5 Steps to Better Email Marketing

Jun 16

posted by Marcia Perez-Del Valle in STUDENT MARKETING POSTS | 44 Comments

Google the exact phrase “email is dead” and over 180,000 results are returned. Long has been the debate over email’s pulse - or lack thereof. The truth is email is alive and well and while it has gone through growing pains, the health of this communication channel should not shy you away from developing a sound email marketing strategy. This post will give you 5 steps to building a better email marketing strategy. 
Step 1: It begins at the source
An email marketing program is meant to work in conjunction with all your other communication channels. Start by identifying and documenting all possible lead sources. Some examples of lead sources include your website, the physical store location, social media and paid digital advertising. Once you understand where your leads are coming from, you will be able to control how you collect and communicate with your leads. 
Be nice.
For each lead source, ensure there is a straightforward way a person can request to join your mailing list. Your lead form should collect only the most essential data fields (i.e. name and email address). Depending on the source, set expectations by briefly stating the type of content and frequency subscribers should expect. Use a “Thank You” confirmation message after each form completion. You can also encourage your new contact to add your sender email address to their contacts list to ensure your emails are not be marked as spam. Finally, reassure your audience that their contact information is safe and will not be sold or shared with third-parties.
Focus on quality. Not quantity.
One of the keys to a successful email marketing plan is managing your list of contacts carefully. The sooner you realize you are not going to capture every single contact’s attention, the faster you can focus on creating eye-catching content that will captivate your target audience for each source. When gathering leads, be careful when offering incentives for email sign-ups. Although this can increase your list, you may be capturing leads who will not convert to loyal customers. Offer incentives strategically and sparingly.
Step 2: Invest in the right tools
As a business, if you are communicating with your prospects via email, you must abide to all terms found in the CAN-SPAM Act. The good news is that when you use paid email marketing software, you can easily comply with rules and avoid being blocked by your email service provider. Two common email marketing services are Constant Contact and MailChimp. There are pros and cons to each service and both of them offer email templates, list segmentation, and image editing software, key features to creating branded, engaging, and personalized emails.
Step 3: Develop a communication plan
In this step, you must decide on the 3 Ws: what, when, and who.
What
This refers to both design and content of each of your communications. Email marketing software will allow you to select a pre-built template of upload your own. Regardless of your method, consider these design guidelines:
• Your Call to Action should be visible within 300px from the top of your email
• Use eye-catching images but avoid image-heavy emails
• Opt for responsive design, whenever possible
• Use web-safe fonts only
Decide and write down your general topics. For example, you can use a welcome email, an eNewsletter, highlight a product/service or sales promotions.
When
Once you have your topics outlined, determine the frequency of your emails. In most email marketing software, you can also assign nurture plans to specific lists. You can view general trends by industry for best day of the week and time of day where average opens are the highest. This can be a great starting guideline but feel free to adjust to your specific audience. Whatever the case, be consistent.
Who
Email software will allow you to segment lists so you can assign your leads to specific categories. For example, you can segment by source (website, social media, physical store), specific demographics, or any many other indicators. Note that you will have to collect this type of information on your lead form.
Putting it all together.
Once you have your 3 Ws, put it all together in a simple spreadsheet.

You can also take advantage of calendar features offered by many email marketing software clients.
Step 4: Know your metrics
Once your plan is in place, it is time to assign some KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). These are ways of assessing your efforts. Your email software will provide many performance metrics. Pay attention to the metrics such as click-through rate and unsubscribes. Look for patterns after a particular email topic.
Google Analytics also allows you to generate customer URLs to include additional campaign parameters tying in email campaigns to other paid or organic methods. This will help you see the full impact of your email campaign in conjunction with other efforts.
Step 5: Optimize and repeat
This plan is meant to help you build your strategy. Throughout each step, you may need to make adjustments to fit your resources, market, and/or individual results. Analyze what does and does not work and adjust your plan accordingly.

Image Source: RDM-Rio Digital Marketing, 2017.
(http://riodigitalmarketing.com/paid-search-and-email-marketing/)

Marcia Perez-Del Valle
Marcia is a digital media specialist with 5+ years of marketing experience in the areas of social media marketing, email marketing, website content management, and analytics. She obtained her B.A. in Communication from Nova Southeastern University and is currently pursuing her M.B.A. in marketing. She holds a web design certification and is Google Tag Manager certified. She can be reached at marcgarc@nova.edu

This entry was posted on June 16, 2017 at 9:57 PM and has received 10986 views. There are currently 44 comments. Print this entry. Download attachment.

