Introduction
It is worth stating what email marketing is, this type of marketing directly markets a commercial message to a group of people using email. Email marketing usually consists of companies sending adverts, requesting business, gain donations or anything else with a commercial gain for the company transmitting the email.
This blog is going to be discussing email marketing as a marketing channel, proceeding to the discussion of the literature, the blog is going to give some tips on how to perform a successful email marketing campaign. It can be observed that
Email Marketing
This section of the blog intends to reflect upon the academic research and commentary which has been enacted regarding email marketing.
According to Cho and Khang (2006), permission-based emails sent to customers is a form of marketing that is on the increase. Pavlov, Melville and Plice (2008) outlined that email marketing campaigns can produce twice the return on investment in comparison to other forms of digital marketing. McCloskey (2006) outlined that email marketing is has significant importance in the marketing mix, particularly, when the business intends to create and maintain a relationship with the customer.
It can be observed that the use of emailing as a marketing channel has a number of advantages, Moustakas, Ranganathan and Duquenoy (2006) outlined this, by stating that it has a low setup and distribution costs, you can target easily, and it is affordable for small to medium size businesses. Sharma and Seth (2004) illustrated that email marketing can be used to expand a companies customer reach, and target specific communities and interact customers in a highly customisable manner. Merisavo and Raulas (2004) outlined that email marketing has the ability to cultivate brand loyalty.
Above is a review of the literature which is relevant to this blog, it outlines a number of the benefits of permission based email marketing.
Tips on how to create a successful email marketing campaign
1. The email should have obvious links
One of the key reasons for email marketing is to drive traffic to your landing page, website or a product. Thus, without obvious links, the reader may not feel the need to click on the links, and will defeat the point of the email marketing.
2. Keep your text short and easy to scan
When one receives an email which is for marketing purposes, one does not read the whole text of the email. The readers generally scan the email for key pieces of information which may be of relevance to the reader. Too much text will get your email deleted quickly, and this defeats the point of email marketing, and will increase the risk of triggering spam filters.
3. Do a trial run, before sending it to the main list
One of the last things any business wants to do is waste money by all of the emails going into the junk folder, or that the email layout broke in Hotmail’s email viewer or Outlook’s preview plan. Consequently, it is worth sending a test version to a test account using each of the big email providers to see if it works fine.
4. Include social media share buttons
This tip is crucial, this is an opportunity to increase your reach with no cost at all, and combine the social media marketing channels with your email marketing channel.
5. Make sure it is mobile friendly
A lot of people access their emails on the go, therefore, if the email was not displayed on a phone in a smart and effective way the receiver will delete the email straight away.
6. Analyse results
Any marketing campaigns results should be analysed with strict scrutiny, this is because, the business wants to make sure the marketing campaign is as efficient as possible and is maximising its potential. With regards to email marketing, the business should analyse the metrics like open rate and click-through rate.
7.Give the option to subscribe
If the reader was forwarded the email by someone other than the business then there is a chance they are not subscribed to the mailing list. This is a chance to gain a bigger mailing list and give people another chance to subscribe.
8. Be Personal
One of the key benefits previously mentioned was engagement, thus, the business should use the data they have on the reader to their advantage and be personal. A personal example from my own inbox was an email from a hotel which I previously booked with. – Unfortunately I no longer have the email.
Conclusion
It is clear that there is a range of benefits for using email as a marketing channel. After reading this blog, we would hope that any business feels encouraged to create an email marketing campaign and to keep the top tips in mind when doing so.
References
Cho, C.H. & Khang, H.K. (2006) “The State of Internet-Related Research in Communications, Marketing, and Advertising: 1994-2003”, Journal of Advertising , 35 (3) ,pp.143 – 163
Pavlov, O.V., Melville, N. and Plice, R.K. (2008) “Toward a sustainable e-mail marketing infrastructure” Journal of Business Research, 61 (11), pp. 1191-1199.
McCloskey, W. (2006) E-mail Data Source, Retail White Paper, New York.
Moustakas, E Ranganathan, C. & Duquenoy, P. (2006) “E-mail marketing at the crossroads: A stakeholder analysis of unsolicited commercial e-mail (spam)”, Internet Research; 16 (1), pp. 38-52.
Sharma, A. and Sheth, J.N.W. (2004), “Web-based marketing: the coming revolution in marketing thought and strategy”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 57 No. 7, pp. 696-703.
Merisavo, M. and Raulas, M. (2004), “The impact of e-mail marketing on brand loyalty”, Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 13 No. 7, pp. 498-506.
Collis, M. (2014). 11 Remarkable Email Marketing Tips You Need to Implement Right Away. Available: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-collis/11-remarkable-email-marke_1_b_5710091.html. Last accessed 25th April 2015.
Gao, K. (2014). Email Marketing Tips Checklist: Email Marketing Tips Top 10. Available: http://emailmarketing.comm100.com/email-marketing-tutorial/email-marketing-tips.aspx. Last accessed 25th April 2015
Davis, B. (2012). 10 things you can do to make me love your emails.Available: https://econsultancy.com/blog/11109-10-things-you-can-do-to-make-me-love-your-emails. Last accessed 25th April 2015.