Need Mailing Services?
Start Now!
FREE Customized Price Quotes
FREE Access to a Purchasing Advisor
The benefits of email marketing
Millions of personal and business Inboxes are flooded with unwanted (and potentially harmful) spam messages every day. So why should reputable businesses consider such a medium as a promotional tool?
When executed legally and targeted properly, email marketing is a very powerful customer acquisition channel. You can quickly reach thousands upon thousands of prospects at one time without incurring the significant expenses of physical mailing. If you know the type of audience you’re trying to reach, it’s easy to target the exact customers to send to by selecting specific filters. And with special reporting tools, you can track every aspect of your email campaign to gauge success and analyze your return on investment (ROI).
The true power of email marketing comes from opt-in email lists. These are lists made of consumers and businesses that explicitly granted permission to receive information and product offers similar to yours. To further qualify those featured on the list, the owner will use a “double opt-in” process. People and businesses elect to receive such messages and then confirm the request by responding to an automated email or clicking a link that immediately adds them to the list. Submit your free quote request for targeted email lists today!
Businesses can hone in on their target audience by noting specific traits they are looking for such as demographics, industry, number of employees, annual revenue, and credit history. The more targeted your list, the greater your chances for success, but the more you will pay to get access to these lists.
Email marketing vendors don’t actually supply you with the list. You choose the target audience and supply the messaging and the vendor sends it on your behalf. If you already have a list you compiled yourself, the vendor can upload the information, send the emails over their servers, and report the results back to you.
The downsides of email marketing
Of course, there are significant disadvantages to keep in mind before you use email marketing. With so many people and businesses concerned about identity theft through the Internet, spam messages, and “phishing” attempts, your message may never get delivered. Some spam filtering programs are so powerful and sophisticated that your legitimate messages may get lumped in with undesirable spam and blocked from recipients’ Inboxes.
Even with the most targeted opt-in list, you must anticipate a pretty low response rate. While email is more convenient than physical mail, it’s also the easiest to ignore. Prepare to send your message to a much larger list to get a moderate response rate.
Most importantly, it’s imperative to comply with the federal CAN-SPAM Act which protects people from getting unsolicited emails. You have to provide clear options for everyone who wants to remove themselves from your lists – either a link that launches an email client or an unsubscribe web page so they can opt-out of receiving future messages. You also need to include a physical mailing address at the bottom of your messages so email recipients can contact you directly.
Since it’s inexpensive and fast, it’s tempting to use email for all of your marketing efforts. Try not to become too dependent on email messaging. Some people see it as the “easy way out” and may consider it too impersonal for everyday communication.