Email marketing is a common strategy used in today's digital marketplace. An increasing number of customers are online and regularly checking email, which makes email campaigns highly economical and effective. The function of email marketing within the marketing landscape has not changed substantially over the years, but what has changed are industry best practices in email automation, segmentation and management.
Targeted Lists
In years past, email marketing meant finding the largest list of email addresses possible and sending the same message and offer to everyone on that list. This practice was inefficient and often resulted in a large number of recipients deleting the emails prior to reading them, because the information did not directly apply to them. Blanket email campaigns do little more than alienate your potential customers and cause you, the sender, to be labeled as “spam.” Dividing your email lists into similar customer segments, then targeting content toward each segment, greatly increases open and interaction rates.
Personalization
Just like you, today's customers are bombarded with advertisements daily, making them more likely to open emails that not only talk to their specific needs, but also are more personalized. Therefore, beyond determining which of your customer segments gets which message, each of these messages needs to be crafted so that your customers feel that you are talking directly to them, understand their needs and want to help them. These kinds of emails generate more click throughs to your website and can lead to increased sales.
Cross-Channel Promotion
Consumers' increased usage of digital and mobile communication has modified their expectations for email marketing. Simple messages, even with an accompanying graphic, are not enough to move them to action. Consumers, 72% of them according to a 2012 Social Media Today article, want to not only be reached through multiple channels, but also want to join in campaign conversations on the channel of their choice. To meet this need, reinforce your message and acquire leads, your email campaign messaging must provide links back to your website, social networks and more.
In addition, the results from a study by Regalix, a global innovation company, released in March 2014 found that most marketers want email management systems that not only allow automation of email campaigns, but also manage cross-channel campaigns and deliver personalized experiences based on the customers individualized needs. By promoting products or services across channels with correctly targeted content and personalization, you can effectively capitalize on the overlap in potential customer categories and increase sales with minimal effort.
What this Means for You
OffWhite works with you to develop email marketing campaigns specifically targeted to each user group. Through ongoing market research, we are able to develop effective content that not only informs your customers, but drives them to action. We have also developed the Ed.it™2 digital marketing platform that allows users to completely manage every aspect of an email campaign, including list management, link tracking, cross-channel promotion and analytics reporting. You can maximize the results of every email campaign by coupling Ed.it™2 with targeted content that speaks to the pain points of your customers.
To learn more about our email tools and our strategies, contact us or call us at 800.606.1610.
