Email Marketing

Email Marketing

What is E-mail marketing?

Email marketing is the act of sending a commercial message, typically to a group of people, using email. In its broadest sense, every email sent to a potential or current customer could be considered email marketing. It usually involves using email to send advertisements, request business, or solicit sales or donations, and is meant to build loyalty, trust, or brand awareness. Marketing emails can be sent to a purchased lead list or a current customer database. The term usually refers to sending email messages with the purpose of enhancing a merchant's relationship with current or previous customers, encouraging customer loyalty and repeat business, acquiring new customers or convincing current customers to purchase something immediately, and sharing third-party ads.

In plain and simple termsit’s all about "Promoting your brand, service via an email where the receiver has given you permission to send you an email."

It’s essential that one of the mail company sends out to people (but there are few approaches to it which are covered in the latter section)

This is not done by g-mail, yahoo, hotmail or other ones, this is done by automated e-mail marketing software which we will see in a while

How E-mail works:

1st case: Ram wants to send his wishes via email to Shyam on friendship day.

Let’s see what will happen when an e mail is send by Ram (sender) to Shyam(receiver)

Ram’s e-mail id: ram.s@gmail.com

Shyam’s E-mail id: shyam@yahoo.com

2nd case: Rohan wants to send his wishes via an email to Ritika on Valentine’s Day

Let’s see what will happen when an e mail is send by (sender) to (receiver)

Rohan’s e_mail id: rohan@gmail.com

Ritika’s E-mail id: ritika@gmail.com

So let’s summarize the working of email and spam filters

Types of e-mail marketing

• Permission Marketing/opt-in/legit
• Spam marketing/illegit

Let’s understand the difference between the two…

Let’s say Ronnie has developed a new energy drink and he is super excited about his product. He wants to message as many people as he can about his newly launched product.

He thinks that the more people will hear about his product the more he will get sales.

So he sits down on his computer and starts jotting down an email with eye catching headline fancy promotional message inside the email.

After writing a quick, flashy paragraph about the drink, he opens up google.com and searches as many email brokers he can. He wants to get a huge list of email address to which he can shoot out his fancy email. He thinks that the more his message goes to people, the more potential he has in making money

Somehow he gets a list of 10,000 people and he sends out his email to everyone.

This might sound easy right!! Unfortunately, not only people will identify this message as spam or e-mail marketing scam but they will delete it also

A couple of people might not even open it because they might think who is this guy? I don’t know him…correct?

So here comes the most important concept in email marketing which is permission based email marketing

In simple terms, a business or website must receive a visitor’s authorization before sending out any promotional emails

If a person receivesan email from a business he never requested chances are that it will go in spam

So to summarize we can say that email marketing has 2 ways:

1. Legit(permission marketing)/ Opt-in>> collecting emails or building lists and then sending them periodic emails
2. Illegit(spamming)>> you buy a list of email address and send bulk emails which might be treated as spam email.

Challenges faced in sending bulk e-mails

Let’s take a scenario where you want to send an e-mail to 10,000 people regarding an update of your newly launched product (which may be anything from e-book to physically shipped product)

Would you send an email from Gmail to 10,000 people? You might say lol!!!

Yes indeed you’ll go crazy

Let’s take another scenario where you have a web form on your website where a visitor can fill out a form to download free video tutorial. After the visitor fills out the respective form and gets the video for free, normally you also want to send a welcome mail instantly.

Would you be monitoring 24x7 your web form so that you can send an email instantly to all those people when they opt in for the video.

Logically that is impossible as they would never get an instant welcome email

We overcome this challenge by using an automated tool for our email marketing solution.

Difference between Opt-in/Single opt-in and Double opt-in

1st case: Let’s say Rohan has built a page.

He is offering a free e-book in exchange of visitor’s name and email. Once the visitor fill up the form and clicks on the download button, he will be redirected to another page where he would be able to get link to download e-book

Along with this redirection, the visitor would also receive one automated email which would be acting like thank you email for visitor taking an action on Rohan’s web page

2nd case: Let’s say Rohan has built another page.

