Email Marketing Clinic: A beginner's guide to email marketing for SMEs
Email is among the most flexible and cost effective tools at a marketers disposal.
However, before diving in and sending emails to your customers and prospects, there are several things that should be taken into account.
In this month's email clinic, email marketing experts Pure share their thoughts about the things to be considered, and provide a comprehensive beginner's guide to email marketing for SMEs.
Why should I use email marketing?
Email shots are an affordable, efficient and flexible option for small and medium sized
businesses looking to get their marketing message directly to their target audience and generate more business.
Most importantly, the measurability of the medium means return on investment (ROI) can be measured in tangible terms.
While comprehensive research on ROI in the UK is yet to take place, figures from the US Direct Marketing Association shows an impressive return of $57.25 per dollar spent.
Email marketing remains one of the most successful and cost-effective forms of direct marketing; businesses can launch an email campaign for a fraction of the cost of any other type of direct
marketing campaign.
How successful is email marketing?
Well-planned and targeted email marketing campaigns are likely to deliver far higher response rates, relative to cost, than telemarketing or direct mail, both of which require a large investment in
resources and don't offer the same detailed level of measurability.
Furthermore, according to David Hughes of eConsultancy.com, by using email in conjunction with direct mail it can improve response rates by up to 40%; when used with telemarketing it can improve
conversion rates by 78%. Email is a vital marketing tool that can be used as a 'stand-alone' method or used in conjunction with other types of marketing to improve the over-all success of your
campaign.
What are the uses of email marketing?
Email marketing can be used to welcome customers, gather more information, cross and upsell, stop recipients defecting to competitors or ask customers to refer friends or colleagues to your
website.
However, the most common and effective uses of email are to drive traffic to your website, encourage recipients to purchase products or services and convert leads into customers.
Email can be used to market to businesses or consumers and its flexibility means that there are no hard and fast rules of when to use it as a marketing medium.
Just some examples of the forms it can take are:
- mass-marketing broadcasts
- transactional emails
- customer satisfaction surveys
- one-to-one sales emails
What is the process involved in email marketing?
Using a recommended email marketing provider is the easiest way to produce a campaign and the software they provide will allow you to easily upload your data, create an email from scratch and
track the results online. The whole process can be done in minutes.
The capabilities and complexity of the software depends on the supplier so make sure you are clear about what you require and how much time you have.
Who should I use for my email marketing?
A professional email marketing service provider will allow you to create, send, track and
measure email marketing without the risks of being blocked by spam filters or freezing your own system with the
enormous bandwidth required for mass mail-outs. By employing the use of a professional email marketing system you not only reduce the risk of this but also ensure you send sophisticated, branded,
appealing and professional marketing material to
every recipient.
The ability to track and measure your marketing means you can see who has received, opened, clicked on your email marketing and track their online movements from the message.
Using software supplied by an email marketing provider you will also be able to target individuals and manage your data and responses more effectively.
Is email marketing appropriate for my business?
Email is a both a business and social tool. This universal appeal means email marketing can be used across all sectors to successfully market to consumers and businesses. It's currently used widely
within the retail, finance, publishing, media, IT, charity and professional services sectors but the flexibility of email marketing means that it can be used by any sector in any
area of business.
Are there any rules I have to adhere to?
There are strict laws governing the use of data for email marketing, especially for marketing targeted at consumers. Businesses should only use permission-based email marketing data and if in doubt
seek the advice of a reputable email service provider or the Direct Marketing Association to ensure they stay within
the confines of the law.
What results can I track with email marketing?
Software provided by a professional email marketing provider will enable you to track a range of real-time results from your email marketing. The level of detail a report shows is dependent on the email
marketing provider you choose but they should include the following as standard:
- open rate
- clickthrough rate
- bounce rate
- unsubscribe rate
- send to a friend rate
- popular links clicked on within the email
- email addresses of recipients who opened and clicked on links within your email the most.
Some email marketing providers are able to supply added features such as advanced reporting and functionality which may also include:
- advanced reporting allowing you to see your campaign results in fine detail
- post-click tracking - how many recipients reacted to the call to action and
which pages of your website they looked at after clicking on your email
- 'drill down' reporting showing who has not opened emails
- comparative tools that allow you to see how your email's performance compares to past campaigns or how your results compare to national averages
- real-time triggers alerting you via email the instant someone clicks on an email enabling you to make a follow-up sales call
- dynamic content and personalisation features allowing you to tailor the email to the recipients' preferences
- integration with other software applications used within the business, improving efficiency and saving time.
This list is only a brief description of a selection of services often available. Functionality and capabilities of email marketing software varies depending on the provider.
What type of results should I expect?
This depends on the campaign. There are many things that contribute to the success or failure of an email marketing campaign such as relevance of the message, the standard of the creative and
the quality of the database.
It is always best to ask yourself about the timing of the message, whether the product or service is priced competitively and whether demand is sufficient. All these factors affect uptake and so you
cannot be certain of a given response rate. However industry standards and statistics do provide some guidance.It is not unusual for a well-targeted and relevant email marketing campaign to achieve a
click-through rate of 60%-70%.
How do I control the success of my email marketing?
The following tips can help you to ensure your campaign is a success:
- have you aimed your campaign squarely at a specific segment? If you're not in tune with your audience you'll be deleted so ensure your campaign is targeted and relevant to your database. The key
to
a successful marketing campaign is the relevance of the message to the recipient
- make sure that your data is kept in good order and is of a high standard so your campaign results are a true reflection of your success and your marketing isn't blocked in the future
-
test your campaign before you send it out. Marketers often send a campaign out to a small
select group of recipients to gauge the success and reaction before they send the campaign to the entire
database
-
after name of the sender, the subject line is the first thing that recipients see and can dictate whether they open or delete your email. Make sure your subject line is appealing and relevant to your
message and if you are unsure - test it
-
personalise your message where possible both in the subject line and the body of the email
-
acquisitional emails should not be lengthy essays but short and snappy with a clear call to action to tell the recipient what to do next
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ensure your email is professionally presented and includes an appealing creative design
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send campaigns out when you think you'll get the best response rate. It's claimed by some marketers that the best time to send a business-to-business marketing email is on a Wednesday at 11am. Email
marketing sent to a consumer may be best sent at a time when they will be opening their personal inbox such as at the weekend or in the evening
-
learn from your experience and previous results - use the data from past email marketing campaigns to tailor your next campaign
-
have you checked your spelling? Bad spellung and bad grammer!!! makes you look unprofessional and erodes your credibility.
About the author
Award-winning Pure is one of the top email and SMS marketing companies in the UK, and the eleventh fastest growing new media company in the country. Pure provide email marketing solutions to
small, medium and large companies and their software used by over 1000 marketers worldwide. Founded in 2001, the same dedicated team of highly skilled developers and designers remain today,
shaping the company's market-leading technology. Brighton-based Pure counts Levis Europe, innocent drinks, Thomas Pink, Truprint, EMAP and the FT among its stable of 500 clients.
Find out more at
http://www.pure360.com
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