While email marketing is simply sending a commercial message to a targeted group of people through a mass email, its impact extends far beyond simply getting your message into an inbox. Email marketing can be used to keep communication flow with previous customers, help in the conversion of customers in the pipeline, and reach new customers. Proper email campaigns will reach every customer at the proper stage of the process with a message tailored to their specific needs. It is debate-ably one of the most cost effective and conversion rich forms of digital marketing in 2020. In fact, an estimated $42 is earned on each $1 spent on an email campaign.
In 2019, there were 3.9 Billion active email users with over 293 billion emails sent and received each day. This means your customers are using email, so you should be too! Unlike other forms of digital marketing, or even traditional forms of marketing such as TV and Radio, Email gives you the power to reach your customer anywhere, anytime. Whether you decide to manage your email marketing in house, or outsource it to companies that have means of reaching segmented audiences in specific industries, this is a digital marketing “no-brainer”.
Different Email Marketing Platforms
There are many different email marketing platforms that can be utilized based off of your specific business needs. If your goal is to keep in contact with previous customers in hopes to turn them into repeat customers, a simple in house platform will suffice. If you are looking to manage customers in the pipeline throughout the sales process, a CRM tool that allows for both customized and automated email campaigns is probably a good route for you. If your goal is to reach new customers completely that have not yet interacted with your business but are in the market for the service or product you provide, outsourced email lists can be considered.
In House Platforms
In house platforms are simply easy to manage email marketing platforms that allow you to upload a customer list and send out customized emails to those lists. Some examples are Constant Contact and Mailchimp. Mailchimp is the platform we personally utilize here at Klout 9. Mailchimp has a user friendly interface, allows for detailed email results tracking, email customization, and audience segmentation. (Audience segmentation is crucial as it allows you to send very targeted emails to customers in different stages of the buying process). These platforms have website integrations that allow people to sign up to your list from your website if you are looking for a way to grow your email list. This option is excellent if you have an existing database of customer email addresses. If you have a list but do not have an employee able to implement effective email marketing campaigns on your behalf, Klout 9 has a team that can design customized email blasts and code them out for specific results tracking straight from your Mailchimp account! Contact us to learn more.
CRM Email Blasts
If you are in the sales industry, you likely already have a system for managing your customer base. Most CRM systems either come with email campaign integrations or have them available for affordable add-ons. While we do not recommend this be your sole source of reaching customers via email due to limitations in audience segmentation and trackability, it is an easy way to utilize an existing platform and provides additional touches to customers, keeping your brand top of mind.
Outsourced Email Lists
If you do not have a customer list of your own, there are several companies that collect data on their own customers and break them down into segments. For example, if you are a car dealership, your inventory is probably listed on some major brand listing sites such as Cars.com or Autotrader.com. These companies store information about customers visiting their sites and have them segmented out based on time of that customers site visit, what types of inventory they were looking at, their location, gender, age, average annual income, etc. (Note that a lot of these lists are subscribed to and the information provided willingly, so it’s both accurate and effective). You potentially could send a very specific email to thousands of car shoppers in your area actively searching out your brand that you know can afford your inventory. These are lists you may not have access to on your own and can provide very high return on investments. Be sure to request coded out emails so you can see within your Google Analytics account the exact amount of traffic received from those emails and what those customers did after clicking through to your website.
Whichever form of email marketing you decide to go with, be sure you are utilizing this cost effective, high converting method of reaching your customers! If you do not have an existing email list, it’s never too late to start collecting that information from customers. If you have any questions or need help getting started, we are happy to help!