Every new day brings us a step closer to discovering new and improved methods to accomplish our daily needs. In this fast-paced world, anyone who decides to turn their backs on technological advancements would be shocked at how fast everything has changed when they finally decide to face it.

Before email came into existence, communication, especially in offices and business-related areas were quite difficult. Rather than dozens of emails, workers had dozens of messages to respond to.

Workers were trained to communicate effectively with people using voicemail, extract the three main points of the messages, and note the number to reach them. Messages that concerned a group of people could not be communicated to them at once; it had to be done one after the other irrespective of how many the recipients were.

However, things are different now. Messages can be sent to as many people as possible using email. This act is known as email marketing. Email marketing is quite broad; it involves using email to send advertisements, request business, or seek sales or donations.

Interestingly, while doing that aforementioned with email marketing, one can also develop lasting relationships with prospects and customers. Effective use of email marketing can help sellers transform prospects into customers while, at the same time, cause first-time buyers to return. Thus, email marketing can be used to achieve a whole lot.

Some claim that email marketing is not as effective as it used to be, probably because of all the talks of video, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and chatbots. However, the truth remains that email marketing keeps going strong today and is one of the best strategies for any business.

Little wonder, it was ranked the most effective marketing channel ahead of Social media, SEO, and affiliate marketing.

How does Email marketing work?

Unlike what some people think, email marketing is not a complicated process and can be easily done by anyone. However, it requires a lot of consistency to discover the best way of communicating with one’s subscribers.

To get started with email marketing, you must do the following:

  • Sign up for an email marketing tool:

An email marketing tool is important as it will help you create an email list, add users to your list, send emails to your audience, and provide reports on how often your audience view your emails, among others. Some of the most popular marketing tools are Aweber, Constant Contact, ConvertKit, and Mailchimp.

  • Create an email marketing strategy:

The next thing you want to do after signing up for an email marketing tool is creating an email marketing strategy. This will help you decide how to grow your email list, figure out your monthly cost. An email marketing strategy will help determine the messages to send and the best time to send them.

  • Build and grow your email list:

If you want to succeed at email marketing, you need to have many subscribers. This means you have to work towards increasing your subscribers. You can achieve this by publishing amazing content, giving out incentives, making it extremely easy to subscribe.

  • Clean up your email list regularly:

There would be some inactive subscribers. You must remove inactive subscribers as this will not only minimize your costs, it will also increase the healthiness of your list.

» MORE: Why Email Marketing Is Important?

What exactly is the point of Email marketing?

Email marketing has come to stay, no doubt, as it keeps serving important purposes. One of the significant reasons for email marketing is increased sales but does it just stop at this? No way! There is more to email marketing than sales.

Email marketing ensures that a cordial relationship is formed between you and your customers. It is beyond you sending emails upon emails to your customers to get a sale. Interestingly, the only reason a person will buy from you through email is if you already have a cordial relationship with them. No one wants to buy from someone that is not credible.

So, as you begin to plan on making sales through email, bear in mind that the whole point of making a profit lies in the kind of relationship you build with your potential customers.

Is Email Marketing still popular?

There are some doubts about email marketing. One of such is whether email marketing is still as popular and relevant as it used to be. According to a Radicati Group Study, over 4.2 billion people are expected to be email users by 2022; this is 140 million more people using it in 2018.

The results from an Adobe Campaigns Survey showed that 61% of consumers would rather receive communications from brands through email than any other channel.

So, it is safe to say that not only is email popular; it is also beating other forms of marketing channels.

» MORE: How To Start With Email Marketing In 10 Easy Steps

When should Email Marketing not be used?

Generally, before you start using email marketing, you must have a basic knowledge of how it works. Without this, you will find yourself rushing out at the same speed you rushed into it.

Below are few instances you should not use email marketing:

  • When you do not have a clear goal on what you would like to achieve with email.
  • If you know you are not ready to put in the required effort consistently.
  • When your content is not good enough to attract subscribers.

» MORE: How to Do Email Marketing

Types of Email marketing

There are different types of marketing emails that fit different purposes. Therefore, knowing the right type to use when you are required to send an email is very crucial. Below are the different types of marketing emails and their respective significance:

1. Welcome Email

First impressions, they say, are vital. So in whatever you do, you want to create beautiful, long-lasting relationships with your customers. A welcome email gives you a great chance at this as it is the first email you send to new subscribers, customers or users.

It is an opportunity to let them know you and what your business is all about. The impression you make with your welcome email will go a long way in determining whether or not they will click the “unsubscribe” button.

Benefits of Welcome Emails

  • An opportunity to form a cordial relationship: if your first interaction with potential customers is a positive one, there is a high probability that subscribers will be more receptive to future emails.
  • Boost sales: A welcome email is an excellent opportunity to make a sale. Research has shown that welcome emails have higher open rates and click-through rates than standard marketing emails.

