What is e-mail marketing?
e-mail marketing is a form of direct marketing which uses electronic mail as a means of communication for promoting and introducing a product to an audience. In its broadest sense, every e-mail sent to a potential or current customer could be considered e-mail marketing.
E-mail marketing is one of the branches of internet marketing which can take your business to an another level by providing huge targeted and potential customers.
Over the past ten years, email marketing has grown into one of the most flexible and in-demand applications and disciplines of the Internet economy. According to a study by comScore in August 2007, the worldwide web mail market includes more than half a billion people. The Radicati Group projected that there were nearly 1.2 billion hosted email inboxes worldwide as of October 2007, a number that is expected to rise to 1.6 billion by 2011. Email is still an emerging marketing medium, and the industry is young.
The Five Types of Email:
Following are effectively five key types of email messages that can be created, for your message, using thousands of creative, i.e. images and marketing copy.
· Awareness
· Consideration
· Conversion
· Product Usage
· Retention and Loyalty
Awareness:
This is the first stage of your email marketing. At this stage your main goal of the email is not to sell, but to create and drive consumer’s awareness to your brand, product or service. Awareness-focused emails often do not work alone. They are meant to drive a recipient to another location, offline or online, to get more information, or to be engaged with the brand or product. Apple does this really very well. Almost one month before launching the latest version of iphones, Apple started sending emails, to make the consumers aware of something they may be interested in and put the thought in their heads that more messaging is coming so that they will be more receptive to the next message.
Consideration:
Once you succeed in driving consumer’s attention to your products and services, you need to think about a new type of email: email messages that create and drive consideration. Consideration emails focus on exposing the consumer’s awareness to the specific benefits of the product, so that they actively move towards the action to buy or try your product.
Conversion:
Once the reader is already in the mood or mind set to purchase something from your company that is the time when conversion emails come into picture. These messages are your standard hard hitting, “Buy it now” and “Sign up today” emails. But email marketers should keep this in mind that these emails can be the worst performers when you evaluate you return on investment (ROI).
Product Usage:
Once someone purchases your product, your best bet is to keep the lines of communication and influence open, by sending emails containing recommendations to other products and services offered by your company, besides this one week later you can send an email asking them to complete a survey about how happy they are with the products they have purchased from your company. This can help soothe upset consumers or expand the reach of loyalties.
Email Marketing Software:
Email marketing software is a computer application that is capable of sending bulk emails to the targeted audiences. It consists of a database which stores the history of messages, contact information and campaign statistics. The features provided by the interface are contact importing, reporting, contact entry and message sending. You can speed up the process of direct marketing by sending personalized messages to a potential customer. A scheduler that is included in most of the email marketing software sends emails automatically. This software can be used in business to make communication more professional.
Most of the email marketing software contains templates to send attractive emails. It also has tracking functions to know how many mails are opened by people, how many are visited the hyperlinks in the marketing message, how many people purchased the products as a result of email and how many mails are bounced-back. It is found that HTML emails increase sales and because of this most of the email marketers want to have HTML format. Many of these softwares are coming with HTML format which is easy for any user and quick to compose.
The software provides effectiveness to the email marketing campaigns by going in to smallest details. This software enables the small business to stay in touch with past customers and motivates them to return back for purchases again and again. Now-a-days, many businesses are using the power of email marketing software to market their products. This software helps you to send email messages to your past customers at frequent intervals so that your brand name is remembered by the consumers. Use this software to provide special discounts for your past customers and there by generate sales. Any thing is possible, if a businessperson have the right software with him. Email marketing software sends email news alerts and email newsletters to the subscribers.
Email Marketing Services:
Email Marketing Services help you to set up your email lists much faster. Also the feature set should be beneficial in assisting you in generating email, monitoring results, and creating contact lists. The email marketing service provides you with reports that are all-inclusive and simple to understand and employ-then you can keep up with how effective your email marketing campaign is and correct any problems. Also the design factor is very important. The best quality services will help with creating contact lists and will offer a HTML email editor to enable you to add links, images, and tables.
Requirements differ for different companies. Some businesses already know the audience they need to target. These companies may want to build, change, or maintain their own distribution lists. The best marketing solution for this type of business is the Email Marketing Application. Now, another method is the Campaign Submission Service in which you can get a third party to help you choose the email list that is best suited to your product. This third party should be a qualified professional that can help you to acquire the right email distribution list. Such a service is great for beginners in the business.
Remember, you need to seek the appropriate email marketing services in accordance with the type of business you have. An email marketing service is an extremely valuable tool in helping you to create the most effective advertising campaign for your company. It is an essential factor in enhancing the growth and prosperity you need to compete in today's business world.
