If used correctly, email is a way to reach potential and existing customers in an organized and targeted way. The use of email to promote your business gives you the opportunity to capture the attention of a potentially huge number of customers, especially those who would otherwise not be able to visit your store (if you operate a brick and mortar business) or to reach people across the world through your website! By using a simple means of communication, your company can benefit from increased visibility offered by email marketing. If it is well written, designed and directed, there is no reason why your emails won’t lead to an increase in sales, traffic (online as well as in store) and inquiries about your products and services.
Email is fast and efficient!
Using email marketing, you can connect to your list in a matter of minutes! One of the main benefits of email marketing is the instantaneous nature in which messages can be sent to customers. This allows you to be very creative and promote your services with the click of a button. Again, unlike offline marketing, email marketing software allows you to track explicitly how well your promotional efforts are being made. You will be able to see how many people are opening your emails; how they are interacting with your emails and most importantly, what sales and leads are being generated as a result. The software needed to control your email campaigns is very affordable and many are available for only a few dollars a month – and some of these programs are free! (Did I ever say I like “FREE”)?
Email marketing is an excellent way to attract customers to your websites.
Increasing the amount of traffic to your website will be even more important if you have a new product or service that you are promoting. The main advantage of email marketing is the low-cost and how effective it is. As mentioned above, there are a number of free services (like GetResponse and Aweber), which allow individuals and companies to promote their products (provided they have fewer than 2,000 subscribers) for free or very, very cheaply. This is why email marketing is a very convenient option, not only for small businesses and online marketers, but also large companies that are looking for another channel through which their products can be marketed.
Immediacy of Email Marketing
Email marketing is not limited by traditional time constraints. While direct mail campaigns are based on the use of postal mail, email marketing generates immediate answers. In the time it takes to get an email to a reader to give them the information, you have paved the way for even more information and have promoted your brand. For example, if you were in the Travel niche, you could send a newsletter and offer discounts for travel packages purchased through you. You simply include a link to your travel website which will allow potential customers to respond instantly and request more information or to book a package. If you were using traditional direct marketing, it would take at least one week before your mail piece reached the same people (and, depending on the number of people reached, could cost hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars)! In the meantime, perhaps the impulse of buying a vacation package could have worn off.
Interactivity
The use of email marketing attracts readers. These campaigns are interactive. You can include graphics and survey’s which leads to potential customers interacting with your company through your website (from the convenience of their own homes) and purchasing your products as well. When the recipient of an e-mail promotion clicks a video or answers questions in a questionnaire, you have created interest and attention.
E-mail marketing is incredibly versatile, extremely affordable (free or at very low prices), very fast and easy to use. One of the wonderful things about e-mail is that it is traceable. The information can be used to study open rates, click through rates and conversion rates. All of this information can help adjust the content and message of your future emails.