If you have just started a business or want to reach more customers in an organic, simple and persuasive way, Email Marketing is what you are looking for.
You know those flyers you can leave in mailboxes to advertise and/or inform about the services your business provides? Forget that! We are in the 21st century, a new era, and with the gradual embedding of new media in our society, it is time to adapt to the new reality with the following concept: Email Marketing. But what is Email Marketing? What are the advantages for your business? What impact will Email Marketing have? Positive or negative? Find out everything in this article!
Email Marketing for Businesses
It is (almost) safe to say that everyone knows Email and its advantages: with just an internet connection, we can communicate extremely quickly – compared to the mythical exchange of letters – spontaneously, exchange documents, files, and this on a global scale, meaning Email allows us to establish that same communication with anyone, no matter where in the world they are.
Meanwhile, Marketing 'is the intelligence needed for a company to define which products or services can captivate a target audience'.
Thus, adding up the equation, we then have Email Marketing: it is the use of email to promote products or services and, simultaneously, build relationships with potential customers. Every time a brand/company sends an email – except when they are order confirmation emails or direct responses to customer queries – we can consider it a form of Email Marketing. Email Marketing is a segment of internet marketing that encompasses online marketing through websites, social networks, blogs, and much more.
Email Marketing can include informative newsletters with company updates or sales promotions and exclusive offers for subscribers. They can also aim to share a general message on behalf of the company, for example following a natural disaster or a company scandal.
Basically, Email Marketing allows companies to keep their customers informed and tailor their marketing messages to their audience. However, Email Marketing can also drive customers away with persistently annoying spam emails.
Therefore, it is necessary to establish a good strategy so that Email Marketing represents an advantage for your business and not a disadvantage. But then, what advantages can Email Marketing have for your business?
Advantages of Email Marketing
1. Segmentation and creation of personalised content
Personalisation of content can be something as small as including a contact's name in the email. In fact, emails that include the recipient's first name in the subject line have a higher click-through rate than those that do not.
On the other hand, it is also possible to create individualised content based on segmenting your audience, in order to send the right emails to the right customers. For example, you might want to send an email marketing campaign to returning customers and a different one to occasional customers.
One of the main benefits of Email Marketing is that its content can be highly personalised according to your audience's needs. Your emails can have variations, including different images or subject lines to increase engagement. You can even create segmented lists based on geography or engagement levels.
To have a successful email marketing strategy, you need to send the right email to the right people at the right time. That is where segmentation and personalisation can help.
2. Collecting feedback and surveys
Keeping the customer experience exciting is very valuable if you want customers to continue interacting, engaging, and being the source of profit for your business.
Email marketing can help you with that. For example, you can send customer satisfaction surveys to get feedback through email campaigns.
In fact, this is one of the best ways to calculate your NPS (Net Promoter Score). This score helps you find out the percentage of customers who are brand ambassadors. With this information, you can present strategies to improve their customer experience. You can read more about NPS in this article.
3. Improve sales
As email marketing is an excellent marketing tool, it can also effectively boost your sales.
Email marketing campaigns can showcase products or services, encourage customers to purchase after abandoning their shopping cart, or deliver special offers to your customers.
You can also use Email Marketing to automate part of your sales process, which can further help increase sales.
4. Communicate with your audience
As a business owner, it is always important to improve communication with your audience. When your audience feels they can talk to you, they are more likely to become loyal to your brand.
Everyone appreciates good emails. Think about the last time you received a marketing email from a brand you like – was it disruptive, or did you enjoy seeing the latest news? If it is a brand you like, you probably enjoyed the experience and it kept you in touch with one of your favourite brands.
With Email Marketing, you can reach more of your audience and easily communicate with brand ambassadors. Additionally, these emails keep your audience engaged throughout all seasons, whether it is a low or high season.
5. Reach the right people at the right time
As mentioned earlier, to have a successful marketing campaign, you need to reach the right customers at the right time. Yes, I reiterate this point because it is indeed important.
With Email Marketing, it is much easier to reach people because they always check their email. They can check it at any time, on multiple devices, which can improve the success of any marketing campaign.
This means you are regularly reaching your target audience, so you are always top of mind.
6. Own your communication channels and contact lists
Ask yourself a pertinent question – if social media disappeared tomorrow, how many followers and customers would your business lose?
That is why building an email list is important for marketers.
Email marketing is one of the main ways to reach your audience. Additionally, it can also improve sales and contacts. Since it is still where people want to receive information, we can say that Email Marketing is a variant worth investing in for your business.
The (Positive) Impact of Email Marketing on Your Business
Having presented some of the advantages that Email Marketing will bring to your business, it is time to learn about the impact it will have.
Logically, with so many advantages listed, one of which is increased sales, Email Marketing will have a positive impact on your business.
Email Marketing is the ideal way to reach a larger audience, attract new customers, and establish a good, secure network of contacts. It also allows us to segment recipients and receive feedback from customers, in order to understand the strengths and weaknesses of your business.
Those who have already adopted this marketing strategy say that Email Marketing has been very beneficial for their business.
What are you waiting for? Take your business to the next level and invest in Email Marketing.