What is email marketing? Discover the benefits! - MailBlue

How do you efficiently reach the largest possible group of people? This can be easily done by using email marketing. But what is email marketing? The (potential) customers are approached directly via e-mail. This way of direct marketing can be used to bring in new customers, provide information, maintain customer contact or convince people who are already customers of a new product. Using email to pursue these goals brings us to the term email marketing.

You will discover further in this blog what e-mail marketing is and what you can do with it exactly. You will also know after reading this article whether it is also valuable for your business to use and what benefits you can achieve with it.

What is email marketing?

You can use email marketing to promote new services or products or to maintain contact with existing customers, for example. Marketing occurs in many different ways. If you do online marketing for your company, we call it internet marketing. Email marketing also falls under this category.

Email marketing is therefore a (series of) e-mail(s) that is sent from a company to interested parties and/or customers. Such an e-mail contains, for example, news, offers, a customer satisfaction survey or, for example, service notifications.

In principle, e-mail marketing therefore encompasses all forms of marketing by e-mail. The most well-known form of email marketing is sending a newsletter.

You can also do online marketing through social media, advertising through websites or through blogs, for example. However, with email marketing it is possible to approach specific customers or target groups very directly. This can be done by analyzing the interests and behavior of the recipients of the messages. This will be explained in more detail later in this article.

Direct marketing

If you seek direct contact with a target group or certain customers for advertising or other marketing purposes, this is referred to as direct marketing. This can be done in various ways, such as: by post, e-mail, social media or, for example, via websites. Email marketing is therefore a form of direct marketing. You can send a specific target group information about products or services in a very targeted way. You have the potential or existing customers you have in mind, right at your fingertips. 

Spam?

Many people outside the field mistakenly associate e-mail marketing with sending unsolicited advertising messages, or spam. However, this is completely at odds with the true essence and purpose of email marketing.

So what is email marketing?

With e-mail marketing you ensure, often via a registration form on your site, that people sign up for an email list. This can be for a newsletter, a free e-book or, for example, to receive a discount voucher. As soon as these people register with you (this is called an 'opt-in' in marketing), you can then start sending them related emails. It is very powerful for your business if you have a large active mailing list; you can ultimately promote your products or services that way.

An important difference between spam and email marketing: you first build a relationship with your readers via your mailing list. You ensure, if you apply it properly, that they will trust you more and eventually spend (more) with you, for example. Email marketing is a powerful and effective marketing tool to reach your target audience. Whether it concerns strengthening existing relationships, entering into new contacts or improving your (company) image. Suppose you are launching a new product on the market or you want to organize a workshop/event; then all you have to do is send an email to your contacts who are already interested in your company. Ideal!

Email marketing: software

If you really want to apply email marketing properly, you can use so-called Marketing Automation Software; such as MailBlue . These systems keep track of the online behavior of your leads and customers, among other things. For example, it is possible for each individual contact to get an overview of which website pages the person has visited, which emails have been clicked through and what exactly has been downloaded. This data based on the behavior of your contacts can then be used in creating new email segments. This means you always send a relevant message to the right person at the right time. E-mail Marketing Automation Software therefore goes further than standard e-mail marketing software. Make sure that you don't come across as spammy and that your emails are read! 

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When do you use email marketing?

Using e-mail marketing is a great way to connect with interested parties in a variety of ways. For example, you can send information about products or services by means of a newsletter.

Do you have a special offer? Then you can use e-mail marketing to send targeted emails to the people who are interested in that specific product. The aim is therefore to stimulate and persuade the reader to visit the website via links in the emails. Then there is a good chance that the recipients of your email will make a purchase.

Is email marketing valuable to your business?

It is not obvious for every business to do e-mail marketing. Whether it is valuable and meaningful depends on a number of factors. If you want to offer your (potential) customers the opportunity to be kept informed of relevant developments and offers via e-mail, then e-mail marketing can certainly be a very valuable communication and promotional tool. Email marketing is therefore an effective means of getting in direct contact with your target audience. You can use it to send:

Newsletters : For example, keep your customers informed about what is going on in and around your organization. A great way to provide information and stay top-of-mind with your contacts. 1 tip: don't call your newsletter a newsletter. That comes across as dusty, dull and boring.

One-off promotions:  Make your contacts aware of your temporary sale, sale or special promotions.

Transactional emails:  These are emails that you send to confirm a purchase or registration. Automatically send out emails such as purchase confirmation and shipment status.

Event-driven emails:  These are emails that you send about a special event in the relationship with your customer. Think, for example, of a welcome e-mail, a birthday e-mail or an e-mail to indicate that someone has left something in his or her (online) shopping cart.

Check for yourself to what extent you already (manually) send such e-mails or to what extent it can mean added value for your business to send one or more of these types of e-mails. Be aware that you can set up these types of mailings automatically with the help of email marketing automation software. This can save you a lot of manual work and time. For example, you always automatically send an email exactly on a customer's birthday. To do this, you only set up an automation (funnel) once and then it automatically runs correctly for all your contacts. Or you can, for example, send an email to that customer whose warranty is about to expire, asking if he/she wants to extend the warranty.

