As more and more businesses go online, companies adopt new strategies of online marketing to maximise their reach to customers. Irrespective of these newer online marketing techniques, email marketing continues to be an effective tool for advertising campaigns.
This article will explore how email marketing can be beneficial for businesses in 2022, what some email marketing tools are, and some successful email advertising practices employed by small businesses.
What Is Email Marketing?
Email marketing is sending emails by a company to contacts who have been permitted to receive such emails from them. These emails can be promotional, informational, or in the form of a newsletter.
With the advent of newer social media advertising techniques, it is thought by many that email marketing is archaic and no longer useful. However, emails should be an integral part of any advertising strategy. According to the DMA Email Benchmarking Report, EDM marketing (electronic direct marketing) generates an average return on investment of US$50 for every US$1 spent. It also increases other email marketing metrics such as click through rate, conversion rate, forwarding rate, and open rate.
More than a decade ago, email campaigns were largely made up of ineffective email blasts that fell on deaf ears. An email blast is a strategy by which a single electronic mail is sent simultaneously to an extensive contact list without personalisation or design. Modern email marketing strategies have evolved, with emails being sent personalised and targeted to the consenting customers.
Types Of Emails
The various types of emails that businesses use in an email campaign to reach out to their customers include:
Promotional Emails — These emails are used to promote new products/services or inform about special offers. They also have a call to action (CTA) that consists of a phrase or sentence that cajoles the customers to take action (for example, visit a webpage, login to the website, or buy a product or service)
Newsletters — They are used to share news about the business, what milestones were met and what new milestones have been set for the future, and any other information that might interest them.
Re-engagement Emails — The primary purpose of these emails is to engage those customers that have not been active of late. They may include emails sent to customers after they have abandoned their online shopping cart, with alternatives to the products they have added to their carts. They might even be membership sign-up forms, persuading those whose memberships have lapsed or will be expiring soon to sign up again.
Announcements — These emails are used to make announcements, for example: price revisions, new product releases, store timing updates, changes in service, and more.
How Does Email Marketing Help Businesses?
An email marketing campaign can help businesses achieve various benefits, as discussed below:
You can send emails to customers to increase conversions through promotional emails, re-engagement emails, special offers, and personalised coupons such as discounts on certain items, free gifts with a minimum purchase, or a mystery or surprise deal.
Emails can potentially improve your customer reach since it is a highly accessible advertising platform with users of all age groups.
Personalised emails allow you to create brand awareness among customers.
It is an affordable marketing technique whereby emails are sent to a large group of people at one go. In this way, you can cut costs as compared to other marketing channels as there is no postage or printing cost.
When you are in constant communication with your customers through personalised emails, you can increase customer loyalty as it builds a stronger emotional connection by making them feel valued.
When Do You Start Email Copywriting? What Should You Include In It?
The main element of email copywriting is to write engaging and persuasive copy that the users can identify with. It should start with a personalised message that addresses the user directly by name. The email should:
Talk directly to the user.
Show your brand’s personality.
Have an exciting topic.
Converse with the user in a simple yet engaging style.
Comprising small paragraphs that are not too wordy so users won't be bored by the content.
Contain the sender’s name and signature at the end to create a personal touch as well as convey sincerity.
2. Sender
You can easily create and send out personalised and customised newsletters through Sender's built-in templates. It even allows you to track opened emails and links that have been clicked on.
3. Sendinblue
Sendinblue offers over 70 design templates of which you can create customised emails and reach out to the target audience by using its features such as A/B testing and segmented recipient lists.
4. Omnisend
Omnisend allows small businesses to automate their email delivery system using behavioural triggers and send scheduled emails to customers based on their preferences. It also offers the option of including scratch cards, discount coupon codes, and gift boxes with the emails.
5. SendPulse
SendPulse allows you to create customised emails with simple drag and drop options using hundreds of template designs. You can send these emails at scheduled times based on customer behaviours and analyse open and click rates as well as each subscriber's read and unread rates.
Successful Email Marketing Best Practices For Small Businesses
Small businesses have adopted email marketing practices to increase quality leads and upsell existing customers. The following showcases some small businesses that are using email marketing tips and strategies to their advantage.
1. Argos
Argos is a UK-based toy and home-furnishing company that adopted a cart abandonment email strategy. Whenever users abandon a cart, Argos will send a follow-up email with six alternative products based on the customer’s demographic information and what he or she has added to the online shopping cart. Through this approach, Argos was able to boost its sales and conversions.
2. Dell
Dell is a computer developing and support company that uses e-commerce email marketing techniques to boost its revenues. Although videos are the usual preferred choice in emails, they launched an email marketing campaign that concentrated solely on GIFs. The old-school concept received positive response from the audience which resulted in a 109% increase in Dell’s revenue.
3. Zumba Fitness
Zumba Fitness is a company that boosted its average open rate by incorporating email videos of past Zumba Instructor Conventions. The videos end with a special call-to-action copy that came in the form of an invitation with the recipient’s name. This personalisation allowed Zumba Fitness to see a 50% click-to-open rate, a big increase as compared to the industry average of 23.61%.
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