Correct Way to do Email Marketing

The Correct Way to do Email Marketing

In today's digital age, it is not very difficult to obtain information or to disseminate it. Sending emails, in particular, has intensified communication with one another. Customers regularly receive emails that contain certain information on a new topic. This is often the case when people have subscribed to a company's newsletter or asked for new information. E-mails are one of the most effective forms of advertising in online marketing and are therefore often used.

What is Email Marketing?

Email marketing is part of digital marketing and is a very popular and important channel, which is primarily associated with direct marketing. The emails are used to encourage the purchase and to convey information. The aim is to generate new customers and at the same time increase customer loyalty. Email marketing offers companies the option of contacting customers and prospects directly to make them aware of new services, offers, or products. The losses in potential customers are lower than with social media advertising because the target groups can be addressed directly by the employees of a company. Email marketing is cheap, versatile, and individual thanks to a high ROI (return on investment).

What are the advantages?

Why should a company do email marketing? There are many ways to communicate effectively with prospects and customers, for example via social media. But email marketing has many advantages, especially compared to direct marketing.

• Sending emails is inexpensive, as there are no material costs and postage costs that would otherwise be incurred for paper and envelopes in direct marketing.

• Emails can land in the recipient's inbox within a few seconds. It can also be concluded from this that the expenditure of time is significantly lower and handling is easier.

• Email marketing tools facilitate the subsequent control of success and progress. Statistics such as the number of opened emails and subsequent purchases can be explored with software programs.

• Scattering losses can be prevented with the opt-in procedure, as only people who have expressly consented to receive an email.

• Email marketing can also be used as a communication medium, which can be used very flexibly. Emails can be easily personalized, for example with links, images, forms, or color highlighting.

What types of email marketing are there?

Email marketing can be used for a variety of purposes. For example, to present products, to draw readers' attention to events, to advertise a current discount campaign, or to distribute content. This is an easy and quick way to do this via email, as it does not take a lot of time. This way, customers and interested parties are addressed directly. In general, a distinction is made between three different types of emails:

• Transactional emails: These are based on an action triggered by a user, e.g. purchase of a product → shipping and order confirmation, reset password

• Marketing Email: At a certain point in time, an email is sent to people (subscribers) who have subscribed to the content of a brand → event reminder, newsletter, information on new products

• Automated email: Describes a hybrid form of transactional and marketing email → welcome series, birthday mailings, vouchers

Against the background of automated emails, the use of so-called lifecycle mailings for distributing advertising to existing customers is even more efficient. Lifecycle mailing means that the customer lifecycles are taken into account when creating and sending emails. Emails are not distributed indiscriminately but only sent to certain people, depending on the individual behavior of the recipient. An example of such behavior would be the last purchase or interaction with a brand.

This ensures that only those customers receive an email that matches their behavior and their current context. This increases the chances of success for a purchase. Email marketing is not only suitable for large companies, but also for small companies and even for associations that want to keep their members up to date.

Legal Aspects

When sending mailings or newsletters, however, some guidelines must be observed, otherwise, a penalty or warning may result. In Germany, sending emails that contain advertising is only permitted with certain restrictions. Advertising emails may only be received by those people who have previously given their consent using the so-called double opt-in procedure. In this process, people who have signed up for a mailing list receive an email with a confirmation function. The users must confirm their registration via a button or link in this confirmation email. Only after a person has successfully registered in the double opt-in procedure complete and the addresses can be used safely.

Every now and then it is forgotten that due to §5 TMG there is an imprint obligation for email newsletters and this must be specified or linked directly. The unsubscribe function should also not go unmentioned here: Nobody wants to lose contact by unsubscribing from the mailing list. However, it is important and compulsory to offer such a possibility. This should be done as simply as possible so that the subscriber doesn't have to search for it for a long time.

How should you get started with email marketing?

Different goals can be achieved with the types of emails already mentioned. Therefore, within a company, it should first be determined what is important for the company, which successes are to be achieved, and which resources are available at all. It is best to develop an email marketing strategy in the beginning. The following goals could be, for example: Generate traffic, build expert status and strengthen customer loyalty.

Strengthen customer relationships

If the company is interested in strengthening customer loyalty, personalized emails that match a current occasion can be sent. Examples are:

• Christmas

• Birthdays

• Anniversaries

• New Year

• Other occasions (Mother's Day, Easter, etc.)

