Email marketing is still the most effective way to reach new customers, provide useful information to those who are already loyal, and initiate new networks of contacts. An important communication tool and a
powerful promotional medium
; which, however, must be used in the best possible way and properly integrated with other means such as social media.
According to a recent survey, a very large percentage of the populace living in the United States spends a good portion of their time connected to the Internet (thanks in part to the proliferation of mobile technology), and of this population, more than 90 percent spend most of their time online reading newsletters received via email.
Of course, each country has its own morphological characteristics and one cannot take this survey as universally valid and exportable; however, it can be illustrative of how a good advertising campaign carried out through email can be cost-effective and profitable. The benefits of ’email marketing can be:
- Significant savings in time and money compared to a classic advertising campaign
- Increased sales and leads
- A very high Roi (return on investment)
- Reducing the sales cycle
- Ability to ‘track’ and target your audience
As can be easily guessed, we are talking here about the ‘ optimum, that is, the result that can be achieved by properly setting up an email marketing campaign. Otherwise, that is, assuming an inadequately set up email marketing campaign, we risk the opposite effect: which translated into the language of ’email marketing means that no one will open (and thus read) our promotional email.
Setting up an advertising email
Having reached this point, the question will arise: how should a good advertising email be set up to be read, or at least opened and not trashed, by our potential audience? Fermo rstando that a lot depends on what we are proposing and the ‘weight’ of our brand, there are some tips we need to keep in mind when doing email marketing.
- First, we need to think about the technical aspects, such as choosing the email marketing service to use and other issues that we will explore in more detail in the next section
- Choosing a description to include in the ‘ subject line from the email: is a key step. If our email is not even opened our time (and our work) will have been wasted. In the subject line of an advertising email there should be a clear, short, concise message: ideally, a message of 6 to 10 words maximum. If possible, we should also be able to promise something specific without confusing the audience with overly rhetorical titles. The subject line of the email is our calling card: about half of our audience will decide whether or not to open the message based on what is written in the subject line.
- One aspect related to the point above is that of the flitters of the email boxes to which we are sending our message: which even if written and set up in the best way possible still risks not arriving or not being read because of technical glitches. Therefore, our promozonal emal must have certain requirements to avoid being received as spam: so pay attention to weight, attachments. to the name of the email box from which we are sending and, again, close attention to what is written in the ‘subject line.
- If we have succeeded in attracting attention effectively and our email is opened, it is important that those who read find points of interest: we must therefore accompany the email with relevant details, exclusive offers and promotions, case histories, and news about our company. It is important that our email is not written in an overtly promotional way, but that it provides content of interest and useful news about the topic. The advice is to supplement the texts with images, graphics, and surveys that will entice the potential customer to participate. Basically, to engage and intrigue our potential audience as much as possible.
- Take care of the graphic aspect with regard to viewing email on mobile: more and more people are viewing their email messages on a mobile device. If our promotional emai does not display correctly we will have blown a hole in the water.
- Carefully consider the timing of sending: if the email is particularly busy, the best time of day might be mid-morning. Absolutely avoid weekends or holidays.
Creating an email campaign
As anticipated in the previous paragraph, when deciding to set up an email campaign, it is important to first carefully choose to which email marketing service rely on: there are several, in choosing we should evaluate parameters such as ease of use; possibility to take advantage of reports, graphs and statistics on sent emails; support service and customer service in case of problems; the price, of course. Let’s do a roundup of some of the major email marketing services:
Mailchimp: is one of the most popular programs. It provides many templates and tools to integrate that make sending emails extremely convenient and easy. Available in 5 different pricing versions
iContact: almost 300 templates to choose from, iContact is also available in 5 different price versions with the added option of a free trial for the duration of 15 days.Among the mailing list options you can also choose social network delivery
Constant Contact: with over 400 templates to choose from and with the possibility of 60-day trial period, Constant Contact seems to be among the most interesting products to approach the world of email marketing
Sales Nexus: offers various modes of delivery, such as monthly bulletins; video email marketing; standard mail. About 100 models to choose from and 3 price options.
