Email marketing is an expanding art of delivering a message to a targeted audience via e mail. It sells, promotes, informs, reminds and brands. Sending an email is one of the simplest tasks today and it is one of the most cost effective of all the marketing media. Open up your personal email and find quite a variety of offers marketed to you. Email marketing is a lot more complicated than sending e mails. One needs customer permission, good lists, creativity, tracking and measuring techniques and customer relationships. When its email there is a thin line of difference between marketing and advertising and very often the mails are considered Spam.

A quick look at the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of email marketing would help in better understanding.

Strength

  1. Extreme one to one customization is possible
  2. Any email campaign is traceable at every level
  3. Highly cost effective.
  4. Less effort – mailing is only a click away from the customer.
  5. Increasing customer base.

Weakness

  1. Very less response rates.
  2. In emails like yahoo the mails might end up in bulk and be considered Spam.
  3. Cannot do mass marketing.
  4. Email or internet services in India are mainly accessible in cities only.

Opportunity

  1. Broadband services is setting internet soaring.
  2. Retail financial services, travel and booking etc are increasingly using the net as a sales medium.
  3. More opportunities in line if digital signature is permitted
  4. Email can be used to advertise and promote.

Threat

  1. They may be mistaken for Spam mails.
  2. Lists if end up in wrong hands can have serious damages.
  3. SMS as a viable channel to reach the customer though scalability might be an issue

According to Forrester Research, 97 percent of consumers and 94 percent of marketers use email. Despite the challenges email continues to grow in importance and email senders and receivers are enthusiastic about it. In this scenario it is imperative for companies to create effective email campaigns. From a recipient’s point of the view, the following points may be of great significance:

  • The Registration Practices:

    This is the effectiveness with which the marketer can lure the customers to his website and is able to convert each visit as a registration.

    Marketers need to

    · Treat customers with respect

    · Give them ease of access

    · Motivate and encourage customers to sign up for their catalogs and promotional offers

    · Receive relevant details from prospective customers during opt in

    · Incentivize opt- in process with offers and information. Successful communi­cation is the art of conveying emotion, and perhaps the growing appeal of newsletters in retail email marketing is their storytelling aspect.

    Brand your new email relationship confirmation messages. Because they arrive at a time when recipients are most engaged with the brand, confirmation messages present a great opportunity for marketers.

    • Creativity and innovation

      This includes the various communications that the marketer sends to the customers. Aspects such as personalization, message content and timing, visually promoting incentives to buy, and the easy formats of the mail are essential

      Consider including a forward-to-a-friend link

        • Opt out options

          More can be done than just allowing customers to walk out the online door.

          Despite the fact that marketers hate to lose contact with potential customers, few work aggressively to hang on to those considering leaving the fold.

          Apply these practices and take full advantage of the unique tool that is EMAIL MARKETING

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