What is email marketing?

Social media campaigns and webinars are relatively new channels of digital marketing. No doubt, they do wonders when reaching out to customers. 

However, email marketing is the oldest and most effective digital marketing channel. More than 306 billion emails are sent and received each day. We know that’s huge. Right?

You can’t deny that email marketing has remained and will remain the most effective tool for marketing. 

When you want to grow your business and have a low budget, email marketing is a great idea. It is a cost-effective and conversion-rich method of digital marketing. 

Do you want to invest in email marketing but are hesitant?

Keep reading. 

In this blog, we’ll dive deeper into the world of email marketing. 

What is email marketing?

Email marketing is a powerful marketing channel in which businesses target their audience through email. 

Email marketing helps businesses make their customers aware of their latest products, discounts, and other invaluable information. Integrating email marketing into your marketing strategy can play a critical role through different marketing funnel stages. 

Different goals it serves are

• Increasing brand awareness,
• Generating leads, 
• Boosting sales,
• Building relationships,
• Engaging customers.  

Evolution of email marketing

Email marketing is not a novel concept; perhaps it is one of the pioneer marketing techniques used for digital communications since 1971. 

The first marketing email was sent by Gary Thuerk, who worked for Digital Equipment Corp (a computer manufacturing company). He sent a marketing email to about 400 recipients for the promotion f his company, resulting in $13 million in sales. 

After 50 years, email marketing has become the go-to digital marketing method.

If you don’t believe it, look at some numbers; they don’t lie. 

• There were 4 billion email users in 2022, which is set to be 4.6 billion by 2025. 
• According to recent email statistics, 90% of email users check their emails daily, and some check even 20 times daily. Because with the rise of smartphones, checking emails has become even handier. 

Types of marketing emails

There are several marketing emails based on the purpose of sending. Some most common are as follows. 

1. Welcome emails

Welcome emails are sent when you gain new subscribers and want them to know more about them. You can ask questions about their locality or profession or ask them to complete their profile.

2. Newsletter emails

Newsletter emails are quite popular as they contain information about new products, services or blogs, and articles. 

They urge the email subscriber to action using a call-to-action by clicking a link that leads them to some product or article

3. Lead nurturing emails

These are specific types of emails. The businesses and brands make groups of subscribers interested in certain products and still are in the consideration stage. 

They send a series of emails to provide the customers with promotions and additional information about the products, pushing them down the funnel in the conversion stage

4. Confirmation emails

Users get confirmation emails when they sign up for emails and newsletters or purchase online. These emails aim to provide customers with additional information and motivate them to take further action.

5. Dedicated emails

These are dedicated emails if you want to reach out to only some specific groups of subscribers. These emails are sent to selected clients based on their inactivity, membership, or recent purchases. 

6. Promotional emails

These marketing emails are generic and sent to a large audience to spread brand awareness and the services it provides. 

7. Invite emails

These emails often announce an upcoming event, product, or change. Businesses use these emails, especially when something exciting is happening; they leverage this opportunity to grab attention and boost awareness about upcoming events. 

8. Seasonal emails 

These emails are often associated with special holidays and seasons. They announce exciting discounts on products and services during special days like Christmas, Fathers’ day, Mothers’ day, Black Friday, etc. 

9. Survey emails

Feedback is critical to the fate of a business as it enlightens them about the needs and preferences of customers. The companies send survey emails to the customers to find what they enjoy in their offerings. 

This feedback can then be applied to curate a unique experience for the customers in the future.

Advantage of email marketing

Email marketing has many advantages over other marketing types. Here are a few. 

1. It targets only interested audiences.

Email marketing is the only type of marketing to which people subscribe themselves. Oberlo email marketing statistics show that 49% of customers like to get promotional emails from brands. 

It allows for much higher conversion rates as they target only those already interested in their brands. 

2. It can reach a global audience.

No doubt you can reach a global audience through social media, but are you sure they read your message? 

Email marketing allows you to reach the inbox of a global audience, and you can always get hyper-local via the segmentation of emails. 82% of marketers already globally use email marketing.  

3. It gives instant results.

Businesses wait for weeks for sales to come in as a result of broadcasting handprint media advertisements but are still unsure about the source of the conversions. 

But they can see the instant impact when they send emails to open a 24-hour sale window, creating a sense of urgency.

4. It generates huge revenue.

Email marketing is the most rewarding marketing according to 30% of marketers. It is so effective that Marketing week reported its revenue at $9.62 billion in 2022, projected to be $17.9 billion by 2027. 

It remains the easiest sales-driving method with a catchy call-to-action and a quick link to check out. 

According to Campaign Monitor, it generates an ROI (return on investment) of $44. 

5. It is easy to measure.

Another key advantage of email marketing over print and broadcast marketing is that you can measure performance metrics easily. 

Some email marketing softwares allow the measurement of open, click-through, and conversion rates that can be used to improve the campaign in the future.  

6. It is cost-effective.

It is the most obvious advantage of email marketing. That is why 81% of small businesses choose it as their primary marketing channel for customer acquisition and 80% for retention. 

Disadvantages of email marketing 

While email marketing has striking advantages, it comes with its shortcomings. Here are the disadvantages you can face while using this marketing channel. 

