Email Marketing
What Email Marketing is
E-mail marketing is a form of direct marketing which uses electronic mail as a means of communicating messages to an audience.
Email marketing is most commonly used for:
- Sending e-mails with the purpose of enhancing the relationship of a merchant with its current or old customers and to encourage customer loyalty and repeat business.
- Sending e-mails with the purpose of acquiring new customers or convincing old customers to buy something immediately.
- Placing advertisements in e-mails sent by other companies, to their customers.
Researchers estimate that US firms alone spent $400 million on e-mail marketing in 2006.
Advantages of Email Marketing
Return on investments have proven to be high with properly planned and executed email marketing, and it is often reported as second only to Search Engine Optimization as the most effective form of Internet Marketing.
Email Marketing has many advantages, including:
- Compared to other media investments such as direct mail or printed newsletters, it is less expensive.
- It is instant, as opposed to a mailed advertisement, an e-mail arrives in a few seconds or minutes.
- It lets the advertiser "push" the message to its audience, as opposed to a website that waits for customers to come in.
- It is easy to track. An advertiser can track users via web bugs, bounce messages, un-subscribes, read-receipts, click-throughs, etc. These can be used to measure open rates, positive or negative responses, correlate sales with marketing, and so on.
- Advertisers can reach substantial numbers of e-mail subscribers who have opted in (consented) to receive e-mail communications on subjects of interest to them.
- Over half of Internet users check or send email on a typical day.
- Specific interactions can trigger messages to be automatically delivered upon various forms of requests.
Bjorn's Email Marketing Process
- Email Campaign Planning - Bjorn starts off working directly with clients to understand their objectives and overall goals of the email marketing campaign. He will work with you to combine extensive research with your existing knowledge of your customer base and prospective clients to best produce an effective email marketing campaign.
- Email Address Collection - Email marketing requires a list of email addresses of people who by law must have consented to receive email from the sender. If clients do not yet have such a list, I will establish effective means of creating them. I work with clients with existing lists to help them collect addresses more effectively.
- Email Content Creation - Email Marketing requires some form of content to be distributed. If clients do not with to supply Bjorn with the content, he may develop content for them.
- Email Distribution - Once an email campaign is planned, email addresses are collected, and the content is ready for use - the email's will be distributed. Email distribution can also be automated or triggered to be automatically delivered upon various forms of requests. Bjorn works with clients to establish the best form or forms of distribution for your needs.
- Email Tracking, Analysis, and Reporting - As mail is distributed, various aspects are tracked and reported. Email tracking capabilities include: the number of emails sent/received, open/read, click-throughs, bounces, unsubscribes, how many times your campaign was forwarded, and if there were any new subscribers to your email campaign.