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• #1 by fatmawati city center on 9/3/17 - 1:38 AM

  

  content that is very insightful to readers I am very happy to see this content.
  thank you success always

• #2 by Gabrielle Robinson on 9/4/17 - 1:05 PM

  

  As a professional, I agree that email marketing is not dead. A lot of companies use email marketing as a base to further measure customer interaction. Email marketing is also used in order to build relationships with customers to encourage customer loyalty. All of the steps mentioned in the article; it begins at the source, invest in the right tools, develop a communication plan, know your metrics, and optimize and repeat include key aspects to revamp or even start an email marketing strategy. Especially by using the right email marketing service in order to design your emails so that consumer are more likely to open them. The most important is the metrics, it’s key that companies are able to measure their efforts of email marketing so marketers can analyze the patterns and performance in order to adjust where necessary.
  Personally as a consumer, I am not fond of email marketing because of the amount of emails I receive. In a span of one day I can receive three or for emails from a business. Now multiply that by 12 considering now everywhere you shop the cashier asks you for your email. That’s between 36 and 48 emails I’m receiving everyday to advise me of a sale or promotion. Therefore, I definitely agree that businesses should focus on the quality of their emails and not the quantity. Consumers are more likely to open your emails if something catches their eye. It shouldn’t take four emails to get your point across.

• #3 by Anita Pearson on 9/4/17 - 8:20 PM

  

  I definitely don’t agree with the idea that e-mail is “dead”. I personally use e-mail for everything, personal and business matters. I think that e-mail communication can be a very effective tool for various types of organizations. After reading the blog post, I was able to relate to various points--especially the second step. Personally, I have tons of e-mails from companies that come to my gmail account that I ignore or delete. I don’t pay attention to all of the “marketing” e-mails that I receive. I receive a lot of e-mails because I do take advantage of the various incentives as discussed in the blog post. For example, many sites will allow customers to take 20% off their first order and ask you provide your e-mail address to receive the coupon code. When I use this, sometimes I never order from the company again, but I still continue to receive the e-mails. I am a consumer who doesn’t pay attention to everything EXCEPT for the companies that I am loyal to and frequent often. However, when I do make any orders, it is nice to receive a “Thank You” and a confirmation order. It makes me feel that the company values my loyalty and my repeated business. I really enjoyed this article because I had never heard of the CAN-SPAM Act before, as well as Constant Contact and MailChimp. After reading up on these two marketing services, I can understand how they can be vital to an organization’s marketing strategy. When an organization can see their stats of how consumers respond to their e-mails, it can help them to determine whether or not they are successful in their offerings or need to make any adjustments as needed. I really enjoyed this article because I had never really thought about the logic that goes behind e-mail marketing, so this definitely was an eye-opener and brought some new ideas and knowledge.

• #4 by Ciera Campbell on 9/5/17 - 3:25 PM

  

  Marcia, great blog about email marketing. I am also one of those people that believed the email market is dead. As a consumer most times when I receive promotional emails from companies they are often oversaturated, repetitive and are sent too frequently. I find myself constantly unsubscribing to many of them even emails from my favorite companies. I believe the primary issue lies in the way companies retrieve your email address and enroll customers into their mailing lists. A lot of times when making purchases stores will ask for your email then unknowingly sign you up for their promotional emails. Or when making orders online seldom do I remember to uncheck the little box that allows you to subscribe to promotional emails.
  I like how you expressed in your blog the need to give relevant information to the customers who sign up for the promotional emails. I believe that is a great way to start. I think because so many companies use deceptive ways to sign consumers up for emails creates a bad impression for the consumer. If businesses followed the guidelines in your blog they would be able to successfully market the right customers, give them useful content and send emails at the right pace so they consumers aren't bombarded with emails. Surely email marketing wouldn't be dead.

• #5 by Natalie Mero on 9/5/17 - 6:20 PM

  

  Marcia's article on e-mail marketing strategies was indeed interesting. I do not believe email marketing campaigns are dead, however e-mail in my experience is usually the strategy I pay attention to the least because it is easy to just delete without opening the message. On the flip side, I only subscribe to email lists if I have a strong interest in the store/product. The tips written about in the article were calculated and gives the promoter specific guidelines on which to follow to have a successful email marketing strategy. The point I agree with most is to focus on quality and not quantity. There is nothing more irritating than after signing up for lists getting spammed with daily emails. Another point that the article conveyed that peaked my interest was not giving out too many promotions. It did not occur to me that doing so enables one time customers instead of the goal of every marketing strategy which is to retain loyal customers.

