What is email marketing?
Email marketing is a powerful marketing channel, a form of direct marketing as well as digital marketing, that uses email to promote your business’s products or services. It can help make your customers aware of your latest items or offers by integrating it into your marketing automation efforts. It can also play a pivotal role in your marketing strategy with lead generation, brand awareness, building relationships or keeping customers engaged between purchases through different types of marketing emails.
A brief history of email
The very first email was sent in 1971 by a computer engineer named Ray Tomlinson. The message he sent was just a string of numbers and letters, but it was the beginning of a new era of communication. Tomlinson was also the person who introduced the usage of the “@” symbol in email addresses.
In 1978, a marketing manager at Digital Equipment Corp named Gary Thuerk used this new method of direct communication to send out the first commercial email to let people know about a new product.
By the ‘90s, the internet had become commercially available to the masses. The way people communicated with one another began to change dramatically, and marketers discovered that email could be an effective way to advertise. The emergence of marketing emails also ushered in the need for regulatory updates; the U.K.'s Data Protection Act, for example, was adjusted to require an "opt out" option for all marketing emails.
In 1978, a marketing manager at Digital Equipment Corp named Gary Thuerk used this new method of direct communication to send out the first commercial email to let people know about a new product.
By the ‘90s, the internet had become commercially available to the masses. The way people communicated with one another began to change dramatically, and marketers discovered that email could be an effective way to advertise. The emergence of marketing emails also ushered in the need for regulatory updates; the U.K.'s Data Protection Act, for example, was adjusted to require an "opt out" option for all marketing emails.
Advantages of email marketing
Email has become such a popular marketing tool for businesses partly because it forces the user to take some kind of action; an email will sit in the inbox until it’s read, deleted, or archived.
Email marketing can help you build a relationship with your audience while also driving traffic to your blog, social media, or anywhere else you’d like folks to visit. You can even segment your emails and target users by demographic so you’re only sending people the messages they want to see most.
Email marketing also allows you to run A/B tests of a subject line or call to action to identify the best performing message by using email marketing software that can also be configured to easily send out emails. Check out Mailchimp's email templates to see more of what you can do with email marketing.
Email has become such a popular marketing tool for businesses partly because it forces the user to take some kind of action; an email will sit in the inbox until it’s read, deleted, or archived.
Email marketing can help you build a relationship with your audience while also driving traffic to your blog, social media, or anywhere else you’d like folks to visit. You can even segment your emails and target users by demographic so you’re only sending people the messages they want to see most.
Email marketing also allows you to run A/B tests of a subject line or call to action to identify the best performing message by using email marketing software that can also be configured to easily send out emails. Check out Mailchimp's email templates to see more of what you can do with email marketing.
Disadvantages of email marketing
While email marketing seems like the perfect way to reach out to customers, create new prospects, and grow important business relationships, there are some drawbacks. In fact, many businesses are opting to use EZ Texting as another form of communication.
Here are some of the significant downsides to email marketing campaigns.
While email marketing seems like the perfect way to reach out to customers, create new prospects, and grow important business relationships, there are some drawbacks. In fact, many businesses are opting to use EZ Texting as another form of communication.
Here are some of the significant downsides to email marketing campaigns.
Spam
It seems like our inboxes are filled with worthless information. "Lose 25 pounds in two weeks," "Click here for a big discount." We all get them and nearly instantly hit delete. In addition, we never even see many of these emails because they end up in our junk or spam folders. Unless you are actively avoiding spam filters, these are messages are often just a waste of time for the company that sent them.
It seems like our inboxes are filled with worthless information. "Lose 25 pounds in two weeks," "Click here for a big discount." We all get them and nearly instantly hit delete. In addition, we never even see many of these emails because they end up in our junk or spam folders. Unless you are actively avoiding spam filters, these are messages are often just a waste of time for the company that sent them.
Size
If your email is too large, it might take a long time to load—or even not load at all. In that time it takes to download, a potential customer has just lost interest, costing you business.
If your email is too large, it might take a long time to load—or even not load at all. In that time it takes to download, a potential customer has just lost interest, costing you business.
Competition
Disadvantages aside, email marketing is a popular form of marketing, which means that your email isn’t going to be the only one flooding users' inboxes. This means that to stand out from competitors, you might need to invest in strong copywriters or offer additional promotions to capture your audience’s attention.
Disadvantages aside, email marketing is a popular form of marketing, which means that your email isn’t going to be the only one flooding users' inboxes. This means that to stand out from competitors, you might need to invest in strong copywriters or offer additional promotions to capture your audience’s attention.
Engagement
Frequently, a customer sees an ad and signs up for emails based on that 1 instance or offer. They may or may not use it. In any case, they are now in the clients' database, but that doesn’t mean they will keep opening up your emails and clicking through to your site. You have to continuously find ways to engage your audience, or you might find yourself with high unopened rates or a lot of people unsubscribing.
Frequently, a customer sees an ad and signs up for emails based on that 1 instance or offer. They may or may not use it. In any case, they are now in the clients' database, but that doesn’t mean they will keep opening up your emails and clicking through to your site. You have to continuously find ways to engage your audience, or you might find yourself with high unopened rates or a lot of people unsubscribing.
Design
Today, you can access an email across a range of devices, such as phones, tablets, and computers. This means that unless you’re designing an email for each platform, your customers might see a less than ideal version of your email.
Email marketers don’t know what type of operating system the recipient is using. In many cases, what was once a visually appealing email, can have odd breaks, missing visuals, and logos. These are annoying to the recipient and are quickly deleted—especially if the recipient mistakes it for spam or a scam. These emails are hard to read in most cases and are of very little value.
Today, you can access an email across a range of devices, such as phones, tablets, and computers. This means that unless you’re designing an email for each platform, your customers might see a less than ideal version of your email.
Email marketers don’t know what type of operating system the recipient is using. In many cases, what was once a visually appealing email, can have odd breaks, missing visuals, and logos. These are annoying to the recipient and are quickly deleted—especially if the recipient mistakes it for spam or a scam. These emails are hard to read in most cases and are of very little value.
Cost
While many email services purport to be free, many still charge fees for additional actions such as adding images or exceeding a word count. Make sure that you know exactly what the guidelines are for free emails or understand what additional charges you may incur. When you have someone design an email template, help build a database of relevant contacts, and the dissemination of the email may start stressing the budget.
While many email services purport to be free, many still charge fees for additional actions such as adding images or exceeding a word count. Make sure that you know exactly what the guidelines are for free emails or understand what additional charges you may incur. When you have someone design an email template, help build a database of relevant contacts, and the dissemination of the email may start stressing the budget.