What is Email Marketing?
Email Marketing is the process of sending emails to promote your business. These emails are typically sent to prospects to help convince them to buy your products and services or they’re sent to existing customers to encourage repeat business. Either way, there is an art to using email and when used correctly it can help you grow your business. Email marketing will always remain a powerful tool that can help businesses acquire, engage and retain customers.
The Two Categories of Email Marketing
There are two types of email marketing that can be categorized as Email Newsletters and Email Campaigns.
Email Newsletters
Email Newsletters are emails that are sent regularly to communicate to your email subscribers. Think of Newsletter as a new piece of content or relevant info that you’re sending to the email list. This may include new promotions, new case studies, new blog posts or just new information that provides value to your subscribers. Email Newsletters are similar to social media marketing as both involve creating content and publishing that content so that their audience can see it. The only difference between the two is that instead of seeing your content on social media, they’ll be seeing that content in their mail inbox.
Email Campaigns
Email campaigns on the other hand are premade automated emails that are sent according to a pre-existing schedule. If you have ever come across the terms like mail automation, cart-abandonment emails; they all generally fall under this category. Email campaigns are usually based on follow-up mechanisms. For example, if a customer visited your website and inquired about your products but did not buy it at that exact time, with email campaigns, you can send an email at any frequency you choose, to stay in front of potential buyers. To be successful in setting up email campaigns, you really need to understand the psychology behind how your customers buy your products, what problems are they experiencing, and so on. When you fully understand the buyer’s journey of your own products you can design an email campaign that motivates people to buy from you.
The different types of Email Marketing Campaigns
Email campaigns are further divided into different types such as;
Welcome Emails
Welcome Emails are the first emails people receive from you when they decide to submit or signup for your newsletters on your website. Welcome emails are the best ways to capture and convert new and potential customers. Welcome emails should be designed and created in such a way that the recipient should get a clear picture as to what your business is all about and also convey how your business offerings are beneficial for them.
Educational Emails
The Educational Email campaign is a great way to make your customer and subscriber learn more about your products and services and/or understand your brand. Sending informative content to the audience about your business, products, services and their benefits helps them gain more knowledge and moreover may be encouraged to make a purchase.
Promotional Emails
This type of email campaign is the most effective type among all other types. Promotional emails include offers, discounts, and other promotional activity details offered by your business. When your audience receives these emails, they are more likely to take some action like purchasing your product or service and in the process increasing conversion rate.
Re-engagement emails
It is natural for customers and subscribers to disengage with your brand over time. Re-engagement emails are sent to such inactive customers and focus on encouraging them to keep your company and brand on top of their minds. The purpose of these emails is to gain their interest back by providing valuable content fulfilling the recipient’s needs.
Cart- Abandonment emails
Shopping cart abandonment emails are sent when a customer decides to go on your online store, fill up their cart and then leave it. Cart-Abandonment emails act as a reminder email and are sent with an intent to convert them to make a purchase.
Major benefits of Email Marketing
Increase Return on Investment (ROI)
Email marketing is the most cost effective type of marketing you can invest in and eventually result in increased revenue by increasing sales effectively. You can easily feature products or services which are most likely to be searched by the prospects by incorporating automated messages and providing people with the opportunity to buy. With email marketing, you can also increase ROI by creating a special offers for future purchases.
Brand Awareness
Email marketing is a great way to build recognition for your brand by creating a brand guide and mailing it to each and every person subscribed to your newsletter which lets them be familiarized with your brand. Making people aware of your brand will increase their interest in the products or services you offer.
Collect feedback and surveys
Understanding customer’s experience towards your brand, your products and services is very important. Through email campaigns you can create the feedback and survey forms and then mail it to your audience. The data received from the survey will help you understand their experience so you could take necessary steps to improve the same.
Measurable and Flexible
Email Campaigns are easily monitored and measured with a few key tools. Metrics that can be tracked are click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and so on. It is easy to measure the performance and look closely at the errors so as you can make appropriate changes.
Create Personalized Content
With email campaigns, you can send personalized mails that are customized with the targeted content suitable to a particular individual’s needs.
