Email marketing is among the top profitable marketing channels that can generate a high investment return of €42 for every €1. Emails play important roles in your digital marketing strategies, hence the need for an email marketing strategy plan. Ignoring email marketing can be compared to leaving money on the table for anyone to take any time they wish to. However, it is overwhelming to know where to start on email marketing, and it is normal. Email is a vast entity. Therefore, it is easy for a newbie to get lost in the ground full of terminologies, tools and techniques. The best way to go about email marketing is to learn how it works before launching the first campaign. Because of that, you will avoid many embarrassments and benefit from outstanding results at all times. This is the best beginner guide that can teach you what email marketing is and its working principles. By the end of this article, you will have strong knowledge of the basics and the know-how to have a successful email marketing launch for your business. So, read on to learn more!
What is Email Marketing?
Sending a commercial message through the email to your subscriber is the aim of email marketing. Email subscribers are contact signed up to the email list and have direct permission to get any email communications from you. There are several ways you can get email subscribers, with the primary one being to create a mailing list from outlook contacts. Email marketing is mainly used to build a community around the brand, drive sales and inform. Modern email internet marketing service has moved from the traditional one side fit all mailing to a more segmented, consent and personalised mailing.
Types of Email Marketing
Emails can be categorised as either informational or promotional, and they are used to fulfil a particular buyer's need.
1. Informational Emails
Informational emails involve sharing news related to the well-being of your business or the information highlights of product issues and use. Informative emails are sent according to the preferred schedule (monthly, bi-weekly or weekly). Therefore, you will have a consistent connection with your contact subscribers. Sending a newsletter is one of the best ways of sharing tips, thoughts and insight with your subscribers. In addition, you can use an announcement email to inform your customers about any changes, new releases or announcements in your company. Email is equipped with the necessary tools and formalities for important message delivery as a channel. This is a perfect explanation of why many brands used email to send crisis messages during the COVID 19 pandemic.
2. Promotional Emails
Email internet marketing services are mostly used in promotions in many companies regardless of whether it is a webinar, an eBook or a new product release. An email marketing campaign can have a maximum of 10 emails sent in different days or weeks. Promotional email marketing has a clear CTA (call-to-action). The call-to-action represents a specific action you intend the reader to take. This type of email marketing is sent when and as required while putting your businesses' rhythm in line.
How Email Marketing Works
Nowadays, businesses use ESP (email service provider) to send marketing emails to different clients. Therefore, the main work of an email service provider is to manage and send email marketing campaigns. The email service provider can also be referred to as an email marketing platform, email marketing service, email marketing software or email marketing tool. Though it is possible to send marketing emails using a regular inbox provider and avoid paying for additional email internet marketing services, you can run into problems with design, limited email bandwidth and email deliverability. ISPs (internet service providers) like yahoo, outlook and Gmail are designed only for personal use (cannot be used for email blasts). If you do, when you receive a mass email from an ISP, it can be flagged easily by spam filters. This can result to your account getting disabled or closed for suspicious activities. On the other hand, ESPs have all the required infrastructure to ensure deliverability (the ability to land emails in your inbox). It is important to look for a dedicated email marketing service and email marketing strategy plan to be successful in email marketing from day one.
Requirements to Start Email Marketing
The only thing you need to do is to keep it simple. You'll require only two primary things to run email marketing campaigns:
1. Email Marketing Software
As discussed earlier, getting a dedicated email marketing provider is everything. Using ISP in sending marketing emails will only risk your reputation.
2. An Email List
Email list contains many things like email addresses of subscribers who signed to receive every email communication from you. The number one rule of email list is that every participant must have permitted you to be there. This means they agreed to get emails from you when they signed up their email address on your blog, landing page, social media or website. This process is opting in to subscribe and opting out is unsubscribing. Permission-based marketing is important to conform to subscribers' safety and data protection laws and safeguard your brand integrity. Nobody likes spammers! Learning email list building strategies will help you when launching your first email marketing campaign.
3 Best Practices for Successful Email Marketing
1. Avoid Buying Email Lists
Building your email list can be slow, especially when starting the campaign. Buying an email list can look real easy, but it is a terrible idea. Instead, learn to create mailing list from outlook contacts to reap the benefits in the long run.
2. Using Double Opt-In
This is where you send a confirmation email to every new subscriber. Subscribers can complete their subscription by clicking the link. Without this verification, they will not get any email from you.
3. Segmenting Your Mailing List
You are likely to have diverse buyer profiles in your email as the list expands. Therefore, you need to divide your list into sub-lists while considering what they have in common.
To wrap up
Email marking is a pivotal tool for communicating with existing customers and reeling in new leads. Following the best practices outlined above will help you build your email list and grow as a strategic email marketer. Get modern, attractive templates with built-in email analytics to manage your entire emailing experience. For a reliable email software use our Email Marketing tool. To learn more about our email marketing tool connect with an expert here, or review our blogs.
