s not all. Email marketing is also highly personal and you’re able to address individuals by their first name. It also has a fantastic return on investment (ROI) because sending mass email is either cheap or free depending on how it’s done, and writing a good one doesn’t take a staff writer. It’s also easy to measure how well your campaign is working because you know how many emails you’ve sent and which ones were worthwhile. But how do you make sure your 10,000 emails don’t end up in 10,000 trash bins?
Tips And Tricks Of the Email Trade
Did someone browse your site but didn’t buy? It’s possible to convert those who were just looking into active buyers by reengaging their interest with an email. Send out custom emails to visitors who have browsed a certain number of types of product without making a purchase. You could even include an incentive in the email, like a user-specific discount.
You can also use incentives with birthday emails. Send a message wishing your target a happy birthday, and include an e-coupon for a discount on their next purchase. Not only will that email be opened, it may even help build brand loyalty.
You can send follow-up emails to those who’ve made purchases a few weeks after they’ve received their product or service, and ask them for a review. Not only will this reengage your customer with your website and possibly provide some useful feedback for your business, it also offers free content and a boost to your SEO.
What do these three tactics have in common? None of them send unsolicited and undesirable content that is instantly perceived as a marketing ploy. Getting your message across is half the battle and sending emails to recipients that already follow a particular brand, company or have already bought something is one of the best ways to avoid that electronic rubbish bin.
Photo courtesy: verticalresponse.com
