Chapter 1: Adding E-Mail to a Web Marketing Strategy

In This Chapter

Discovering the benefits of e-mail marketing

Combining e-mail with other media types

Understanding E-Mail Marketing Providers (EMPs)

Walking into a business where the first dollar of profit is framed victoriously is always a great reminder of how important the first customer is to any small business. Your first customer represents validation of your business idea and proof that your products and services are valuable enough to cause someone to part with his money in order to obtain them.

The first dollar of profit is certainly cause for celebration. However, you need a plan to deliver ongoing communications to build a steady influx of customers — or your framed dollar of profit will start feeling lonely.

This chapter shows you the benefits of using e-mail in combination with other marketing media to communicate with customers and prospects, and then shows you how to take advantage of e-mail marketing services to help you manage your strategy.

Understanding the Benefits of E-Mail Marketing

E-mail might seem like a cost-effective way to deliver your marketing messages. For the most part, it is, because you can send personalized, targeted, and interest-specific messages to a large number of people. The value of e-mail marketing doesn’t end with the cost, however. E-mail marketing has certain advantages over other forms of direct marketing for your business and for the people who request and receive your e-mails.

Asking for immediate action

You don’t have to wait around too long to determine whether an e-mail message was successful.

According to a 2011 MailerMailer.com Email Marketing Metrics Report, more than 80 percent of the e-mail you send is opened in the first 48 hours after delivery.

After an e-mail is opened, it doesn’t take long for your audience to take immediate action because people can take action on an e-mail with one click of the mouse. Immediate actions include

• Opening and reading the e-mail

• Clicking a link

• Clicking the Reply button

• Forwarding the e-mail

• Printing the e-mail

• Saving the e-mail

Chapter 5 of this minibook covers asking for immediate action in detail.

Gathering feedback

E-mail is a two-way form of communication, and even commercial e-mail can be used to gather feedback and responses from your audience. People can easily reply to e-mails, and many consumers love to share their opinions when it’s easy for them to do so. Feedback from e-mails comes in two basic categories:

• Stated feedback happens when someone

• Fills out an online form

• Fills out an online survey

• Sends a reply

• Behavioral feedback happens when you track

• Link clicks

• E-mail open rates

• E-mails forwarded to friends

Generating awareness

When was the last time you mailed thousands of postcards, and your customers began crowding around copy machines trying to duplicate the postcard so that they can place stamps on them and forward the message to their friends? E-mail programs have a Forward button with which users can easily send a copy of your e-mail to one or more people in your recipient’s address book. E-Mail Marketing Providers (EMPs) also provide a trackable Forward link that you can insert in your e-mails so that you can find out who is forwarding your e-mails. To find out more about EMPs, flip ahead to the section “Taking Advantage of E-Mail Marketing Providers,” later in this chapter.

Staying top-of-mind

If you send periodic e-mails with valuable content, people who aren’t ready to buy right away are more likely to remember you and your business when they become ready to buy. If your content is valuable enough to save, your prospects and customers might even create tags with your company name on it and start filing your e-mails in a special folder outside the regular inbox for future reference. When the e-mails are read again later, your message is communicated again. Here are some ways that e-mail can be used for top-of-mind awareness and future reference:

• Archive your e-mail newsletters on your website.

• Ask people to save your e-mails, as shown in Figure 1-1, to a folder in their e-mail program.

• Ask people to print your e-mails and post them.

• Print your e-mails and place them in a flip-open book on your retail store counter so that you can refer to recent offers and show samples of the value of your e-mail list.

Combining E-Mail with Other Media

In marketing, you’re likely to employ several media and messages over a period of days, weeks, months, and years to communicate everything necessary to attract and retain enough customers.

Delivering your messages by combining different media is an effective way to market your business, but you’ll probably find it more affordable to lean heavily on a few communication media where delivering your message results in the highest return. E-mail is one such medium because it’s cost-effective and the returns are generally outstanding.

Keeping the design elements and personality of your e-mails and other messages similar or identical over time — branding — reinforces each of your messages and makes each successive message more memorable to your audience.