1. Spam 

Have you ever got “click here to save $20” or “lose 10 pounds in just a week” kind of messages? We all get them and often don’t even get to read them, for they land in our trash or spam box. 

This happens when you don’t target the right audience, and email marketing seems to fail here. This is the single most disadvantage of this channel. 

2. Undelivered emails

Another disadvantage of email marketing is that poorly designed and written emails are not delivered—the email software filter out the emails with certain phrases in the subject line. 

You need to keep up with email marketing and privacy laws to ditch this issue. 

3. Size issues

The file size should be small enough to download quickly. Otherwise, if your email takes too much time to load, it frustrates the customers losing their interest in your products. 

4. Design 

Today, consumers use several devices, including computers, mobiles, and tablets. That means you have to optimize your emails for a range of devices so that the audiences don’t find a less-than-ideal version of your email. 

How to build your email list?

Now is the tricky part; how to build a list of the audiences who are excited to hear from you through email? 

This step can take your email marketing strategy down the drain if not done prudently. 

First, people have grown more conscious about their private data and get irritated if they receive unsolicited news and information.

So, you must not buy email lists as many businesses do. 

It won’t get you desired results with customer acquisition and retention. 

Second, you must check out the laws and regulations that apply based on your location and your recipients’ location. So check general data protection and regulation laws and Canadian anti-spam law, and ensure that your emails comply with the ones applicable to you. 

Here are two simple methods to get the emails. 

• Use lead magnets.

As reflected in the names, the assets attract leads just like the magnet attracts iron. Create valuable assets for the consumers and ask for their emails in exchange. If you solve their problem for free, it will automatically take the prospects to your email list. So ensure providing something useful and valuable. 

The qualities of a great lead magnet are

• It offers solutions/useful information.
• It is practical.
• It is easy to consume (right format).
• It offers a free taste to your paid offer.
• It aligns with your future offerings.

Here are some examples of lead magnets you can consider providing to prospects. 

• Ebook,
• Infographics,
• Reports or research,
• Checklist,
• Tool,
• Short courses,
• templates

• Create an opt-in form.

Opt-in forms are what give you information about the prospects with their consent. By filling out opt-in forms, consumers authorize the third party to contact them through the information given. 

Here is a sample opt-in form.

Here are a few tips for creating an opt-in form.

• Try to keep it simple. (don’t scare them with a lengthy form)
• Use an attention-grabbing header.
• Your form should be a truthful representation of the offer.
• Set a double confirmation. (welcome email and confirmation email)

Create an effective email marketing strategy in 6 steps.

Creating an effective email marketing plan boils down to the following 5 five fundamental steps. 

1. Research and define your target audience.

Start with creating a customer persona. Select your target audience and fetch their basic information, such as gender, age, and demographics. 

You can include hobbies, passions, and preferences in their avatar if you find one, as 71% of the consumers prefer buying from brands that align wither values. 

2. Establish SMART goals and success metrics.

Before you chalk out a strategy, establish SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-sensitive) goals for the campaign. 

For example, you might set a goal to increase your email’s click-through rate by 10% over the next two years. You can also set multiple goals for upcoming email marketing campaigns, given they are related to the KPIs you can measure later on. 

3. Build an email list.

You need a list of email addresses that want to hear about your offerings. Right? So build one by using the above-explained methods. 

Not all your customers have similar needs; you need to build segmented lists based on customers’ interests. 

For example, suppose your company sells beverages in the US. In that case, your research tells you that generation z has the highest coffee intake in the US. Then, it would be a good idea to segment the emails based on their age. 

4. Choose an email campaign type.

It can be quite tricky to pick between email campaigns. The questions can be overwhelming.

• Should you send a weekly newsletter?
• When to send details about the product launch? or
• Which blogs might excite the readers? 

The answer might be subjective, so you should learn about the types of marketing email campaigns and decide what suits your interests. 

5. Mark the calendar.

The execution of the campaign is the most exciting and final step in your email marketing strategy. Craft the emails and make a schedule to execute the campaign. 

Inform your audience upfront, so they know what to expect next. This way, you can stay on top of the mind of your customers and can generate higher leads. 

6. Measure the results.

Finally, it’s time to measure them. Carefully auditing your email marketing success and comparing Key Performance Indicators to your goals can help you tweak your methods. It leads to yielding good results for future campaigns. 

Examples of successful email marketing campaigns

Here are examples of successful email marketing campaigns by Netflix, Starbucks, and Uncommon goods.

• Netflix

The emails from Netflix contain a list of the top newly released shows based on the watch history of the viewers. Its success is its exciting “call-to-action” that persuades viewers to check the show list customized for them. 

• Starbucks

The recent email campaign from Starbucks sounds cool and special. The reason is that it is limited, customized, and non-transferable and is prodded to the member only. 

• Uncommon goods

Here’s an email sent by Uncommon Goods to its subscribers. It is simply catchy because it focuses on the welfare of customers by creating a sense of emergency through its sales copy.

A quick wrap-up 

Have you ever run an email campaign? We’d like to hear about your experience. 

If you have been ignoring this channel of marketing, there’s a lot you are missing on. It’s high time you capitalize on its potential.