» MORE: Best Cheap Email Marketing Software

2. Email Newsletters

Email newsletters are one of the most common types of emails in email marketing. As the name suggests, email newsletters often contain news and updates aimed to keep the audience engaged. Some marketers are not so enthusiastic about email newsletters as they claim that they are not effective; however, newsletters created carefully are sure to pay off.

Benefits of Email Newsletters

  • Creates awareness about the brand: Just like how people who read newspapers anticipate daily copies, email newsletters create some anticipation in people. They cause people to begin to look forward to what a particular brand has for them, especially if it consistently dishes out enjoyable information about the brand.
  • Increased Sales: Although email newsletters are not the best at sales increment, there can be an indirect increase in sales. For example, to sell a particular product to potential customers, newsletters can be used to offer detailed explanations of how such products can be useful and the benefits derived from their usage. This can make the readers interested in such a product.

» MORE: How Much Does Email Marketing Cost?

3. Dedicated Emails

Dedicated emails, also known as stand-alone emails, contain information about a single offer. For example, it can be used to notify subscribers about a particular event or product.

 Benefits of Dedicated Emails

  • One call-to-action: Unlike email newsletters, dedicated emails focus on only one call-to-action because there is only one message and goal.
  • Easy to build: It is quite easy to construct dedicated emails, especially if the email template is available.
  • Easy and fast to measure: If there are just one message and call-to-action in a dedicated email, measuring the coverage and responses would be quite easy and fast.

4. Sponsorship Emails

Unlike other types of marketing emails that require sending messages through one’s email base, sponsorship emails include paying to include one’s copy in another vendor’s newsletter.

Benefits of Sponsorship Emails

  • Reaching a target audience: One of the advantages of using sponsorship emails is the opportunity to reach a different audience and gain new leads.
  • An exact return on investment: With a sponsorship email, one can be sure about the amount that is to be paid to the vendor. All that is required is tracking the emails’ results to determine the investment’s return.

» MORE: Best Free Email Marketing Software For Small Businesses

5. Transactional Emails

This is a type of marketing email triggered by an agreed-upon transaction between the sender and recipient. For instance, if a customer has bought a particular product, a transactional email can be used to notify the recipient of the details of the product and its shipment. This way, the recipient can feel safe about the purchase.

Benefits of Transactional Emails

  • It builds customers’ trust: Customers are more likely to feel at ease with a company that provides useful information about their transaction at every step than one that does not. Once the customers feel at ease, they build trust, confidence, and respect for the company.
  • It increases customer engagement: Since transactional emails take a one-on-one approach, customers will feel valued and causes an increase in interaction. This interaction will, in turn, result in high customer engagement.
  • Increased sales: When customers receive images of their recent purchase alongside ads for related products, they can identify products they need that they are yet to purchase. They might also decide to browse the company website again and note certain products they would like to purchase.

» MORE: How to Get Email Addresses for Email Marketing

6. Re-Engagement Emails

This is used when a significant part of the subscribers has remained inactive for a while. The re-engagement email will serve the purpose of re-establishing contact and goodwill.

Benefits of Re-Engagement Email

  • Turning a loss into a win: According to active campaigning, turning an inactive customer into an active one is five times cheaper than getting a new one.
  • Clean up your list: Irrespective of the re-engagement email’s outcome, the sender can always clean up the email list.

» MORE: Best Affordable Email Marketing Software

7. Brand story Emails

Storytelling has been and will continue to be a powerful tool for making sales. Who does not enjoy reading stories, especially when written beautifully? Sending an email that contains the story behind a brand to a potential customer will create an emotional response. It will get the point across to the readers, telling them what the company is all about and how it can help them. Because every business has a unique story, it is important to start with it.

Benefits of Brand Story Emails

  • With brand stories, every brand stands out: The story of a brand is unique to that brand. There is a reason a particular brand is different from others, and people would like to know that. If a brand can actively spotlight the things that make them unique, it can efficiently outshine its competitors.
  • It helps brands attract the right set of people: People are always hesitant to engage with brands that do not demonstrate care and consideration to others and the ones that lack accountability. When a brand consistently tells its story, people will be open to trusting such a brand, which means more customers for such a brand.

» MORE: How to get Email Lists for Marketing?

Review Request Email

Customers’ reviews are undoubtedly compelling as they can increase sales and cause new customers to show interest. This is what review request email is all about; asking customers to send in their reviews of particular products they purchased. Although it might seem awkward to ask for reviews from customers, the benefits are numerous.

Benefits of Review Request Emails

  • Credibility: If a buyer is confused about what brand to use, a positive review about a product purchased from a particular brand might be all that convinces the customer.
  • Search Engine Optimization: Companies that request for reviews from their customers have a higher chance of creating new and unique content about the company.

Bottom Line

With the different types of marketing emails available, it is evident that email marketing is an excellent tool for increasing sales and connecting to customers.

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