Email remains a preferred channel for many consumers, so as soon as you deal with (potential) customers, email marketing quickly becomes very powerful and useful!

What do you have to take into account?

In most cases, email marketing as a channel fits perfectly within the marketing mix, but it is good to take the following bullet points into account and decide whether this is the right time for your business to start with it:

• Consent required:  Please note that in all cases consent from the customer is required before you can send such a person an email campaign or newsletter. This is mandatory under Dutch law. Laws and rules apply within email marketing. For example, there should always be an option for a contact in the mail to unsubscribe from those mailings. So make sure you are aware of the  privacy legislation .
• Email lists : If you want to use email marketing, make sure that you get the email addresses of the recipients yourself. This makes it so personal and offers you the opportunity to work in a targeted manner. The lists will not be large at first, but this will come in time. It is not recommended to purchase data such as email lists from a third party. This often leads to frustration, which means that the e-mails will eventually end up in the recipient's spam.
• Software choice: To be able to do good email marketing, you will have to use email marketing software. This makes it possible to manage email lists and customer data so that you can send targeted mailings. It is often also possible to send automatic emails. It is important that the software ensures that the email reaches the recipient's inbox and not spam. A legible e-mail is also very important, especially if it must be possible to open it on a mobile phone. This can all be done using email marketing software. 

Email marketing can seem quite technical to starters. If you then invest in email marketing automation software, it can be nice to do this with a party that can offer (qualitative) Dutch support. There are different systems on the market: within some systems you need coding knowledge, but other systems work very visually and are therefore very user-friendly. So do good research into the different systems , so that you are sure that it suits you. Good news: you can request a free trial from almost all email marketing software companies .

Continuity:  Make sure you send something regularly; without continuity, the receiver no longer recognizes you. There is a good chance that your emails will no longer be opened.

Starting moment:  The  effective application of e-mail marketing requires the necessary attention, especially in the beginning. Keep this in mind!

To do! & measuring:  It's best to just start. You can then measure the effect of your email campaign via the software. Then optimize where possible: make adjustments to the layout, the text and the sending moment. These kinds of optimizations can ultimately cause major differences in the result.

In addition to sending emails, viewing statistics as a result of the mailing is also a very important function of good email marketing software. With these statistics you can see which recipients have opened the email and which links in the email are clicked. You can see which pages a particular customer goes to and in the future you can also send information about that particular page to that customer. This is all possible if you use the right email marketing software.

How does email marketing work?

If you want to use email marketing to approach a certain target group, you cannot just randomly send an email. You want to acquire customers and not to harass people by sending spam emails. To do it right, use email marketing software. There are different types of software available that enable you to send emails to specific segments, or target groups. 

Step 1: Receive Applications

You obtain the email addresses that you want to use for your e-mail marketing by having people fill in a registration form on your website, for example. In this form they can leave information such as their name and of course the email address. The more information you collect from your contacts, the more targeted you can do with email marketing. All data is processed in the email marketing software. Depending on the software you use, it is in many cases possible to send emails very specifically to specific target groups.

Step 2: Send mailings

Because you have now collected email addresses, it is possible to start doing email marketing. With the information you have obtained via the form on the website, it is possible to send targeted messages.

For example, if you sell books and someone is interested in the latest thrillers; then you can add this person to the mailing with information and offers about thrillers. The recipient will then receive the emails for which he or she has indicated that he or she is interested. With the help of the e-mail marketing software it is in many cases also possible to find out which recipient has opened the email and which links in the email have been clicked. This way you can work even more focused afterwards.

What are the advantages?

There are actually a lot of advantages to mention. The observant reader has probably already noticed a few in the section above. Email marketing is simple, cheap and you can reach a large group of people with it. The data generated as a result of the mailings can also be properly analyzed and used.  

Here are the top six reasons to use email marketing:

• It's incredibly cost-effective: This form of marketing is a lot cheaper than direct mail, telemarketing or flyers. Due to the low costs and convenience, you can easily run multiple campaigns at the same time. Moreover, you can automate a lot of your business processes with it.
• You quickly earn back the relatively low investment: 92% of marketers indicate that email marketing has a high ROI (Return On Investment). There are a number of goals that are important if you want to use email marketing. The most important of these goals is to sell products or services. 
• It is easily measurable: You have direct insight into its effectiveness. In addition, you can see where the email has ended up, whether the message has been read, whether certain links have been clicked and, for example, which pages the recipient of the e-mail has gone to on your website. This information makes it possible to set up the next mailing in an even more targeted manner using the software. 
• You can plan your campaigns well: This way you can determine exactly when the target group can receive a specific mailing.
• You can offer a great personalized experience to your (potential) customers: Call someone by their first name completely automatically and easily ensure that the content of the email connects seamlessly to that person. This can easily be done based on what the system already knows about the receiver. The system measures certain actions and behavior so that you can email in a more targeted manner. You really have direct contact with the target groups you want to reach. E-mails are also delivered quickly and often opened the same day by the recipient.
• Examples: you can give loyal customers who buy a lot, for example, certain discounts. Even if it is a customer's birthday, you can ensure that this person automatically receives an email with a congratulation and, for example, a certain discount.
• It is a direct channel with which you can switch quickly: Within a few minutes you can inform all your customers about the latest news or respond to current events. The advantage is that the recipients themselves have indicated that they are interested in certain information or e-mails. Email campaigns are quick and easy to set up and send. In addition, the response time of an email is also very short. 