• #6 by Flavia Rossi on 9/5/17 - 8:13 PM

  

  On this topic i have to agree with both sides. As a professional, i believe email marketing is a great tool but as a consumer, it could be very aggravating. Having a plan on how to execute the email marketing approach is a must. Companies don't want to spend time or money on something that is just being moved into the trash folder. Knowing what market to hit and how often to send these emails is key. From a professionals point of view, i would send out promotional and new item emails to my recurring customers and to new customers i would send them a thank you for shopping with us email and some type of coupon to have them come back in. From a consumers point of view, the only emails that really mater are the ones giving me some type of incentive.The idea of using the right marketing service is great help since this could help out on finding potential customers.

• #7 by Gina Borges on 9/5/17 - 8:49 PM

  

  This article was very interesting to read. It provides important steps to take to create a strong email marketing strategy. Companies that use these tips and use a strategy for their email marketing will agree with Marcia that email is not dead. If this platform is used correctly it can be very effective. From a consumer viewpoint, I have witnesses many companies that don’t seem to be using a good strategy. Their emails are too vague and too often. I have also witnessed many companies that are using a good strategy. I often find myself excited to receive an email from them because I know it is going to peak my interest. This shows the importance of using a good strategy. The “focus on quality not quantity” section in step 1 is imperative in this process because companies should be reaching their specific target market to receive results. I work in advertising sales and we try to provide a targeted advertising approach by using many factors such as age, lifestyle, and income levels. This helps companies cater to the specific customers, rather than just a broad group of people. This has been much more effective than advertising to a wide variety of customers.

• #8 by Kenisha Brown on 9/6/17 - 12:23 AM

  

  I totally agree with Step 1. It is very important for a company to understand the channels at which the consumer was directed to them. For example, with most companies even job applications, you are asked how you found out about the business or job posting. And the choices vary from Facebook, Twitter, Indeed, or Career Builder. I also feel that it is important to focus on quality and not quantity. Marcia said it best, that although the incentives may increase traffic, it does not create loyal customers. I'am sure we all have seen a website or company running a promotion and we discover that they are selling something that we want or need so we decide to get it for the discount. However, we do not continue to make purchases from the company. I agree with the steps to follow, especially with the development of the communication plan. I believe that if companies uses Marcia's pointers they can build brand loyalty on top of customer loyalty.

• #9 by Kenisha Brown on 9/6/17 - 12:25 AM

  

  I totally agree with Step 1. It is very important for a company to understand the channels at which the consumer was directed to them. For example, with most companies even job applications, you are asked how you found out about the business or job posting. And the choices vary from Facebook, Twitter, Indeed, or Career Builder. I also feel that it is important to focus on quality and not quantity. Marcia said it best, that although the incentives may increase traffic, it does not create loyal customers. I'am sure we all have seen a website or company running a promotion and we discover that they are selling something that we want or need so we decide to get it for the discount. However, we do not continue to make purchases from the company. I agree with the steps to follow, especially with the development of the communication plan. I believe that if companies uses Marcia's pointers they can build brand loyalty on top of customer loyalty.

• #10 by Jodi-Ann Burchell on 9/6/17 - 2:54 AM

  

  Email Marketing is a platform used by many organizations to reach consumers indirectly about their products and services. Although email marketing has seen its fair share of ups and down it has overall proven effective and I would not consider it to be “dead”. I agree with Marcia in the sense that email marketing is how most consumers receive information pertaining to the most recent sales and promotions of organizations. I personally pay attention to emails from my favorite brands or places I frequently shop such as Forever 21, Bath and Body Works, Target, H&M, to name a few. Email marketing from these brands have tempted me to buy online where I have discovered that it is more feasible to do so because I can easily find my size clothing or the product that I need in stock and it can be delivered to my house within just a few clicks. No long lines, no human interaction necessary. With email marketing consumers find the best deals for low prices. When we do shop in-store, at the register we are prompted by the cashier or the card swiping device to enter our emails to receive more information which I believe is a great technique. It applies to Step 1 because everything really begins at the source and that can go a long way.
  One thing I believe companies should focus more on that is mentioned within this article from a consumer point of view is quality not quantity. After I check my emails in the middle of the day sometimes my inbox has been bombarded with over 30+ emails ranging from 2 to 3 emails per company describing new deals, specials, promotions, and products. At this point I will start deleting or unsubscribing from emails that do not pertain to me. It can be a huge turn off for a consumer especially if it is not somewhere they shop frequently. Recently, I decided to go through my own person emails and begin unsubscribing from organizations that email me too much. I discovered that some companies once you unsubscribe ask you why or if you would like to continue to be on their email list but receive less emails. This is where I have seen the importance of metrics come into play. It is an important aspect assisting companies to know what is working and what needs improvement. When Marcia added step 5 of optimizing and repeating, that is a vital step for companies to take in order to maximize results.