He is offering a free video course in exchange of visitor’s name and email. Once the visitor fill up the form and clicks on the download button, he will be redirected to another page where he would have a message quite similar to the one mentioned below:

Thank you for entering your information. We have sent you an email to confirm your details & subscription. Please check your email with subject line…..

Along with this redirection on confirmation message web page, the visitor would also receive one automated email which would be asking visitor to click on the link inside the email to confirm access of video course.

Once the visitor click the link inside the email he/she would be redirected to Rohan’s web page where the visitor will now finally have access to the offer + the visitor would receive an acknowledgement email(Auto responder) having the video link as well.

If we talk about the activity done by the visitor to get access to video course, then we can say he/she did two activities which is filling out the form and confirming the details by clicking on the link in the confirmation email.

So let’s summarize both the cases:

• We can say that, 1st case where the visitor did only one activity to avail the value provided on ’s webpage is called opt in or single opt in and 2nd case where the visitor did two activities is called double opt in.
• Email address on (single) opt in list are not confirmed. Anybody can submit anybody’s address to the list, and it will be there until it is unsubscribed.
• On double opt in all the email addresses must be confirmed before they are added.
• a request for confirmation is sent to the submitted address and address owner must take some action to confirm that s/he is owner of the email address & the address is working and s/he indeed wants to subscribe
• Most often the confirmation action is as simple as replying to the confirmation request or clicking on a link

Best platforms for e mail marketing

• Getresponse: World’s easiest email marketing. 3,50, 000 happy customers in 182 countries, engaging more than 1billion subscriber every month. Start your 14 day free trial now
• Aweber: Connections that last are built inbox. Not user Friendly, Card details
• Sendlane: We help capture your visitor’s email and deliver your messages. Start your 14 day free trial now. Techie
• Sendgrid: Delivering your transactional and marketing email through one reliable platform. Start your free account upto 12k emails /mo.
• Mailchimp: Send better email. Sell more stuff. Signup for free

E-mail marketing can be divided into following categories:

• Promotional E-Mails: Promotional emails sent to encourage potential customers to buy a product or service or convince current customers to keep buying
• Regular E-Mails: Regular e-mails meant to strengthen the relationship between the business and the customers and encourage loyalty to a product or service. E.g: e books, free course, video training, coupons, contest, newsletter, webinars, demo etc.
• Advertisement E-Mails: Advertisement e-mails for a product or service that are placed in e-mails sent by other people or companies (typically found in "banners" above or to the side of the e-mail's body of text)

How to send email through email marketing software

Easy steps:

• First go togetresponse.com. Once you will on GetResponse homepage. Simply click on "Create account" button.

How do I create and send a newsletter?

Newsletters are the bread and butter of marketing campaigns. They are the easiest way to stay in touch with your customers—e.g. welcome new customers, inform them about upcoming promotions, or send your existing customers an invitation to join a loyalty plan or send them a special offer code.

In GetResponse, you can choose between Drag-and-Drop Email Editor or HTML Source Editor to create your newsletter. With drag-and-drop editor you work with templates and don’t need to do any coding. HTML Source Editor is a good choice for those who are familiar with HTML coding.

The following steps explain the process of creating a newsletter in Drag-and-Drop Email Editor.

1. Go to Dashboard>>Email marketing. For one-click access, you can use the Quick actions widget.
2. On the Manage newsletters page, click the Create newsletter.
3. Click the Drag-and-Drop Email Editor
4. Set up the newsletter settings:

• Select a linked list. This is the list where you can find the newsletter statistics for.
• Enter your message name. It will help you to find the newsletter on the Manage newsletters page.
• Enter a subject line for your newsletter.
• Select the From email, and change the reply-to email if necessary
• Optionally, click distribution settings and set up the analytics and social sharing options

When done, click Next step to get to the template gallery.