It is also good to know that email as a channel is a large and important channel for many Dutch people. A few facts from the National E-mail survey 2019 :

More than half of the Dutch (54%) read their email on a smartphone.

1. 88% of the Dutch have subscribed to at least 1 e-mail newsletter in the past year.
2. 73% of Dutch people buy as a result of an e-mail from a webshop.
3. 31% of all Dutch people already make their online purchases via a smartphone.
4. 48% of the Dutch would like to receive a birthday email from a webshop.

What are the disadvantages?

There are also drawbacks to using email marketing. In other words, there can be a disadvantage to marketing campaigns that are sent by email. When it comes to email marketing, people (wrongly) quickly think of the unwanted emails they receive. But because the recipient leaves their details in the form and indicates that they want to be contacted, the threshold is already a lot lower. You do have to use email marketing properly and make use of the segmentation options. The possible disadvantage: it takes some effort to prevent you from coming across as spammy with your mailings. Segmentation is key!

In addition, you should take into account that legally you need permission from the recipient to be able to send messages. For this you need to familiarize yourself with the AVG legislation.

Is email marketing still relevant?

You may wonder whether it is still relevant to use email marketing. Compared to sending physical mail, it is a huge improvement. But with the advent of social media, there are also other possibilities in the field of direct marketing. Yet email marketing is certainly still relevant and it is recommended to use it. Why? Because people actively indicate in the registration form that they want to be approached to receive certain information or about certain products. This is not the case with social media and therefore you can work less focused via that channel. Also, more people still use email than social media. Moreover, analyzing statistics is easier with email marketing.

A major advantage of email marketing compared to social media, for example, is that e-mail messages will be read earlier. With social media, there is a greater chance that the 'recipient' will read over the message. With e-mail marketing, a message is sent to a recipient in a targeted manner. This remains in the mailbox until the recipient performs an action such as reading the message or possibly deleting the email. Social media can be a good addition to a marketing campaign. This often allows you to reach other target groups as well. Therefore, add to your emails the possibility that customers can follow your company's pages on social media.

5 Tips for a successful email campaign

Are you going to use email marketing? Then make sure that you work in an orderly manner with the help of a good email marketing software package. This way you can make the most of your email marketing campaign. To lend you a hand, I share 5 tips below to make your campaigns a success.

1. Obtaining data

Make sure that the data you obtain for your email marketing campaign is obtained by yourself. So work on a customer base yourself and only use the data left by potential customers on your website. If you do not do this and if you use data that you have purchased, for example, recipients of the e-mails will quickly drop out. In the longer term, many dropouts can be harmful to your broadcasting reputation and the 'deliverability' of your emails. 

2. Follow the rules

Not only building a customer base, but also following the rules regarding email marketing, is a factor for more success. So make sure you have permission from customers to send emails. It should also be possible for customers to unsubscribe from the mailings you send in every email. Your emails should be honest and not misleading. This is laid down in Dutch and European regulations. If you do not follow the rules properly, there is a chance that you will be fined.

3. Variation

Vary the emails you send. For example, make sure you don't just send emails with advertising to the same group of customers. Be focused and try to build a relationship with the customers you have. For example, give loyal customers certain discounts or let customers take advantage of a special offer on their birthday. By being thoughtful with messages such as congratulations, you also build a bond with the customer faster. Do not just randomly send newsletters; rather keep the customer informed of developments within your company in a creative way. Curious how you approach this? This is how you send a good newsletter .

4. Keep the customer friendly

It's not only important to send varied messages and build a relationship with the customers, you also have to keep the customer friendly. You cannot sell products or services without your customers. The customer has given you his or her data; it is important that you treat this with respect. If you treat your customers in the right way, you will also keep them as a friend. This ensures that the customer gains more affinity with the company and purchases something from you faster. A good customer relationship can even ensure that the customer (un)consciously advertises your company to his or her environment.

5. Regularity

Once you start using e-mail marketing, make sure you keep a regularity in the frequency of your emails. If you send an email every week on the same day and at the same time with, for example, the latest offers or information, then the customer knows what to expect from you. So make sure that you do mailing regularly, but not too often. In any case, do not send too few messages; it will then be more difficult for you to bind yourself to the customer.

Conclusion

As you have read, email marketing is incredibly powerful and effective. It can be very beneficial for many types of companies. You save on various costs as you have read, but of course you have to invest in a good email marketing software package. If you then implement the email campaigns in the right way, your company will quickly experience the result of this way of marketing. At the beginning of this article, we asked the question, “What is email marketing?”. The answer to that is now clear: “Email marketing is the fastest and cheapest way to get more customers' '.

Are you already using it for your business?