There is an average ROI of $44 per $1 spent on email marketing. It’s not surprising that more businesses are asking “What is email marketing?” Email Marketing uses email to send targeted emails that increase brand awareness, customer loyalty, and purchase intent. This page will explain email marketing and provide all the information you need about how it can help your business grow.
What is email marketing?
First, let’s define email marketing.
Email marketing is a way to communicate with customers and prospects via email. Email marketing allows your company to promote sales, new products, or services, as well as share useful, non-sales content.
You can even coordinate your email marketing strategy and other marketing efforts. You can send your subscribers must-read content via content marketing if you have a blog or website. You could also compile a list of social media posts by happy clients.
Email marketing is sending emails to make money. There’s one catch. You can’t just randomly send emails to people. You must have their permission and ask them to provide their email addresses. It takes patience, planning, and practice, as well as patience. These are the first two characteristics we’ll be discussing on this page. The last one is up for you.
Continue reading to find out more about email marketing and how you can get started. Find answers to the most common email questions. Contact us online if you need professional assistance with email marketing, design, and management.
Video: Email marketing for beginners
Are you still unsure what email marketing is?
Check out the video below to learn more about email marketing and how it can help your business achieve success.
FAQs about email marketing: What is email marketing? How do I get started with email marketing?
Let’s take a look at some commonly asked questions about email marketing to get a better understanding.
This section will provide more information about email marketing by answering these questions:
- How can I launch an email marketing campaign
- How can I increase my subscriber count?
- How can I improve my email marketing strategies?
- What is email marketing’s ROI?
- What are the benefits of email marketing to businesses?
- Are email marketing’s benefits still relevant
1. How can I launch an email marketing campaign
Are you ready for your first or revised email marketing campaign to begin?
These steps can be followed or you can download our email marketing checklist.
Use an email marketing platform
You will need an email platform that allows you to send hundreds, or thousands of messages simultaneously to get started with email marketing.
This means that you should reduce the time spent creating each message but not sacrifice quality.
A service that allows you to quickly and easily send great messages to your prospects and leads is essential if you want to deliver powerful messages.
You must first find your email marketing platform.
There are hundreds of email marketing platforms on the Internet, each promising to help you make more than your competitors.
This means that choosing the right provider could be the most difficult part of email marketing.
However, 99 percent of these providers provide the same basic services.
- Email composition
- A few testing services
- Automation options
These services can be offered by a variety of providers depending on which provider you choose.
Some providers offer no options, so you can take what you see.
This is why Kobe Digital started email marketing.
We find it strange that email marketing users are limited to a few options by their service providers.
It is available to all our clients via our email marketing plans. They can either use it themselves or have an account manager create email blasts to manage their email campaigns and emails.
Because every business is unique, we believe this flexibility is essential to email marketing success.
You know best what is best for your company.
There is no fine print, no hidden fees, and no forced punches.
We thought that the Internet could benefit from a reliable email marketing provider.
Create email lists
Once you have established a platform, you need to segment your email marketing campaigns.
Segments are collections that contain email addresses that are based on one topic. Segments are a way to collect email addresses based on content that you already have.
The user can then opt into the appropriate email segment by filling out a form on your page.
Your business may have a few segments depending on your offerings and the things you do.
It’s still important to have them. This helps you keep your marketing organized, and allows you to talk directly with people about how you can help them.
A newsletter keeps your customers up-to-date with the latest developments in your industry.
However, they will still receive the information they desire.
Segmenting your subscriber list can lead to unwanted information being sent to your recipients. This will cause them to unsubscribe and may even make a resentful statement about your business.
Information is key. Before anyone can sign up, they will need messages.
Make content for your subscribers
Relevant content is the best content for an email list.
If you have an email segment that covers ballet shoes and how to break into them, keep it in your emails.
It’s also a good idea to limit your messages to financial issues if you have an email section for investments, banking, or fiduciaries.
When creating content for email segments, your best guide is common sense.
You may need to send out new emails for certain types of campaigns, such as newsletters. Although it can be time-consuming, this is a cost that potential customers will pay to stay in touch.
You can also set up other campaigns, often related to sales, in drip email format.
