Email marketing

Now that there’re a thousand ways to engage and communicate online, you may think email marketing is outdated. With this article we’ll show you that this way of communicating is still effective today. 

If your company doesn’t already have a newsletter here are good reasons to run for cover as soon as possible. Let’s start with some numbers!

Communication through DEM, or sending an e-mail message to a number of profiled recipients, beats social media with a 4000% ROI. After all, 80% of active people online have their own inbox and check it at least once a day.

Users who receive news about a product or an email service buy 138% more and their average order value is three times higher than those who arrive via social adv for example. Maybe that’s why even Linkedin, as we told you here, created a very similar system. 

Entering your customer’s mailbox (or potential customer) means creating an exclusive one-to-one communication relationship. The customer will feel pampered and considered, special and unique. It also allows you to create a constant connection with the customer and keep alive the memory of your brand!

You must always keep in mind, however, that the right way is not to send a thousand newsletters with offers, promotions and discounts with the sole aim of bringing the customer towards forced purchase. The recommended frequency is one message per week.

A proper email marketing campaign must be based on an editorial plan that has as its foundation the creation of valuable content for the user who has to read them. 

It should provide practical and free advice, help in solving common customer problems and give information about the company.

Here are some other rules for your email marketing strategy:

• customize the message with logo, colors and references of your company and if possible enter the name of the recipient to make the text less formal and more friendly;
• highlight the keywords in order to make them clearly visible at first glance;
• make sure that the format is responsive and that it’s graphically perfect both from desktop and phone and check that the links entered are working;
• uses a direct, conversational and simple but incisive tone to attract the user; 
• create lists divided by type of customer, interests… In short, create custom segments. This will allow you to increase your opening rate by targeting an interested audience.

Ecco qualche altra regola per la tua strategia di email marketing:

• Personalizza il messaggio con logo, colori e riferimenti della tua azienda e se possibile inserisci il nome del destinatario per rendere il testo meno formale e più friendly;
• Ricorda di evidenziare le parole chiave in modo da renderle ben visibili al primo sguardo;
• Assicurati che il formato sia responsive e che graficamente sia perfetta sia da desktop che da telefono e controlla che i link inseriti siano funzionanti
• Utilizza un tono diretto, colloquiale e semplice ma incisivo per attirare l’utente;
• Crea liste suddivise per tipologia di cliente, interessi… Insomma crea dei segmenti personalizzati. Questo ti permetterà di aumentare il tuo tasso di apertura rivolgendoti ad un pubblico interessato.

Once you have defined the contents and have graphically structured the mail, it’s time to schedule the sending… but when?

The answer to this question is not simple because it really depends on so many factors that play an important role in this decision. 

So look for reason on some fundamental points: do the people you’re sending the message to work? Are there any times when they’re more likely not to be busy or checking their e-mail? In short, study your audience well because only in this way you’ll be able to define an optimal time slot for sending your emails.

A study by Yes Marketing has shown that with a B2C audience on weekends the opening figures are higher, especially on Saturdays. 

If you turn to a business audience instead avoid sending on Monday because you could end up in the many messages to be managed, exclude even on Friday afternoon or weekend because it is likely that the recipient is already with the mind on pause. So you prefer Tuesday and Wednesday better if right after lunch.

However, we advise you to experiment by doing several tests of sending on different days and times to which follow an analysis of the best opening rates and clicks until you find the right time. Several software have introduced the option to choose to send at times when the recipient is most likely to open the message. This is definitely a big help!

If you have an e-commerce email can be a valid ally of yours. You can program several automatic messages that allow you to give constant feedback to the user. These are some of the contact points you can take advantage of:

• registration confirmation
• order confirmation and subsequent status
• abandoned trolley recovery 
• launches of new products
• promotions and special prices better if based on previous purchases or preferences expressed by the user
• discounts on products added to the wishlist 
• referral initiatives with discounts dedicated to users who suggest your shop.

There are plenty of other tools you can use to boost your e-commerce and you can read them in this article dedicated to the topic.

Email marketing is however an extremely advantageous tool if used with the right measures, it allows you to establish a direct relationship with your customers and to retain them to your business!