• #11 by Jessica Crlenjak on 9/6/17 - 6:38 AM

  

  I feel email marketing, if used smartly and sparingly, is more powerful than ever. Nowadays, people globally use their iPads, iPhones, tablets, etc. where they can be constantly connected. Everyone is looking for deals, valuable tips, and/or interesting articles. Everyone buys, reads and has emotions.... whether it is a necessity, a want or a piece of advice. If the right email comes through at the right time, regardless if you are a complainer "I get so much email spam" ---you're going to open it! I know I would! I agree with the steps of building a better marketing strategy for sure. Good marketing firms know doing research on their most valuable customers and hearing, seeing their responses will either lead them to do it the same or change to engage.
  One piece which Marcia did not mention strong enough is the strength and importance of the subject line. This to me is one of the number one engagement factors. People are busy so engaging with quick wins like subject line is crucial.

• #12 by Thomas Buchanan on 9/6/17 - 3:28 PM

  

  I find that companies who use e-mail marketing to all-to-often skip that very first step. The company I work for, for example, sends emails nearly every day with the same content nearly in each email. The top two complaints I hear from our customers that are part of our loyalty program is that they get too many emails therefore they opted out of the program; or that they emails do not pertain to them and focus on an entirely different type of customers.

• #13 by Kiril Mandalov on 9/6/17 - 3:36 PM

  

  It is true, Email Marketing is not dead. I will like to discuss your first point, more precisely, “Focus on quality, not quantity” segment of your article. Repetition is not effective, companies that use methods of quantity or multiple Emails per day get unsubscribed from my account, as I perceive them as a nuisance. On the other hand, follow-up emails that regard an already used or ordered product have a personal stigma attached to it where customers can relate and even give feedback such as reviews, ratings, etc. Email is viewed as a personal mean of interaction, therefore email users, including myself would expect to get customized or preferred means for message delivery. The cost of these highly personalized delivery methods will be high, but the ultimate goal regarding consumer engagement would be far more effective.

• #14 by Nicole Franco on 9/6/17 - 4:04 PM

  

  I also agree with many of the comments below me. Email marketing is definitely not dead, and can be an indispensable tool for many companies-- if used correctly. The blog post does a great job at detailing the different focuses one should keep in mind when spearheading a successful email marketing campaign. Knowing what the source of information will be and who the target audience is, is probably the most important of the tips included in this blog post. Focusing on quality over quantity is important, as bombarding the user with pointless information is not efficient nor is it accurate. By focusing accurate and relevant information to the right audience, will lead to a successful campaign. Once a company understand the message they are sending and who they are sending it to, they will have the successful email strategy. Additionally, it is very important to optimize and repeat this once it is proven successful and responsive. Humans are creatures of habit and will grow accustomed to the email marketing campaigns that some companies have. Overall, the companies should develop a communication plans that is focused on metrics, target audiences, quality, and on consistency. As a consumer, I am a believer in email marketing. Email marketing campaigns allow me to stay in the know regarding new projects or issues (newsletters), or allows me to receive targeted information that I am interested in. Of course, the email marketing campaigns that use all of the factors previously depicted in this blog post, are the ones that are most successful and are the ones that catch my eye the most. No one likes spam and no one likes 100 emails coming all at once.

• #15 by Maria Bonilla on 9/6/17 - 8:58 PM

  

  Marcia‘s article on email marketing strategy is greatly informational. Sometimes it may be very simple to write an email and without a thought it can give a wrong message to the receiver. I am somewhat in the side of both parties with this being an advantage and disadvantage. For example, as a professional I really do not like uninvited emails especially when it comes for sale orders that I am not interested in. I work for a property management company and we received marketing messages for OCR software (Optical Character recognition) and they even call if there are no returns by email. Since they have the right tools to send out emails they can pass through as a vendor with no frauds by detecting the firewall. They are not committing any frauds or violating any rules but they are simply just trying to sell. It’s understandable but a person like myself that I technically have many emails coming in, I have to pay very close attention. So having these types of emails coming in can be an unnecessary distraction and may accumulate space in email storage. On the other hand, Marcia’s five steps to better marketing can help marketers follow a strategy plan including using the KPI. The KPI (Key Performance Indicator) method that many corporations implement this in a daily basis will impact the readers’ interest. Being polite in all emails is great and shows interest to both companies as respect for both. My opinion I think this article shows a more detail information of email marketing strategy that I even learned from. For example, focusing on the quality and not the quantity is managing a good skill tray for training. Encouraging how to focus on the right tools and having a communication plan are key factors for email marketing.

