The benefits of email marketing

Jupiter Research estimates that the US will spend $1.1billion on email marketing in 2010. Of this, $557 million will be spent on retaining customers. If you are not doing so already, you should consider entering the world of email marketing.

The benefits of email marketing:

It’s quick: Not only is the time taken to develop and send the email quicker than standard direct mail or print advertising, the time to receive responses is also much faster. The bulk of emails are opened and acted upon within 3 days of the email being sent, where as you’d be looking at around double that (minimum) for a direct mail campaign.

It’s low cost: The cost per contact for email is generally far lower than other traditional forms of marketing.

It drives engagement: Email is a one-to-one communication that can help build relationships with your prospects and customers. When you consider that generally it takes 6-7 ‘touches’ before you can turn a prospect into a customer, email is a great way to engage your prospects with relevant content at a time that is convenient to them.

It delivers measurable results: You can see who has opened your emails, who never received it, who has clicked through to your website, and who thought the content was so interesting that they forwarded the email onto a colleague. You can test various elements and optimise the effectiveness of your email communications.

It accommodates targeted messages: Segmentation of your email database and targeting specific messages is a generally a simple process.

A good email marketing campaign can help you:
- Increase sales conversion rate
- Generate repeat sales
- Up-sell and cross-sell products and services
- Gain valuable feedback from your visitors
- Drive web users to make offline purchases.

Some things to think about before commencing email marketing:
1. Develop an email communications plan - make sure you know what you will say, how often you will say it and who you will be speaking to.
2. Trigger-based / scheduled emails - engage in conversations with your customers at exactly the right time for maximum impact
3. Email design - single or multiple templates? Postcard style or newsletter emails? Where do you position your logo?
4. Email database recruitment - How will you recruit and retain your customer database?
5. Managing your email database - manage unsubscribes, bounces, duplicate email addresses.
6. Email measurement - and email communications plan involves some effort - what is the return and how will you track it over time?

Read my other articles on email marketing for some more tips and ideas.