Emails that are sent with marketing intentions can also help bring prospects and customers up to date and improve the relationship. Exclusive and detailed information about products or services that are about to hit the market is very popular content.

Generate traffic

Simply put, this is about getting more clicks and directing customers to the website. For example, through links in the email, the recipients can be directed to a specific website. Another option is what is known as gated content. Here, content can only be downloaded after entering personal information.

Build up the expert status

To differentiate yourself professionally and to highlight your expertise, email marketing offers the possibility for companies or even a private person to create email campaigns for a certain area of ​​knowledge that provides important information for the reader that no one else would get. A few examples of such information would be:

• Communicating expert opinions

• Market research and analysis

• New technologies, trends, and study results

• Outlook and assessments for the future

10 tips for successful email marketing

Most of them will be familiar with newsletters that consist only of advertising and are therefore usually deleted or canceled immediately. It is therefore important to note a few points in email marketing in order not to end up in the trash or the user unsubscribe from the mailing list.

1. Email mailing list

Before an email campaign or newsletter is sent, the right mailing list should be put together. You may already have email addresses that you can use or you are trying to get new email addresses using a form on your website. Keyword: newsletter registration. Personal contacts can also be added to the mailing list as soon as they have given their consent.

2. Different newsletters for different personas

Most of the companies have not just one, but several target groups. The individual personas have different interests. It is therefore important to address these and adapt the content of the emails to the respective target group. This is where the various distribution lists come into play in order to tailor the mailings to the interests of the recipients. If the newsletter does not offer interesting content for the reader, it is possible that the following email will not be opened in the first place.

3. Use a fancy subject

Even if a person has signed up for the newsletter, that doesn't mean that the mail will be opened and the content read. The subject plays an important role and should also be geared towards the target group. This has to arouse curiosity for the content so that an interested party absolutely wants to read or look at the email. By trying out different titles, it is possible to find out which of the titles a target group liked best and which appeals to them the most. However, it should not be forgotten that the subject must also match the content, otherwise, the potential reader can quickly feel confused. The success of certain subjects or content can be determined relatively easily based on the number of emails opened.

4. Personal address

If the name of the email contact is known, this should also be addressed personally in the email addressed to him. Addresses like “Dear Sir or Madam” seem impersonal and indicate that an email has been sent to a large number of people.

5. Personalize the sender

It is best if the address of a specific person in the company is given as the email sender instead of the general office address of a company. If there are any queries or if more information is required, the recipient immediately knows who to contact. This is much more personal and the relationship with the customer can be strengthened through the real or tangible contact person.

6. Make the design simple and clear

The design should be as simple as possible so that the newsletter does not look crowded. The outline should be optically supported by empty spaces, which makes the content easier to read on smartphones. The use of images can support or reinforce the message in the text and make the email look more appealing. Most people do not invest a lot of time reading newsletters and just skim them, which is why long sentences are not advisable and bullet points should also be used.

7. Informative and engaging content

Once the newsletter has been opened, useful content should also be made available to the reader. Do not advertise yourself or use long texts, because only the problems and interests of the target group count. It should be clear to the user how he can be helped with the email and what added value he gets. A good ratio of useful content and promotion for the company is 90% content / 10% promotion. The aim is that subscribers can decide for themselves which content they consider useful and also want to read. Links to blog posts or individual landing pages also help to offer additional content and information.

8. Encouraging action

A company has the option of asking the recipient to take action in an email using call-to-actions. If an exhibition or a seminar is imminent, or if a new interesting e-book has been published, a call-to-action can be used to invite participants to participate or to order the book. The call-to-actions can be designed in an appealing color and should include a clear request for action, such as “find out more now” or “order now”. Current offers can also be combined with call-to-action, whereby too many offers appear confusing.

9. Improve for smartphones

Many people only read their emails on their smartphones. It is therefore particularly important to improve or optimize the newsletter for this area as well. Above all, it is important to ensure that the email is displayed correctly on different device sizes and at the same time remains legible. To prevent unintentional clicks on call-to-actions, the links must not sit next to each other. The quality and the correct size of the photos should also be right, otherwise, they can quickly appear unprofessional due to distorted images.

10. The right time

Above all, it is important to have the right time at which emails are sent. The right time to reach your target group or groups depends entirely on the individual target group and their contexts. 

Keyword: customer journey. The easiest way to find out when the time is right for your company is to run tests several times.