Email marketing
Email marketing can be an effective way of building rapport and customer loyalty as well as attracting new customers interested in your brand. It can be linked with other marketing initiatives such as your website or social media and is usually cheaper than other forms of direct marketing like sending physical mail or telemarketing.
On this page:
- What is email marketing?
- Ethics of email marketing
- Creating an e-newsletter
- Targeting the right people
- Monitoring results
- Writing for online readers
What is email marketing?
Email marketing is when a business sends emails or e-newsletters to advertise, encourage repeat business, and enhance its relationship with existing customers and potential customers. Customers are spending more and more time online, so it makes sense to include electronic communication in your marketing strategy.
Advantages of email marketing:
- it's targeted
- it can be tracked
- it's comparatively low-cost
- it can be delivered quickly
- it's green (paper-free).
Some examples of email marketing are: a clothing retailer encouraging customers to join an email club that offers exclusive promotions, new products and member discounts, a mechanic emailing their customers offering a discounted full vehicle service just before winter, or a hairdresser sending clients who haven't returned for a few months a one-off special offer on cutting and colouring, to encourage those customers to return.
Ethics of email marketing
Allow customers to opt-in or opt-out
A business must always get customers' permission first before sending offers and other information via email. Ideally, get customer's permission at the same time that you get their contact details for your customer database. If you are taking a customer's details in-person, you will need to explain just what type of material you will be emailing them and why, and then note down whether the customer has chosen to 'opt-in' or 'opt-out' of receiving email marketing.
If you obtain a customer's details by other means – perhaps via a standard form on your website or a prominent sign-up sheet in your store – you will need to explain in writing the type of material your business will send via email, and ensure there is an opt-out box the customer can tick if they don't wish to receive such emails.
Even when emailing customers who have chosen to opt-in, it is best practice to always have an unsubscribe option at the bottom of your email or e-newsletter. Customers should be able to either click a link that deletes them from your email distribution list, or simply reply to your email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line. Find out more about Best practice for email marketing [PDF 68KB] from the New Zealand Marketing Association.
Don’t spam
Spam is unsolicited electronic messages. You probably get spam every day, offering links to online pharmacies selling cheap medicines, for example. Don't ever email people who haven't given you their permission to contact them. If you do, you risk being seen as a business that spams people – and everyone dislikes spam.
Be aware that even if you email customers who have opted-in too frequently, you also risk being seen as a spammer. You should always have a good reason to contact your customers, and there should always be something in it for them.
Creating an e-newsletter
An e-newsletter is an electronic newsletter that you email to customers. E-newsletters are especially affordable because they cost nothing to send, and, if you or your employees have graphic design skills, they won’t cost you any extra to create.
If you contract a graphic designer to create your e-newsletter, be sure to brief them thoroughly on what you want. Otherwise, you may end up paying extra to have the e-newsletter created all over again if the finished product is not what you had in mind. Such an oversight could push your campaign over budget, or mean you miss the opportunity to tell your regular customers first about new products or services before they reach your stores.
E-newsletters can be sent monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly, depending on the type of business you run. For example, a shop selling ski gear probably wouldn't contact customers during the summer months but it would contact them often during late autumn, winter and early spring.
An e-newsletter should be something your customers look forward to receiving. Focus on adding value by keeping it short, and include numerous short sections broken up by images and graphics, rather than large blocks of text. Include trivia, topical articles, product tips, and customer feedback, in addition to information on sales, and new products and services. You want customers to feel you take an interest in them and want to keep in touch with them – not just take their money.
Include clear calls to action such as 'Order now while stocks last', 'Tell us what you think' or 'Enter to win…', and make sure it's clear to customers what they get out of receiving your e-newsletter. You could also provide links to your social media offerings by encouraging readers to interact with your Facebook page or by following you on Twitter.
Finally, it should go without saying that you have an expert proof read the e-newsletter, and that you ensure it can be viewed in various email programs, or that it can be downloaded quickly.
Targeting the right people
Use your customer database
The quality of your database is critical to achieving a good response rate. When you create your own list from existing customers, the response rate will always be better because your email marketing is targeted.
To broaden your database, ask customers if they know anyone else who might be interested in your services. You can incentivise this with an 'introduce a friend' offer. Find out more about customer databases for your business.
Different customers may need different messages
You can categorise customers within your database, for example by age group, location, amount spent, or products bought. You can then easily locate everyone within these categories to target your email marketing more specifically. For example, you might email special offers to your very best customers (i.e., those who have spent the most with you) a week before you email the same offer to all your other customers. Or, you might email details of a complementary product (e.g., Mac software) only to those customers who have bought the associated product (e.g., a Mac rather than a PC).
If your customers represent a wide range of ages, consider whether certain words and phrases will be commonplace to some customers but foreign to others, and whether a different written tone is needed for different customers. Find out how to target your marketing with our free online lesson.
Monitoring results
Metrics to use
There are various software options for measuring and analysing the success of email marketing (most of them will create, send and manage your email marketing too).
Software such as SmartMail PRO, Catch Mail and CampaignMonitor can tell you how many people opened your email and the 'clickthru' rate – how many customers clicked any links inside your email. For example, you may have included in your email a link to your website's ordering page, or to a specific product page. Email marketing analysis software can also tell you how many people forwarded your email or marked it as spam, and it enables you to compare the results of different email marketing campaigns so you get a feel for what works and what doesn't.
Bear in mind that there are some limits to what you can measure. For example, your analytics software might tell you that 56% of customers opened your email. However, it can't tell you if they actually read your email or whether they found it interesting or useful. In addition, remember that having a customer open your email is just one step – what you really want to see is a clickthru to your order page and an increase in sales. Focus on these metrics because they are the real measure of your email marketing success.
Writing for online readers
Research shows that the majority of online readers simply scan text, rather than read it word-by-word. So here are some tips for increasing the readability of your emails and e-newsletters.
- Keep sentences and paragraphs short and concise and use your first paragraph to tell readers what you are about to tell them.
- Use snappy headings and subheadings that get readers curious.
- Highlight or bold keywords and use bullet point lists.
- Talk to your audience. If they are specialists – and they probably are if you are a small business with a niche market – then use the jargon they know.
- Include practical and valuable information in addition to your sales pitch. Use real stories and real-life examples to connect emotionally with your readers.
Simple, everyday language works best for all audiences. While using jargon specific to your customers' interests is fine, using flowery words or phrases that force readers to Google dictionary.com is not advisable. People tend to be doing several things when they are reading online – checking emails, reading the news, taking a break from study or work. So, don't lose their attention by confusing them.
In addition, avoid boastful or subjective language, because it can put customers off if they don't agree.
Instead of telling customers that your products are the best, make a bullet point list of your products' advantages and include feedback from satisfied customers to back this up.