This means that you should create three to five messages designed to convert visitors to paying customers.
If they don’t reply by the end, likely, they won’t convert. Some companies will remove an email address from their mailing list, while others may keep it in their newsletter.
This isn’t the ideal situation, regardless of your choice. However, you can make it better over time with the processes we’ll discuss.
Now that your email campaigns are set up, it is time to link them to your website.
Connect campaigns with your content
This is the most important step in this entire process.
Once your campaigns are created and filled with messages, you can link these lists to the appropriate pages of your website.
You can then watch the conversions come in.
Different email platforms use different protocols to link email campaigns with content.
You should also receive instructions from your provider on how to do it so that you can set everything up as quickly and efficiently as possible.
You are now ready to take the final step.
Automate the email process
Once everything is set up, it is time to let the email marketing process take its course.
This strategy is just one of the many included in Marketing Automation.
It is important that your email system automatically sends emails based on conversions. This can be done within a few days or even weeks.
This is a great way to send sales emails or lead emails.
This is partly because email automation guides your subscribers through your sales funnel without you having to intervene.
If someone provides their email address to you, they are entering the top of your funnel (TOFU), for your email sales process. This means that you need to give them all the information they need to help them make informed buying decisions.
You are demonstrating your value to the recipient’s company by placing yourself in the middle of the funnel. You could use testimonials or customer reviews to make your point.
The bottom of the funnel (BOFU), is where you encourage the recipient to make the final step toward becoming a customer. This is for sales. It tells them how to purchase a product. Leads will be told how to contact you to begin a contract.
2. How can I increase my subscriber count?
You should be focusing on these things when you are trying to earn subscribers for your email marketing campaign:
- Honesty
- Transparency
Continue reading to find out more about each one.
Honesty: What do you get for giving your email address?
First, be truthful about what you give someone for their email address.
This is often free information like how to guide.
Kobe Digital has a whole section dedicated to this type of informational content. We cover details related to digital marketing that everyone should be aware of. We also know that SEO services may be required for those who are interested in this information.
This is a huge benefit to Kobe Digital, a company, in two important ways.
It shows that we are knowledgeable and authoritative in the marketing industry. This is a strategy that can be used by businesses from every industry.
Banks can offer advice on investment, retirement, account types, and other finance-related topics.
Manufacturers may publish information about their materials, clients, distribution partners, or other topics that might be of interest to their target audience.
Rehab centers can help you understand your admission process, avoid relapse, family importance, and other support-related topics.
Each industry has its example, but the concept behind them all is the same.
All of the information is then combined into an a.zip or PDF file and uploaded to your website.
You then secure it behind form fields that ask users for their email addresses.
After they have provided these, you can give them their downloadable content at no cost. You can also add them to your email marketing subscriber list.
One of the best ways to obtain email addresses from website visitors is through gated content. Because they are interested in learning more about your industry, people who give their contact information to you for free content are likely to be part of your target audience.
These website visitors are qualified to become leads for your business.
No matter your industry or the product you offer, it is important to be transparent about what subscribers get when you give them their information.
Your visitor will feel deceived or ripped off if they don’t get a PDF file.
You can ensure that your visitors are satisfied with the information they receive in return for their email addresses.
Transparency: What are you going to do with all the email addresses that you have collected?
This is the short version: spam is not something that people like.
It is not a good idea to give your email address to a company to make a profit.
It’s always a good idea for companies to state what they will do with an individual’s email address.
It is important to make sure that people feel secure submitting personal information.
There are many reasons why this happens, but the most important two are the easiest.
First, you are telling someone you can trust.
You are also showing that you have an understanding of their concerns about you submitting their data.
Your visitors will know that you care about their privacy and won’t cause them any inconvenience.
It’s a great idea to ask for the email address of someone you care about.
You can also tell people when you expect to send them messages. It may be different depending on which email list you use but it is still useful information.
You decide whether to discuss such information on your website. It’s a good idea from a transparency perspective.
3. How can I improve my email marketing strategies?
Okay, you’ve got your email marketing campaign in place. But how do you improve it?
Many tips can be used to improve your email marketing strategies.
These two must be a standard.
Subject line testing
Your subject lines will be your email headlines.