• #16 by Sumit Patel on 9/6/17 - 10:00 PM

  

  I agree with the concept that email marketing is still a viable and effective means of marketing. When email is used as a marketing tool, it should be simple and to the point. Based on my prior experience while using marketing tools such as mail chimp, I have found that understanding the what, when and who has been an effective format to use. With email marketing, it is important to understand your audience so you can ensure that your email is reaching that audience. I also agree with the point made in the article about knowing your metrics. In order to monitor and calculate success, it is important to set goals and monitor when those goals are reached. Monitoring the progress made toward goals allows individuals to make changes where needed and continue doing things that are working. Email can be an effective means of marketing when used in the right way.

• #17 by Dalini Dhaniram on 9/6/17 - 10:29 PM

  

  The mere thought that email is considered dead is completely absurd. On a daily basis, I receive anywhere from 30-40 emails, and that is on my “good” days. The first step discussed, using
  email for identifying potential leads, is a marketing tool I have seen used very successfully at previous jobs. I agree that it is entirely crucial to understand the market and understand where
  the leads are coming from in order to continue marketing in that direction, or shift attention from one area to another. As to the email lists, even as a consumer I have a love hate relationship,
  where depending on the services I find it very useful while others can be extremely annoying. That being said, I absolutely could not agree more that it is quality over quantity. I am a lot more
  willing to open an email from a brand if they do not bombard my inbox with a ton of emails and even more if they have things that often appeal to me/catch my eye (know your audience!).
  Lastly, the point about being cognizant about metrics was thought-provoking, especially on the point about observing key patterns. Overall, I appreciated the article and the interesting points
  made all of which are very helpful. Great job!

• #18 by Dalini Dhaniram on 9/6/17 - 10:32 PM

  

  The mere thought that email is considered dead is completely absurd. On a daily basis, I receive anywhere from 30-40 emails, and that is on my “good” days. The first step discussed, using email for identifying potential leads, is a marketing tool I have seen used very successfully at previous jobs. I agree that it is entirely crucial to understand the market and understand where the leads are coming from in order to continue marketing in that direction, or shift attention from one area to another. As to the email lists, even as a consumer I have a love hate relationship, where depending on the services I find it very useful while others can be extremely annoying. That being said, I absolutely could not agree more that it is quality over quantity. I am a lot more willing to open an email from a brand if they do not bombard my inbox with a ton of emails and even more if they have things that often appeal to me/catch my eye (know your audience!). Lastly, the point about being cognizant about metrics was thought-provoking, especially on the
  point about observing key patterns. Overall, I appreciated the article and the interesting points made all of which are very helpful. Great job!

• #19 by Lester Moses on 9/7/17 - 12:45 AM

  

  Email marketing to some extent, creates the new form of “noise”. It is similar to travelling on most airplanes. Before departure the air hostess shares a safety message with passengers. During this time I have observed many people on cell phones, reading, or generally distracted and not paying attention. Email traffic today can be seen in the same light. On a flight to New York last October, this changed. A Virgin America airhostess got the attention of passengers by injecting humor into the message over the public announcement system. The change in the message captivated everyone on the aircraft and made the atmosphere lighter. Passengers were encouraged to say hello to the people sitting next to them and that made the flight enjoyable.
  Based on these experiences I would conclude that email is not dead. Email is a form of communication that has been over used. As a result some of it becomes “noise”, if the elements of branding and the message are not correct. The author touches on branding indirectly with her 5 steps to better email marketing. This article addresses how to create value and thus quality for the customer, this will ensure that customers are repeat buyers. Building value drives brand equity and growth for the business.
  The author also asks to listen to the customer; this is particularly useful as you learn about how the customer wants to receive communications. Listening to the customer will help to segment customers into groups for specialized marketing efforts.
  Finally, metrics will help you in making decisions for retaining and capturing more clients for the business. The article explains how key performance indicators will help in decision-making and building your marketing strategy. Monitoring the volume of emails that go out to customers should be optimized. Once the correct level of communication and frequency are known, this strategy can be optimized and repeated.

• #20 by Kristina Salasevicius on 9/7/17 - 9:59 AM

  

  Although I would love not having to check my email, or get notifications on my phone every couple hours because of spam mail. I agree that email is not dead, it is still a vital importance in the business community. Marketing through email is important, often when signing up for new services they ask you for your email, so that they can send you news, updates, and specials, but this is also a way to encourage customer loyalty. I agree that incentives like discounts, BOGO’s and such should be given sparingly. In my personal experience, I have tried to save a buck or two and went with a brand I’ve never tried because it was on sale, and then never give it a second thought. Loyal customers will see it as a real treat, because they were going to buy it any ways.