Consumers are more likely to respond positively to your e-mail messages when they can identify your brand and when the content of each message feels familiar to them. Plan all your marketing messages as if they were one unit to ensure that each message contains design elements that become familiar to your audience when multiple messages are delivered.

Here are some branding ideas to help you give all your marketing messages a familiar look and feel:

• Make your logo identifiable and readable in all types of print and digital formats, with color schemes that look good online and in print.

In general, your logo and colors should look consistent on

• Signs

• Order forms

• E-mail sign-up forms

• Your website

• Receipts

• Business cards

• E-mails

• Include your company name in all your marketing.

Incorporate your name in

• E-mail From lines

• E-mail addresses

• Your e-mail signature

• Online directories

• Your blog

• Format your messages consistently across media.

When repeating messages in multiple media, make sure that the following elements are formatted consistently in your e-mails:

• Fonts

• Layouts

• Images

• Headlines

• Contact information

• Calls to action

You can read about calls to action in Chapter 4 of this minibook.

Sending commercial e-mail to complete strangers is illegal. To keep on the right side of the law, combine at least one other medium with e-mail to initiate relationships with prospective customers. For more information about the legalities of sending commercial e-mail, see Chapter 2 of this minibook.

Taking Advantage of E-Mail Marketing Providers

The days when you could send a single e-mail and blind-copy hundreds of other people — by adding e-mail addresses to the BCC field in an e-mail — are over. Spam filters, firewalls, junk folders, and consumer distrust are all reasons to turn to professionals for help with your e-mail strategy. E-Mail Marketing Providers (EMPs) are companies that provide one or more of the following commercial e-mail services:

• Improved e-mail deliverability

• Database and list management

• E-mail template design

• E-mail message and content creation

• Social media integration

• Tracking reports

• E-mail automation

• Advice and consulting

To find an EMP and compare prices and product features, search for e-mail marketing providers in your favorite search engine.

Exploring provider benefits

EMPs allow you to accomplish much more with your e-mail marketing than you otherwise could on your own. Some EMPs even provide various levels of outsourcing for higher prices if you don’t want to do your own e-mail marketing. Here are a few examples of the kinds of benefits that EMPs provide:

• Give your business a professional look. EMPs can help you create great-looking e-mail communications without programming knowledge. Most EMPs provide templates with consumer-friendly layouts to accommodate any type of message. Some EMPs provide template-creation wizards that allow you to control all your own design elements for a low cost, and some EMPs either include professional services to help you with semicustom designs or allow you to completely outsource and customize your template designs. Here are some of the templates that EMPs usually provide:

• Newsletters

• Promotions

• Announcements

• Press releases

• Event invitations

• Greeting cards

• Business letters

Figure 1-2 shows an e-mail template that an EMP provides.

• Keep your marketing legal. EMPs are required to incorporate current e-mail laws for customers to easily comply. Reputable EMPs take compliance a step further than the basic legal requirements and adhere to more professional standards that reflect consumer preferences. Examples of professional standards include the following:

• Safe one-click unsubscribe links

• Privacy statements

• Physical address added to e-mails

• Sending from a verified e-mail address

• Help you with logistics and reporting. EMPs can help you manage the data and feedback associated with executing your e-mail strategy. Here are some examples of ways that EMPs can help you manage your information:

• Storage and retrieval of subscriber information

• Reports on deliverability

• Automated handling of subscribe and unsubscribe requests

• Tracking information on blocked and bounced e-mails

Courtesy of Constant Contact

• Help with content: EMPs want you to be successful because if your e-mail messages are effective, you’ll likely reward your EMP by being a loyal customer. Many EMPs have resources available that can help you develop your content and use best practices. Examples include

• Online communities

• Webinars

• Tutorials

• Classroom-style training

• Consultation

• Teach you best practices. EMPs can give you valuable information on consumer preferences that would be too expensive or impossible for you to obtain on your own. EMPs send a lot of e-mails on behalf of their customers, and they’re good at staying up to date on consumer preferences and professional standards. Some EMPs are willing to share their knowledge to make your e-mails more effective. Some things you might find out include

• Best times and days to send

• How to improve your open rates

• How to avoid spam complaints

• What to do when e-mail is blocked or filtered

• How to design and lay out your content