1. Choose a template. Use the side menu to browse the templates by category. You can also import your template or design a template from scratch. Once you choose a predesigned template, you’ll be able to add, rearrange, and edit text and images. Use the side toolbar to add more sections, social sharing buttons. Click Next step when you’ve finished editing the newsletter.
2. Select recipients from one or more lists or custom filters, or select them by hand. You can also exclude contacts from the recipient list. Click Next step to move to review and scheduling.

Sending a newsletter

Review message details. Then, schedule your newsletter or send it right away. If you’d like to adjust when they receive your newsletter, turn on Perfect Timing.

Autoresponders & Newsletter(Broadcast Mails)

• Autoresponders: An autoresponder is a sequence of emails that will be sent to anyone who subscribes for any product or services. the emails are set up to go out at predetermined intervals to a user who subscribes to

Or simply

• An Autoresponder is a computer program that automatically answers e-mail sent to it.They can be very simple or quite complex.
• Autoresponders are also known as Autoresponders sequence/email swipes

Practical inside getresponse show difference both!

How to create an autoresponder: -

Click below on the image to play the tutorial video

E-mail list –

1. Buy the list/data
2. Build one – webinar, provide a free e-book, provide a free 7 day e-course, provide a free valuable video, sidebar of your blog, a pop up, give some freebies in exchange of email, ecommerce – give 50% discount on registration

Tricks to land in inbox instead SPAM box

• Always include unsubscribe button in the footer of email
• Make sure the email which you are using has a website on the domain like:ab@abcl.com
• Do not use all capital letters in your subject line/body line
• Include less links and more words>> Sales email: 3 links works the best. Short email: 1 link.
• Always check your Spam score (1-100) – the spam checkers would be available with your email marketing software. Practical e.g. from Getresponse.
• Send mailer from a name if possible! Company name or a person name! Practical
• Avoid using words like money, won, coupons, offer (You should use these words in images)

Most important part of Email: Subject Line>>

q Blinder: Hey! Grab this before it’s gone / You need to watch this (curiosity)

q Pre sell with Benefits: Write benefit in the subject line.

q Scarcity (Blows up open rate): Take action now before it goes away.

q Cleanup (every 3 months may be): Remove members who aren’t opening or clicking or else it affect IP after a year or so.

DIFFERENCE between URGENCY & SCARCITY>>

Urgency:Time frame dependent.

Scarcity: Something is limited (only 100) (number dependent)

Technique>Gravity for next email. Draws attention. E.g: A new product launch information like watch out for my email tomorrow or give a link to confirm the registration.

Sales video email needs to be LONG because people needs to understand before they give money.

UNSCRIBED HACK explanation> I will have custom made unsubscribe link (page). So I am having more clicks which will increase my IP reputation as well. So two purposes solved: I would be able to retain my subscriber most of the time and my IP reputation also increases as they are clicking on my unsubscribe link.

How can you use your email marketing calendar?

This calendar may look simple, but it’s essential to achieving your email marketing goals.

Next, look back at your Email Marketing Plan Template to review what you have going on for each month.

Throughout the year, you’re likely to send two types of messages:

1. Time-based promotions
2. Non-promotional emails

Time-based promotions contain time-sensitive information and encourage your subscribers to take a specific action, such as buying a discounted item, registering for a new class, or buying tickets to an upcoming show.

For time-based promotions, plan on sending a short three-part email series to get the word out. For example, if your shop is holding a promotion to drive jewelry sales for Valentine’s Day, your timeline might look like this:

• February 1st – Announcement of your Valentine’s Day sale.
• February 8th – Reminder of your sale and a product feature.
• February 13th – Last chance to take part in your Valentine’s Day sale!

Your non-promotional emails will be less sales-driven and timely, and more focused on building relationships and providing value to your customers. Here, you might offer an educational video or a blog post with tips.

For example, your store might send an email with tips on how to clean and care for a new piece of jewelry.