• #21 by Fernando Villar on 9/7/17 - 1:57 PM

  

  Marcia:
  
  The post present the main communication skills, which we used them every single day. In the case of email marketing is the same. However, lately in the industry we could see how this type of marketing have some struggles, like spam emails or viruses inside them. Which make a bad image for this type of marketing. But, we need to consider other point, like send the correct message and professional look. If we go to our junk email folder we could see many email with random subject titles where makes the email look fraudulent. Where sometimes people don't even try to open them and could be a good advertisement, but its message's title is not presented in a trustful way. I believe if companies used the 5 steps you provide in your post they will provide a better approach to their customers. Also, I believe email communication is not dead but is not used in a proper way to enhance business promotions. Where if we consider you email marketing strategy, this method could run perfectly and get better feedback. The communication is the best tool to achieve and expand great business relationships. We just need to develop trust in this method and be more accessible with customers.

• #22 by Bradley Scott on 9/7/17 - 4:59 PM

  

  Excellent article. As an IT professional I could not agree more that email is not dead. However, I will say that from a marketing standpoint it certainly does not seem to carry the unlimited growth that it used to. Marketing and spam emails have gotten so extreme that marketing professionals may find it hard to get their message in front of customers that are willing to read them. In my current career I am the Director of IT for a small to medium business of roughly 600 employees. Currently our "spam blocking software" prevents over a million spam emails a year from getting delivered to our company's staff members. I couldn't agree more that the most effective campaign is one that works in tangent with other marketing initiatives. Whether these are mailers, television campaigns or social media drives, the chances that the marketing initiatives get thru will be more effective in combination.

• #23 by Andrea Yosdalkis on 9/7/17 - 8:44 PM

  

  Where good ideas comes here, it is THE home of the news & blog that traverse the treacherous internet & all of it's pop culture and unpopular culture crevices, health and fitness, from comic book conventions, movies, music, tv, & more.

• #24 by Noushka Belizaire on 9/10/17 - 11:32 AM

  

  This article was a great read! I totally agree with building an email list, since I am currently in the process of building one for my media company. A few months ago, I published a stationery journal, and I figured I would use online advertisements to sell the journal. That was a complete fail because people were not inclined to purchase from a brand they had no idea about. That brought me to learning about building a sustainable business, that will hopefully leave behind a legacy. Through my research, building an email list would be the key to success. Initially, I wanted to offer a "freebie" to get people to sign up for my websites email list, but I have since refined my tactics to offering enticing challenge sign up. All in all, I am excited to see exactly how building my email list will grow my business as a whole, while simultaneously tending to all of my other communication avenues.

• #25 by Courtney Desmond-Smith on 9/10/17 - 11:56 AM

  

  Great article! I agree that email marketing is not dead. Emails are faster, convenient and easily accessible anywhere. The sole purpose of sending emails or newsletters is to build strong relationships with current customers, promote the brand, and to possibly gain a new customer. There are a number of studies by professionals, which identify marketing via email as one of the most successful ways to market to consumers. If a company has already established a marketing foundation, then they can strategically plan how they will utilize emails to reach their customers. Make no mistakes, emails provides the most direct communication with customers. Many companies need a successful email campaign to help enforce the brand and its products/services. When companies are considering email marketing, they should make sure they segment their email lists so that their emails get to a select group of targeted recipients. Remembering that all email subscribers are not the same, allows a company to foster all relationships on an equal level. In conclusion, if a company understands that revenue is in the relationships that they have built with their customers, they will value all methods of marketing through emails.

• #26 by Alejandro Warwar on 9/10/17 - 7:15 PM

  

  In many business encounters, one will hear “Quality over Quantity”, a phrase which holds truth especially when pertaining to email marketing strategy. One can have over 100 billion subscribers, but of all of them how many of them will be loyal? A key component for company success is customer loyalty. Choosing the right audience and subscribers are crucial to the email marketing success. I believe that knowing the metrics is at high importance, as it informs us whether that email marketing strategies are working. One may have to adjust one or more components of the 3W’s to better leverage the total amount of consumers.
  
  Alejandro Warwar

• #27 by Estefanny Ayala on 9/10/17 - 8:48 PM

  

  Email marketing is indeed not dead. A lot of companies now in days uses email marketing to increase their awareness and further their relationships with current and/furthering their relationship with future customers. As the blog mentioned understanding where your customers are coming from is a huge part of email marketing. A company does not want to waste their time targeting the wrong market. They want to make their emails appeal to the right group to have success. As well as how often they should use this implementation of marketing. I personally do not like getting SPAM emails and tend not to fill in the sign-up emails on websites. But if i see an email ad that grabs my attention, I would do the email subscription. After a while if the company does not grab my attention or they are constantly sending me emails I will end the subscription. This is where quality over quantity comes to play. Its important for a company to send out one or two meaningful, captivating email ads then to send multiple non-captivating emails within a day. With the right tools, research, and if they followed these guidelines companies would have an effective email marketing.

