Does An Email Marketing Campaign Work?

When Tim Berners Lee created the first HTML code, he had no idea how important the Internet would become. Originally created by scientists at the Cern Hadron collider to share technical data, emails have now become the single most popular use of Internet technology. That sharing of information by the original scientists has now become a global phenomenon that has people checking their inboxes several times a day to see if they’ve ‘got mail’. It’s a business opportunity going begging. Which is exactly why an email marketing campaign works.

A targeted audience

An email marketing campaign gives you something that other advertising campaigns don’t – a targeted audience. It gives you the opportunity to hone in on your potential customers, grabbing their attention and encouraging them to do more than just opt-in for your email updates. They’ve already expressed an interest in you – your email marketing campaign should capitalise on that and concentrate on converting opt-ins into sales.

A chance for customer interaction

An email marketing campaign also gives your potential customers something they don’t get from other forms of hard sell – a chance to directly interact with you. So foster that relationship by giving them a few tempters to draw them in further, such as time sensitive offers, exclusive opportunities for email recipients only and a host of online goodies that your website customers and casual browsers aren’t privy to. Email lets you target, aim and fire your campaign straight at a focused audience.

Value for money

This is one of the biggies. Almost every other form of advertising campaign is going to cost you money. An email marketing campaign, putting aside your ISP charges which will probably be insignificant in comparison, is free. The only cost to you is a bit of time and effort ensuring that every email is optimised for maximum performance through personalisation, strategic planning, killer content and an eye-grabbing subject line.

Tracking your responses

An email marketing campaign is also a perfect way to gauge whether you’re getting your positioning right. You can quickly see what kind of a response your campaign is generating through the number of replies and, more importantly, the amount of conversions it produces. Again, because you’re talking to a focused audience, email marketing campaigns tend to produce astounding results, certainly compared to offline mail shots or hard copy advertising. And remembering that it’s a practically free way to advertise, you have maximum ROI to look forward to as well.

So how do I do it?

The key is to remember that any email marketing campaign, no matter how big, has to have that one-to-one aspect. Each recipient has to be made to feel that you’re talking directly to them and nobody else. Everyone likes to feel ‘exclusive’, so pander to that. Rule number one – get your subject line right. The best email marketing campaign will fail in spectacular style if your recipient doesn’t even bother to open the message.

Structure your content, drawing them in, giving them links and tempt them with exclusive offers. Remember that one-to-one guideline and personalise it in such a way that your recipient feels that they’re the only one to be privy to this information.

An email campaign is one of the most powerful weapons in your online campaign strategy. Don’t waste the opportunity and make the most of every email.