Benefits of Email Marketing

Whether you or a large or small business, you must be able to reach your customer base. There are many different ways to advertise your products or services, but one of the most effective methods is an email marketing campaign. Email marketing involves sending advertisements and alerts to a list of contacts. In order to receive emails, customers must sign up and agree to receive messages. Not only does this keep your messages from getting filtered to spam folders, but it also keeps your customers happy, since they aren’t receiving unsolicited mail.

There are several different types of email marketing, each with a different focus. Sending out emails is a largely automated process. Which program you use largely depends on the size of your business and your overall marketing goals. Listed below are the most common types of email marketing campaigns and some of the top marketing software.

Personalizing your Content

To make the most out of email marketing, you must create personalized content for your customers. With the right software, you can add individual touches to your emails to make the messages seem less generic. Even something as small as including the customer’s name in the initial message has a greater chance of the mail being read. You can further customize content by choosing who receives what messages. For example, you can set different messages for returning customers versus one-time customers, or users who have not used their accounts in several weeks.

There are advanced options that allow you to filter emails based on geography and engagement levels. By personalizing your emails, your messages are more memorable and show you value customer loyalty.

Gathering Data

Email marketing is not only about reaching your customers. It is also a great tool to receive information. A common use of email marketing is sending out surveys to get feedback on whether customers are happy with your services. Most businesses offer incentives to customers who complete the survey, such as a small discount on their next purchase, or free shipping on an order. 

Even if customers do not fill out the survey, they are still providing data. You can check how often your emails are read. This is a good way to get an accurate number of customers reading your services compared to the total registered users. If you notice low engagement, it means your campaign is not working and you need to rethink your strategy. 

Running Promotions

For many customers, the biggest benefit of email marketing is the deals. Rewarding customers for reading emails is an excellent way to keep customers interested. In addition to running planned sales, you can also setup special offers for members on your email list. For example, some businesses will incentivize free shipping for customers who frequently add items to their online shopping cart, but end up abandoning their cart. You can also offer sales on items your customers frequently purchase. This not only makes customers appreciate your business, but it often leads to customers shopping for other items on your website.

Saving Money

Email marketing saves you as much money as your customers. Other methods of advertising are expensive, especially if you want to run multiple ads. Email marketing is significantly less expensive. The ad campaigns are quick to generate, and the marketing software does the majority of work for you. Marketing software is fairly inexpensive as well. Most have monthly memberships, charging a small fee for services, but there are a few programs that allow you to pay a one-time fee to purchase the program.

Types of Email Marketing

The most common type of email marketing is promotion emails. These are short alerts which advertise new products or sales to customers. During major spending seasons, such as a Black Friday sale, you can set multiple promotional emails to update customers when items become available on your website. You can also set up templates to periodically email customers new coupons or discount codes to incentivize them to keep shopping and opening emails.

Newsletters are a way to update customers about changes to your business. This is a good opportunity to discuss new products and services, or major changes to your websites. Re-engagement emails are sent to customers who haven’t been active on your website. Some messages include promotions, while others request feedback on how to make a better user experience. Businesses also use these emails to try and gauge whether an account is inactive because the email is no longer in use, or if the customer actually lost interest. 

Constant Contact

Constant Contact is a newer email marketing service, but it is quickly growing in popularity, especially among smaller businesses. It includes many options for managing campaigns, including the ability to make different templates, create multiple contact lists and set up a calendar to automatically send emails and manage advertisements. There are several account tiers, but each includes unlimited emails and built-in reporting. Constant Contact provides free tutorials on how to use the software, as well as effective ways to create marketing campaigns. Pricing begins as low as $9.99 a month. As of writing, the company provides a free 60-day trial. 

Moosend

Some email marketing software is intimidating because it requires extensive knowledge on how to create your own templates and modify images. Moosend is a great program if you are not comfortable generating your own content. It has an easy-to-use interface and tutorials for creating interactive emails. It also contains advanced automation features, automatically assigning users into different categories. Everything is drag and drop, making it a breeze to create new marketing content. Moosend offers a limited free trial. Paid membership starts at $7 each month and supports unlimited emails and up to 1,000,000 subscribers.

HubSpot