• #28 by Maira Rolle on 9/16/17 - 3:09 PM

  

  It’s hard to argue that when I receive 150 or emails a day is often annoys me. The average person gets 121 a day. In my opinion without emails, I’d miss out on early sales and customer reward special. Customers like to know about coupons, because they like to save money when they shop. People check their email on their cell phones and tablets at least once a day, and at times its better than downloading the app for every reward program you are enrolled in. So, searching for a coupon through your email may be a little easier. In fact, coupons are what drives online sales and increase in-store sales. Ultimately, email marketing is affordable, which means that, even if a campaign bombs, the marketer will not be drastically be effected financially. Email marketing is a marketing cost effective strategy. So, indeed email marketing is not dead.

• #29 by Breonni Sawyer on 9/20/17 - 11:00 AM

  

  Email has become a cumbersome form of communication. Many people have thousands of unread emails in their inboxes as a result of business advertisements. Every business, store, website and social group has mailing lists which makes it almost impossible to read through all the emails the average person receives. For example, many online shopping sites will not let you finalize a purchase if they do not retrieve an email address prior to the close of the sale.
  As businesses look to create lasting impacts with email communication, it is imperative they incentivize their customers as Marcia stated. Because of the overflow of information in today’s inboxes, customers need a reason to open an email rather than automatically delete it. If customers know there are exclusive coupon codes, rewards bonuses, or free gift offers in the body of emails they are more susceptible to reading each email they get from that business.
  A couple of key points Marcia mentioned were, “focus on quality. Not quantity”; and “Optimize and repeat”. In order to have a successful marketing campaign it does not mean you have to send communication daily. Actually, daily communication may annoy your customer base and cause them to unsubscribe from your email list. The goal is to have customers anticipating communication about your product, good or service so they are excited to read updates when they appear in their inboxes. As the campaign develops it is also important to analyze its effectiveness, learn the successes and failures and amend the strategy based upon those findings.

• #30 by Brittany Madison on 9/21/17 - 10:52 PM

  

  Great Article Marcia. Email is not dead. You are right, if used correctly email can help you out tremendously. Email can help you too reach out to new customers as well as reach out to those customers that may have lost interest or forgotten about your product. In my current job, I am responsible for reaching out to customers that have just signed up for a service but have not completely taken advantage of all the benefits of our services. I usually view their profile information as well as what they have signed up for and make recommendations. I send them friendly emails to make it more personable. This is to make it clear that they will not receive an automated response if they are in need of help. I also try not to overwhelm them with emails. Like Marcia said in the article, “focus on quality not quantity”. Companies can also use emails to analyze the external environment. After gathering this information they can customize emails to target customers offer things that they have previously searched for or purchased.

• #31 by Tracy Villanueva on 9/22/17 - 10:21 AM

  

  For years email was a effective way of marketing. It has evolved and perfected it communication style of networking and reaching out to the consumers. This article demonstrates how email marketing has not completely lost touch with potential consumers/clients. It shows to keep the costumers interested and wanting to see what a company has to offer.
  
  I must admit that it is a bit frustrating to see advertisements in my email Inbox and then to have to go through them one by one to see if it is something that is useful to me and them have to delete them. More times than not, it is complete junk mail but when I do come across those few emails that sparks my interest, I get excited and happy that I received them. For my personal email account, (being a female), I love to receive the email notifications from stores and companies that are having a big sale for example Starbucks, Michael's Craft, and Macy's. However on the downside, I despise unwanted solicitations especially if it is from a website that I never visited nor is related to my search history. Although my employer has an effective way to sorting out spam to ensure we do not receive advertisements, believe it or not, I receive junk mail from companies that are related to my employer. These companies have a way of "falling through the cracks".
  
  Overall, email marketing is NOT dead and think this article is a good way for employers to properly reach out to their potential customers and existing ones. It is a matter of timing, geography, and possibly gender. These 5 steps effectively demonstrate how to sort and choose their target audience.

