E-mail marketing is one of the most cost-effective marketing techniques of all. It offers businesses large and small the opportunity to talk directly to its customers and prospective customers with less risk of being ignored and greater prospect of reward.
E-Mail Marketing allows the website owner to extend the reach of their site by literally getting space in the reader’s inbox, and not just in their Internet browser window. This powerful marketing tool can be used to inform subscribers of special offers, product promotions, late availability, new product development and other relevant news. Although it is easy to see this as primarily a consumer focused activity, equally successful Business to Business campaigns can be run using e-mail marketing.

Whether marketing to consumers or business a number of key elements are required.

Subscription System
all e-mail marketing programs must be based on obtaining permission from the recipient. This can be done by traditional marketing methods, direct mail campaigns etc but the most effective method is to have a subscription page on your website.

An effective subscription page will spell out exactly what is contained in an e-mail newsletter program how frequently it is distributed and what benefits it brings to the recipient. Incentives may be offered to encourage visitors to subscribe. This may include competitions, access to “insider” information, discounts etc.

Content

The content of the newsletter is the main priority for a successful campaign. It should have a friendly ‘feel’ interesting content and compelling “calls to action” The latter will usually take the form of click through (hyperlinks) to relevant content on the web site or in the case of an e-commerce site click through direct to purchase the product or service being promoted.

The e-mail newsletter should be available in HTML format to provide the opportunity for a more creative and visually attractive format. This may include product promotions with clicks through to purchase.

The e-mail newsletter can be personalized not only to make the recipient feel appreciated as a customer but also to present them with offers relevant to their needs. This can only be done of course by understanding needs by use of questionnaires or by tracking customer behavior.

Database

To do this effectively a well designed and maintained customer database is required. Ideally this should be directly linked to your subscription page which will write in the names collected to the database thus saving time and ensuring accuracy. You should also be able to add and remove additional names to the database yourself through a simple form.

Some simple method of removing names should also be available.

Delivery

A good e-mail delivery system should make it as easy to send 10,000 e-mails as it is to send one. It is important to ensure that your chosen delivery system can cope with your volume and personalization requirements