What is email marketing?

Email marketing is a commercial channel used to deliver advertisements, offers, education, and other marketing content directly to an interested user’s email inbox.

Here are some metrics that can pique your interest for email marketing:

• 82% B2B and B2C companies use email marketing
• 75% Email revenue is generated by triggered campaigns
• 53% Emails opened on mobile devices

Email marketing can also be used in tandem with retargeting, SMS and direct mail.

There are various types of emails one can broadcast to their list:

• Announcement
• Product update
• Newsletter
• Event invitation
• Social media updates
• Internal updates

Automated emails can also be in the form of welcome, confirmation, thank you and abandoned cart emails.

What is a list?

A subscriber list is the contact information for all of the users who have requested emails and are allowed to be emailed.

Opt-in permission

Optins can be single or double.

Single optins result in efficient and easy list building whilst double optins result in slower but higher quality list growth.

Inbound Email Marketing

Email is inbound when it is used to attract highly qualified leads organically.

Its advantages are the following:

• Targets specific buyers
• Low-cost high-return channel
• Easier to personalize
• Generates high ROI
• Cheap in terms of cost per lead and cost per acquisition
• Fast, effective and measurable results

Legislation and Regulations

Regulations are designed to prevent spammers from acquiring people’s email addresses without their permission and sending them unsolicited emails.

Some notable regulations are the following:

• CAN-SPAM
• CASL
• GDPR

CAN-SPAM constraints

CAN-SPAM stands for Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003

• Include physical address
• Simple opt-out process
• Can send to any user who has not “opted-out”
• Subject line must accurately reflect the content
• Identify the message as an ad

CASL constraints

CASL stands for Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation of 2014

• Emails sent only to consenting users
• A pre-checked box is not an express opt-in
• “Implied opt-in” valid for 24 months
• Social media interaction and conditional opt-ins are not valid

GDPR constraints

GDPR stands for the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation of May 2018

• Marketing emails sent after explicit consent
• Personal user data protected
• Users may request any of their personal data
• Users may request data about them be deleted

Email Strategy

Segmentation

Segmentation is the division of email subscribers into smaller segments based on set criteria, such as geographic location, interests and purchase history.

Email marketers can use segmentation to cater to different email lists rather than creating one mass message for all.

There are many parameters for segmentation, namely:

• Demographics
• Job role/Industry/Company type
• Purchase history
• Web traffic
• Interest groups
• Clicks/Opens/Content format
• Change in engagement/behavior

Personalization

We all like exclusivity and emails are no exception. Having a personalized recommendation as a customer, addressed by name, and having a personalized search history (by product for example) are all strategies that keep us engaged and responsive.

Timing

Test your audience. Use A/B testing to get better insight into your audience’s preferences.

Send on optimal days. Emails sent between Tuesday and Thursday work best for B2B campaigns.

Send on optimal send times. Take account of customers across different time zones

Engagement

Make sure to welcome new subscribers.

Ask yourself: How often you will email them? What are your emails focused on? Make sure to simplify your email message.

Create targeted segments for your specific emails and always test your audience.

Analytics

Keep an eye on your email insights, normally handed to you by your email marketing service provider. Optimize according to your data for maximum business growth.

Email Service Providers

An Email Service Provider (ESP) operates and maintains the software and hardware for delivering bulk email. They provide a platform for managing and segmenting your contact lists, building email templates, and sending and tracking your campaigns on a large scale.

ESP Functions

Email Service Providers manage several functions namely:

• Contact Database
• Segmentation Personalization
• Automation Tracking
• Behavior
• Unsubscribe Management
• Email &Landing Page Creation

Email marketing can virtually be wholly automated with a plethora of services from where to choose from.

Example Services

• Aweber
• Constant Contact
• Get Response
• Mailchimp

Advantages and limitations

Advantages

• ESP Provisioning, Domain, and IP Setup
• Deliverability Reporting
• Enterprise MTA Configurations
• Bounce and Complaint Handling

Limitations

• Cheaper to send internally
• No control over rate limits and sending volumes
• Restricted to their reporting and user interface

Data Capture

To capture data, is to generate a lead, and one can do this by having a “lead magnet” in place.

