E-mail marketing

Marketing and selling in tough economic conditions:

Prasanna PERERA - Marketing and Management Consultant, Chartered Marketeer, CIM U.K.

In fiercely competitive markets, with marketing budgets under fire, e-mail marketing is what the doctor ordered. E-mail Marketing is extremely cost efficient, targeted and measurable, provided it is carried out professionally.

E-Mail is a powerful marketing tool

Many gurus are of the view that e-mail is the fastest, most flexible, cost efficient, personalised and targeted communication medium in the world today. Research has revealed that e-mail marketing delivers the highest Return On Investment (ROI).

Another great benefit of e-mail is its versatility. E-mail's low cost and far reach makes it accessible to just about any company. It can be used by a small business, or a Fortune 500 company, with equal benefits.

All marketeers strive to connect with their customers. E-mail is a great way to establish customer and brand loyalty. One mistake that marketeers often make is not thinking of e-mail as a relationship tool. The real benefit of e-mail is in using it over time to develop long term relationships.

Another great benefit of e-mail marketing is the ability to measure the effectiveness. Marketeers can learn from the metrics of their campaigns and use the information to review their strategies from time-to-time.

Targeting of marketing campaigns becomes easier with e-mail marketing, provided you have all the relevant subscriber profiles. Messages can be customised and subscribers can be provided with content and offers that match their profiles.

In today's fast paced world, "Timing is everything." Hence, e-mail is ideal, since it is immediate and actionable. No other channel allows you to reach customers directly in such a short time.

Permission-based e-mail marketing is not spam

As stated earlier, e-mail is about building relationships.

When people trust you and your brand enough to give you their address, you'd better not abuse it.

Opt-in permission marketing is best, since you have obtained prior permission from prospects, to communication with them. A well planned, executed and maintained opt-in and confirmation process, should be in place for every e-mail marketing program.

When starting or enhancing an e-mail programme make list management a top priority. The most successful e-mail marketeers send messages only to valid e-mail addresses.

Spam messages lack relevant content. On the other hand permission e-mail messages always offer something of value or interest to the recipient.

E-mail cuts other costs, so invest in it

By dedicating internal resources to develop and implement an e-mail strategy, you can uncover some useful data about your customers that may surprise you. An investment in e-mail can help cut other costs by giving you insights about what's working and what isn't.

Marketeers can save budgets by reducing or eliminating costly catalogues and instead send e-mails to subscribers and direct them to an on-line version of the catalogue.

The same can be applied to direct mail, which is becoming increasingly expensive.

Should e-mail marketing be outsourced or carried out in-house

This is a question that most marketeers have to answer. For example if e-mail is becoming an important part of your marketing communications strategy, you may want to keep it in-house. Another aspect to consider is if the experience and expertise is available in-house, to plan, execute, analyse and optimise e-mail marketing benefits.

Further, if outsourcing is already a part of your organization's business strategy, then deciding to outsource e-mail marketing may not be too difficult.

Most experts are of the view that certain elements of an e-mail campaign should be outsourced. Whether e-mail marketing is handled in-house or outsourced, policies, procedures and best practices should be established, to ensure proper management and protocol.

E-mail is inexpensive, but the more you invest in it, the more you get out of it. My belief is that if you have the budget, outsourcing a part of your e-mail strategy will bring great returns.

How to be relevant?

Some marketeers thrilled by the results delivered by e-mail campaigns, can fall into the trap of sending too many e-mails. By doing this, you can alienate recipients and kill the power of e-mail.

Generally, a relevant e-mail is one that contains something of value to the recipient and reflects what you know about the recipient. According to e-mail research, after cost factors, the most important influence on purchase behaviour is relevance.

Relevancy can do wonders for your e-mail programme such as drive loyalty, impact delivery of messages, help you stand out from the crowd and boost results and expand audiences. Remember, if you are sending the more relevant, targeted offer at the right time, you win the game.

How to create an e-mail list?

I have been surprised by the lack of common sense in creating e-mail lists. Building a list is one of the first and most important steps towards a successful e-mail program.

It is better to build a list from scratch.

If you have put a lot of effort into building a marketing database but don't have e-mail addresses for the people on that list, enlist the help of a vendor to get this done. Renting or buying a list may be a quick option but due care must be taken to ensure ethics and privacy.

Great subject lines drive a strong response

The subject line is arguably the most influential piece of copy. Short and sweet subject lines work best. (Less than 50 characters).

Brand recognition is a key factor in getting e-mails opened and a strong brand name often lifts the open rate.

Strong offers and giving recipients value content, generally works well. Personalization in subject lines can be effective.

Finally making sure that the subject line is a good indicator of the content within the message.