Taking Advantage of E-Mail Marketing Software & Email Marketing Services:
The days when you could send a single e-mail and blind-copy hundreds of other people – by adding e-mail addresses to the BBC field in an e-mail are gone. Spam, filters, firewalls, junk folders and consumers distrust are all reasons to turn to professionals for help with your e-mail strategy. But you don't have to worry as Email marketing services and software has made it much easier for you by providing one or more of the following commercial e-mail services:
Improved e-mail deliverability
E-mail template design
E-mail message and content creation
Tracking reports
Advice and consulting
Database And List Management System
Email Marketing Software and Online E-mail Marketing Services:
Both help you create effective bulk e-mail campaigns to increase you customer base and boost your sells. However there are some major differences between the two. Deciding which is right for your business ultimately depends on which will save your company time and money and above all delivers the result you want.
The following are the major differences between email marketing software and online email marketing services:
Online services offer more reports than email marketing software. A good online service offers valuable reports on click-throughs, conversions, replies, forwards, opened emails, bounced emails, subscribed/unsubscribed numbers and more. If you values feedback to improve your campaign, an email marketing service will better fulfil your needs.
Email marketing software has a one-time purchase cost. The standard versions range from $49 up to $495. The professional software packages are more costly and range from $179 up to $985. On the other hand Email Marketing Services usually have a monthly price (range from $179 to $985) or may also charge on the basis of number of e-mails being sent, say for 1000 e-mails price ranges from $9.95 up to $500
If you choose to use email marketing software you'll have to connect your SMTP server to the program so you can send out the emails. The number of emails you can send, speed of delivery and timeout depends on your SMTP server. Whereas, to take advantage of all of the features of an online bulk email service, including an autoresponse feature, you only need an Internet connection. Services will work with a number of platforms. Check before you sign up to ensure it will work with yours
Checking Out Leading ESP's:
The following is a list of some of the leading ESPs in various niches. To prepare your own ESP's list, search for "e-mail marketing solutions" on Google.
Constant Contact (www.constantcontact.com):
Comprehensive service designed small businesses offering an easy to use graphical user interface, simple list upload, and over 200 templates as well as an integrated e-mail/online survey product. Start at $15 flat fee per month and includes unlimited free support and online training.
iContact(www.icontact.com):
offers simple and easy-to-use, yet powerful email marketing software for modern growing businesses. The online solution from iContact manages to exceed their goals and is the best e-mail marketing service available. Starts at $19 flat fee per month and also offers 7 days free trial version.
Benchmarkemail(www.benchmarkemail.com): Benchmark is one of the most budget-friendly email marketing services, one of the best overall services on the market, This service has all the tools you'll need to attract a robust client base and ultimately improve your bottom line. Combining all the right features, an easy to use system, and a great price, Benchmark provides an amazing email marketing solution. Starts at $9.95 for 600 emails a month.
Microsoft Office 2007(www.office.microsoft.com): Offers template creation through word and publisher documents and includes a separate e-mail marketing service for bulk sending through Outlook Watch Out for Can Spam compliance issue. Starts at $9.95 flat fee per month after purchasing and installing the office suite.
Vertical Response (www.verticalresponse.com): Offers e-mail marketing and postcard marketing integration. The service also includes the survey feature. Fees is charged on per e-mail sent basis, starting at $15 per thousand with discounts after the first 1000 emails sent.
1ShoppingCart (www.1shoppingcart.com): Offers auto responders and other types of e-mail campaigns along with the ability to integrate opt-in mechanisms with an online shopping cart. Starts at $29 per month.
ExactTarget(www.exacttarget.com): Offers an e-mail marketing application with higher-level database integration and advanced features. Schedule a demo for pricing information.
Email Marketing Professional 2.0(www.emailmarketingprofessional.com): This is a free Email Marketing Software that allows you to create and send promotional emails, ads, newsletters, coupons and more in seconds. Email Marketing Professional is the best solution that has all the features of the top commercial email marketing software on the market today.
Collecting E-mail Addresses Legally:
The CAN-SPAM Act makes certain types of e-mail addresses collection illegal and requires permission from e-mail subscribers before you send them any content. Here are some best practices for steering clear of potentially permission-less e-mail addresses.
Never purchase an e-mail list from a company that allows you to keep the e-mail addresses as a data file: e-mail addresses in a data file are easily bought and sold, and e-mail addresses with explicit permission are too valuable to sell.
Never collect e-mail addresses from websites or any other online directories: I advise against this practice because you don't have permission from the owner.
Don't use an email address collection service: The exception is a service that collects confirmed permission from every subscriber that it obtains.
Don't borrow an e-mail list from another business: Those subscribers didn't opt- in to receive e-mails from you.
Don't rent an e-mail list: until you are certain that the list rental company's practices are legally compliant: Most rental companies don't have permission-bases lists.
To Determine The Permission Status of an Inherited List:
Sort your list by source, discard the addresses that don't imply a two way business relationship.
Sort your list by date, discard addresses the addresses that belong to customers who haven't made purchase in over a year.
Check your list visually, discard the addresses that begin with ambiguous names or that are part of a distribution list.
Sort the rest of the list by category, use the sorted list for different messaging depending on your relationship to the person who owns the e-mail addresses.
After following the preceding four steps you are ready with the final email list, if you are certain that the people, who own the email addresses on this list will recognize your business and your relationship to them personally, then confirm permission to send e-mail via phone call, email containing a conformation link or through a professionally written conformation email.