This can be anyone of the following:

• Newsletter with relevant content
• Downloading a whitepaper
• Offering a coupon
• Free trial for your product/service
• Placing an order

Should I Rent Or Purchase A List?

The simple answer is: no. Such lists are not used to your language, and you will have no idea about their quality and responsiveness.

List Building

There are many ways you can build a list:

• Blog signups
• Social media signups
• Offline events
• Partners
• Opt-in media (lead magnets)
• Referrals

List Segmentation

It is very important to manage your contact database through list segmentation. You can have leads who never bought from you but conveyed interest, and customers who have already purchased once.

This will result in higher open and click through rates as well as lower complaints and unsubscribe rates.

Campaign Delivery

Email Campaign Creation

Here are the basic steps from start to finish:

1. Identify the need for an email
2. Define campaign requirements
3. Write email copy
4. Add email copy to an email template
5. Set up email tracking (opens and clicks)
6. Test your email
7. Proof read your email
8. Send your email
9. Analyze your results

Deliverability Factors

Some factors affecting deliverability can be:

1. Custom Authentication: this is when an inbox will ask you to confirm that you are really sending the email, normally giving you a reasonable time window to do so, otherwise it will go to spam.

2. Single Opt-in: We recommend using single opt-in instead of a double opt-in although the latter protects against incorrect sign ups, reduces spambots and builds your sending reputation. You have to weigh the pros and cons on this one.

3. Domain: Sending from a free domain email address normally lowers your deliverability. Use address domains or authenticated subdomains as they help prevent ISP filters from blocking your emails, are instantly recognizable to your recipients and help build the sending reputation for your domain.

4. Subject Lines: Avoid using unclear or spam flagging subject lines such as using ALL CAPITALS, avoid excessive and unnecessary use of punctuation and using SP$C!AL CH@RCT3RZ sparingly, and only when relevant.

5. Images: Avoid Sending emails with too many images. Use alternative text for blocked images.

6. URL shorteners: Avoid general URL shorteners and inserting the full URL link as text. Instead, create a hyperlink with appropriate text and ensure all your links go to legitimate domains.

Campaign Delivery Challenges

The main challenges when delivering marketing emails are:

Bounces

Soft Bounce

• Temporary delivery failure
• Mailbox was full
• Receiving server was down
• Message too large

Hard Bounce

• Permanent delivery failure
• Email address is invalid or no longer in use
• Typo in email address
• Retries will not be successful

Spam Complaints

Why people report spam:

• Confused about who you are
• Unsure why you are emailing them
• Can’t find the unsubscribe link

Spam Traps

Typos: Email address with ISP domain misspelled (e.g. Comnast.net, Homtail.com)

Recycled: Email address that existed, then abandoned, and later reactivated by the ISP

Solicited: Email address that never opted into any email communication

Sending Volumes

ISPs look for:

• Consistent sending pattern
• Established sending history
• Spikes that trigger spam filters

Engagement

ISPs look for:

• Recipient’s engagement levels
• Type of engagement (open, click, save, reply, forward, move, etc.)
• Sender’s IP and domain reputation

Testing Before Sending

Test and Optimize

• Subject line
• From name
• Time of day

Reviewing previous performance

• Sent versus delivered
• Measure opens and clicks
• Monitor bounces and unsubscribes

Checking for blacklists

• Email address is on blacklist
• Domain is not authenticated
• Email contains errors
• No broken links

Understand, manage and remove

• Monitor Delivery: Track your email delivery by looking at bounce rates and response rates
• Good List Hygiene: Purge your list regularly of invalid emails and emails that do not respond (when sending a question email).

Final Thoughts

This is a very brief overview on email marketing and how it can help your business. Check out our blog posts on how to design the perfect email and how to test your emails and track your email marketing performance for a better outline on email marketing.

 If you are looking to outsource email marketing, click here to get an email marketing strategy in place designed to get you and your business results!