The recipient should be told exactly what to expect when they open the message.
If they do, your email will be opened by more people.
You’ll be reported as spam if you don’t.
The metric open rate of your email marketing software can be used to test subject lines.
This will tell you how many people clicked the email to read what you had to share.
This can be compared to the percentage of people unsubscribing from your email list, which is known as your unsubscribe rate.
You know your email was successful if it has a high open rate and low unsubscribes. The next step is to look back at your emails and apply the same concepts to your future ones.
If your email has a low open rate and a large number of unsubscribes then it is likely that something is wrong with the email. You may be losing subscribers if you take a closer look at the email.
We suggest that you compare your subject line and your email body text in this instance. If they don’t match, likely, your message didn’t convey what recipients were expecting.
However, subject lines are only the beginning.
If you want to know everything about your email, there is another test that you should take.
A/B Testing
A/B Testing refers to the practice of creating identical emails, then changing one element in each version.
This element could include the subject line, the image in the body copy, or the color of the conversion button. It could also be any element in your email.
Because A/B testing can be so flexible, it is crucial to identify the most important elements of your strategy from the beginning.
We recommend that you test your:
- Subject lines
- Action is required
- Images
- Font colors
- Button colors
A/B testing is time-consuming and only works if there are enough people to see the results. Usually, this number exceeds 100.
You can run the same test with different recipients if you don’t have many. Although it will take more time than an A/B test that only sends one, you will get reliable results even if your email list is small.
4. What is email marketing’s ROI?
Email can make you money regardless of your industry.
- Product sales
- Conversion of leads
A product sale is when someone receives an email from your company and buys an item.
Lead conversion is when someone receives an email from your company and signs up for a contract.
Both of these strategies are used daily by companies to help them grow. Let’s start by looking at product sales.
Product sales
For any retailer or ecommerce business, product sales are the ultimate goal.
You want to convince your subscriber to purchase something from your site via the email that you send.
Although it sounds easy, ecommerce marketing can be a complex marketing strategy.
A strong subject line, compelling text, and appropriate images are essential for a great email.
You also need to show people how the product is used, custom graphics, and many other things to persuade them to buy.
Why?
Even if someone has bought before from you, each buying decision is a new adventure for them.
This means that you are starting from scratch with your product sales emails.
It might not suffice to just show off photos and tell why your product is so great in every product sales email that you send.
Instead, you might need to guide your customers through the four stages of the buying process: awareness, consideration, and decision.
Awareness is the first step to introducing people to your product.
Next, you move on to consider and explain why readers need the product that you sell.
You then make a decision. This is when the customer purchases from you.
Then comes delight. This is when someone is satisfied with their purchase and with their interactions with your business.
This means that product sales can be a lot more difficult than it may seem for email marketing.
What about converting leads?
Conversion of leads
It is much more difficult than selling products to convert leads into paying customers.
The customer journey can be longer than you think. You’ll likely follow up with the same person multiple times until they become a paying client.
These touchstones are part of the awareness-consideration-decision-delight process, but they look much different than product sales.
You’re trying to convince someone to sign a contract. This has different implications than buying a product.
Your business is selling a commitment. This commitment could, from the point of view of a customer, be considered a risk given all the options.
It’s not the case that someone will say, “I don’t know which product I want, so I’ll get both.”
You might be talking to someone who thinks “I hope that I’m making a good decision.”
This means that you cannot just send one email to promote your services. You will need to send several emails depending on the sales process, with the option to convert your leads at the end.
These key differences make a drip campaign to convert leads different from an email blast for products.
5. What are the benefits of email marketing to businesses?
You’re not the only one wondering about email marketing’s potential benefits for your business. It’s important to do your research before you decide to adopt a new marketing strategy. Email marketing is a great choice for companies who want to make the right decision.
Here are six email marketing benefits businesses love to use:
1. Email marketing can be personalized
Email marketing allows for a great deal of personalization.
You can create audience segments, for example, to deliver targeted emails. For example, a men’s and women’s clothing retailer might create separate audiences for male and female customers. This allows the retailer to send targeted emails to those who care, such as about new products.