• #32 by Chrisnel Merasse on 9/22/17 - 10:22 PM

  

  I agree that email marketing is not dead or ineffective, if used properly. I believe that email marketing is a great tool to use in conjunction with other marketing communication tools like social media, paid digital advertising, etc. Email marketing can help tailor a brand’s messaging to appeal to their consumer’s interests, especially if they have a diverse customer base. In any form of digital marketing, having access to and knowing your metrics help brands figure out what works, what doesn’t and help anticipate what their consumers might be interested in. I think one of the most important aspects of email marketing is choosing quality over quantity. There are many brands that flood their consumer’s inboxes with countless of emails. I believe that brands should have a particular focus for their email marketing strategy, while also figuring out how often they want to communicate with their customers.

• #33 by Krista Locklin on 9/24/17 - 10:20 PM

  

  I agree that email is not "dead". As a student I check my email at least twice a day. I have multiple email accounts too. I communicate with peers and professors through email as well as get coupons through email. Email is a great way for companies to market. Although social media may be growing right now marketing wise, email is still a big deal. I do not think it is going away within the next two years!

• #34 by Maria Flores on 9/26/17 - 9:48 PM

  

  I found this article very interesting. I agree with the idea that email is definitely not dead. My phone is set to refresh my email applications every 15 minutes, and I constantly check my email throughout the day. I love the way that the article was structured as it described how to design, implement, and adjust a marketing strategy, specifically email marketing. I am subscribed to many store email updates, in which I get coupons, special sales events, etc. Sometimes, these emails let me know when it is the best time to shop. I think that with the growing use of technology, every company/organization should adopt an email marketing strategy.

• #35 by Sierra Burrell on 9/29/17 - 9:42 AM

  

  It is true that email is considered by many as dead or dying, however, everyone continues to use it and incorporate it in so many aspects so it must continue. Email is still a key communication tool for students and workers. As far as email marketing, that may be dying faster. This is because of the volume of emails people will receive from a vast amount of companies, that many people will just delete or scroll past to get to their important communication emails. This article does a great job on giving steps that can help decrease these scroll overs. I believe that email has become more accessible since most people now check it from their mobile device, and receive notifications on their device that pop up on their home screen. So from their the job of the sender is to grab the attention of the receiver so they would open it. Personally I am eager to open emails that have an interesting subject line alone. For example I receive emails from a marine organization and I am always eager to open emails that have a subject line like "Exciting new adventures and opportunities for you". This is interesting to me because it is something I can do and involve myself in and it relates to me.

• #36 by David Morris on 9/29/17 - 7:36 PM

  

  This is a very informative article which small business owners should find especially useful. Some providers of goods and services have excellent products but fail to provide a space where their products can be offered to prospective consumers. These are useful strategies which will bring your product to the eyes of the buyers. Its important to adhere to the 3 Ws: what, when and who from step 3 because who you choose to be a part of your target audience will significantly increase your chances of gaining and retaining loyal customers.

• #37 by Mahedi Hasan on 12/5/17 - 1:02 PM

  

  Nice articles and very informative facts. No one produces these types of pieces of information. It's like a professional learning Blog Must be recommended for Beginners.
  
  Thank You

• #38 by GetResponse on 12/18/17 - 2:12 PM

  

  Very solid work with this article! It’s impossible to overemphasize how crucial it is to track and analyze the results of each action you take. Email split testing is fundamental to email marketing optimization. Yet 51% of email marketers don’t proactively test and optimize their emails at all.

• #39 by Golam Kabir on 2/4/18 - 11:23 AM

  

  I like how you communicated in your blog the need to give pertinent data to the clients who agree to accept the special messages. I trust that is an awesome method to begin. I think since such a significant number of organizations utilize misleading approaches to sign purchasers up for messages makes a terrible impression for the customer. On the off chance that organizations took after the rules in your blog they would have the capacity to effectively advertise the correct clients, give them helpful substance and send messages at the correct pace so they customers aren't besieged with messages. Clearly email promoting wouldn't be dead.

• #40 by chris on 3/6/18 - 8:18 AM

  

  Want to rss feed this to one of my site as it great for how-to for all levels. Great posts here. Thank you. Cheers!

• #41 by Rajib Singh on 3/21/18 - 6:25 AM

  

  It is a very interesting article. really very help full and knowledgeable. we all know about email marketing.

• #42 by Digital Marketing Agency on 7/4/18 - 8:13 AM

  

  Thanks for your ideas. I discovered your weblog using. That is a very well written article. I will be sure to bookmark it and come back to learn extra of your helpful info. Your website content is very effective and helps fully for people. I understood that you try to clear that concept about this subject Thanks for the post.

• #43 by Rojgar Samachar on 8/31/18 - 4:59 AM

  

  It is a very interesting article. really very help full and knowledgeable. we all know about email marketing

• #44 by Rojgar Samachar on 8/31/18 - 5:00 AM

  

  nice article
  It is a very interesting article. really very help full and knowledgeable. we all know about email marketing