Start filling in your email marketing calendar with some dates and ideas of your own.

Even if you’re not ready to fill in all 12 months, take a few minutes to plan out the next three months of your email marketing.

9 Steps on How to create E-Mail Marketing Calendar

1. Wrap up What you’ve Been Doing

First, did you have any content goals or ideas from last year that you didn’t get to? Decide if they are still relevant, and start your new list with these ideas if so.

2. Evaluate Your Efforts

Evaluate your content. Hopefully, you’re monitoring performance regularly, but if you haven’t been then look at the past six months overall. If you send email newsletters, how did they do? Which topics got the best click-through and open rates? If you write blog posts, which ones got the most traffic? With social media, which posts got the most engagement – shares, likes or comments? Note which topics or techniques you want to carry over into next year.

We’ve found that the most successful content for our customers was timely (related to an upcoming holiday such as Mother’s Day or Father’s Day) or helped people in a concrete way (campaigns that highlighted ways to save money were particularly popular).

3. Decide on Your Priorities and Goals

You may want to grow sales by 30 percent. Or gain 200 new customers next year. Whatever your goals are, ask yourself: how can your content help you achieve those goals?

4. Commit to a Schedule

Once you’ve decided what your priorities are, decide what schedule you can reasonably commit to. We’ve found the most success with regularly scheduled email newsletter campaigns for our customers. Two per month is the sweet spot for us, but your publishing schedule will be influenced by your industry and your audience.

Decide what’s sustainable for you: once a week, every other week, or even once a month. Whatever the case is, stick to it.

5. Look at Your Calendar

Now that you know what you can commit to, start scheduling your content for specific days on your calendar. Then you’ll be able to determine how many ideas you’ll need to come up with for the month, quarter or year, depending on how far in advance you want to plan.

Start looking for your own notable dates. Do you have a business anniversary or special event you want to celebrate? Do you have a seasonal sale or offer? Add these to your calendar. You may also want to include general holidays or seasonal ideas if they make sense for your business. For instance, a general contractor could share advice on weatherproofing before winter. A real estate agent might write a newsletter with top spring cleaning tips. Make sure you’re spending most of your time delivering helpful content marketing, not simple self-promotion.

6. Schedule Everything

Start with your publish or send date. Once you have that date, work backward so you know when you need to start. Make sure you give yourself enough time for creation, review, and testing. Testing includes checking images and links, and confirming your content appears the way you want it to across various platforms and email clients.

Also plan around any holidays, birthdays or vacation time when you won’t be working. You’ll need to create and schedule content ahead of time for these cases.

7. Fill in the Gaps

Once you’ve filled in all of your personal, seasonal and holiday ideas for the next year, see how many topics you still need. Hopefully, you have an ongoing idea file, but if not, take a few minutes and brainstorm topics you want to write about, questions your clients always ask you or trends in your industry. Continue until you have enough ideas for your calendar.

Additionally, if you don’t have an idea file, start one. It’s always helpful to have backup ideas in case something doesn’t work out.

8. Add in Social

Whatever formats your primary content takes, you should publicize it on social media. When you’re researching your topic, you will likely run across multiple sources that you don’t use in the content itself. Save them!

9. Make Measuring and Adjusting Part of Your Process

Measurement can be scheduled just like content. You may evaluate your content weekly, monthly, quarterly or whatever time frame works for you. Just make sure that you are looking at your efforts regularly, analyzing what’s working and adjusting as necessary.

As a result, you might see that some kinds of content are working really well for you. You may want to then include similar content in the future, replacing other topics. Or, the opposite might be true and you may need to adjust by taking out certain kinds of content. Or you may not be publishing frequently enough, causing a drop in engagement.

If you’re scheduling your content monthly or quarterly, you’ll also need regular times to plan for future topics and publication schedules.

By following these steps, especially regularly evaluating your efforts, you’ll write the best content possible, satisfy your readers and have a rich marketing calendar planned in advance.

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