Personalization emails can be done by companies. Subscribers will see “Hi John!” instead of “Hi” as an opening. This makes the email more personal and memorable. To make your email more personalized and drive sales, you can highlight products past users have viewed on your site.
This level of personalization is not possible for most websites. This is especially true when you consider how email is delivered to users’ inboxes.
2. Email marketing is free for you
Email marketing is also free to start.
To create your first email campaign, you can use the free HubSpot and MailChimp versions of email marketing platforms. These platforms may have limitations in terms of features, but they are often a good choice for smaller companies with fewer subscribers.
Expect to increase your email marketing strategy and list size, as well as invest in paid tools.
Most businesses spend $9-$1000 per month for email marketing. However, your company may have costs that are higher than or equal to this amount. However, one of the most important benefits of email marketing is its ability to begin for free.
3. You track email marketing
You can track the success of your email marketing campaigns using a variety of digital strategies. These include search engine optimization and pay-per-click (PPC). Data is a key component of marketing and advertising because it gives you direct feedback about your strategy.
You can view many metrics using your email marketing platform like MailChimp.
- Rates open
- Click on the links
- Unsubscribe rates
- Social media shares
Each of these metrics will help you and your team make positive changes.
Your company might brainstorm ways to increase open rates if you have low open rates. For example, you might spend more time crafting catchy subject lines or trying out emojis. You have many options when it comes to email.
Email’s tracking capabilities make it easy to share your results with company leaders.
4. Email marketing can be used to nurture qualified leads
Email marketing is an effective strategy to nurture leads.
This is because email marketing can be used to support lead nurturing. Segmentation allows you to create audiences based on their position in the buying funnel. Personalization, on the other hand, allows you to send extremely targeted emails.
Consider the following example.
Your company sells software-as-a-service (SaaS) and uses email to generate, as well as nurture leads. There are two audiences: one for those who download the free guide on SaaS pricing, and another for those who request custom pricing.
Both audiences likely have different questions, concerns, and needs.
Email marketing and targeted audience segments can address all of them. The first group gets information about SaaS and the issues your software solves. The second group receives more sales-oriented content that highlights your company’s advantages and showcases your services.
Email marketing creates a personalized experience for your leads that helps you nurture them to conversion. However, lead nurturing can sometimes take months, or even years depending on the case.
5. Email marketing can help you drive repeat sales
Email marketing is also a way to generate repeat sales, as in the ecommerce industry.
Your company can encourage users to purchase from you again by using an email drip campaign. To encourage people to buy your new product, you might create a drip campaign.
Email marketing can be used to drive repeat sales by building brand loyalty.
It is possible to create original email campaigns that align with your brand’s voice and have impressive results. Your products, quality, and actions can make users feel connected to your company. They will support you by purchasing or recommending your products.
6. Email marketing can help you grow your business
Finally, email marketing can be a powerful tool to grow your business.
Consider the many benefits of email marketing, and how they can help you build your business. Email marketing can be used to nurture leads and motivate repeat customers. It doesn’t require a large upfront investment.
This is a huge benefit to any business, no matter how small or large, whether they are a startup or mid-sized.
6. Are email marketing’s benefits still relevant
Despite all the benefits of email marketing, there are still questions about its relevance. Is it limited to one age group? Is it useful only for a specific industry, product, or service, such as ecommerce, retail, or other industries?
This is good news. Email marketing is effective regardless of your industry, product, and target audience.
Email is loved by people. It’s also one of the oldest online marketing strategies. However, it has remained one of the most successful. Even for companies in the B2B (business-to-business) sector, it continues to be a valuable tool.
It is free to use email marketing.
Kobe Digital allows you to start email marketing
This page will help you understand email marketing and how it can benefit your business.
Are you ready for the next step?
Kobe Digital has years of experience in creating email marketing strategies that work for clients.
We have learned which strategies work well, what changes can be made, and how to adapt to different markets so that you can get the results you want.
Our #1 priority is your success. Your success is our success when you work with us.
We have helped hundreds of clients with email marketing success in the past by partnering with some of the most respected marketers and thought leaders in this industry.
We’ll take care of it. Are you ready for your email marketing campaign to go live?
Call us today for your email marketing strategy
