Golden rules of email marketing

Text/Phillips-Mahler

Companies that send advertisements via email face a bright but dangerous path (for example, sending emails to an unwanted customer) it may all ruin the company's reputation overnight. However, if the company uses email properly, it can not only establish contact with customers, but also obtain excess profits, the cost of direct mail is only a small part of the cost.

More and more companies are beginning to adopt email marketing models because email marketing can bring many visible benefits-the Internet allows marketers to immediately contact thousands of potential customers. Studies show that 80% of Internet users reply to emails within 36 hours, and the average response rate for Direct Mail is only 2%. At the same time, compared with other online marketing methods, e-mail is an indisputable winner, which can be fully reflected by the "click-through rate" indicator. Every time a user connects to the company's home page or sales site, a click passes-whether they have watched a site's window advertisement or sent an email. The "Click pass rate" of banner advertisements has dropped below 1%, while the "Click pass rate" of e-mails has reached 80%. Another option is the cost, which is expensive for paper, printing, and mailing, in addition, one year is more expensive than one year (Microsoft spent $70 million a year on average for Direct Mail). Now, Microsoft sends 20 million emails each month, however, it costs much less than direct mailing.

However, you need to pay attention to some factors when sending emails. To achieve a high "click-through" rate, or to allow Email recipients to reply as soon as possible, marketers must follow a basic rule of email marketing: get the consent of consumers. For example, as a pioneer in direct online marketing, Seth Godin, president of yoyoyodyne (acquired by Yahoo) we even proposed a marketing model (permission-based marketing) based on customer consent ). Godin believes that consumers get bored with marketing ads they don't want. By using the man-machine interaction feature of the Internet, consumers can decide what kind of email they need, and using marketing based on consumers' permission will benefit them. Godin compared "marketing based on consumer permission" to appointment: if the company performs well in its first contact with consumers, this will increase consumers' trust in the company and encourage them to accept the various services provided by the company in the future.

In its email marketing, Iomega successfully used a marketing method based on "obtaining consumer permission, the company sells computer peripheral storage devices (such as zip drives ). Amy Jia launched multiple email marketing activities, each of which started on the basis of registered customers. From its selection list, Amy Jia only sends emails to customers who allow Amy Jia to send emails to them. By focusing on customers who are willing to receive these emails, companies can avoid rejection on the Internet and increase their probability of receiving replies or increase their sales.

Since consumers are angry with receiving a large number of spam mails, they always delete them to the garbage bins. These angry consumers may even attack back on the Internet. They just need to send an email to their friends quickly to everyone on the company's service list, or to other users on the web site, or to establish their own web site to oppose the company, such an angry consumer can almost immediately make the offending company reputation. For this reason, companies that effectively use e-mails for marketing not only allow users who are willing to "come in", but every time they "go out, and let them "go out ".

The following are some of the other important guidelines followed by the pioneers of email marketers.

1. Give the customer a reason to reply.

Yangyangini gives online surfers a strong desire to read these email ads and online ads. Innovative direct marketing companies use small games in the form of e-mails, clear scavenger searches, and instantly know the winning or losing activities to attract customers. Users aim to compete for products, such as a trip to the Caribbean or a bag of gold.

2. personalize the content of your email.

The network enables the company to personalize the content of the email sent by the customer based on the customer's previous Purchase or cooperation conditions. At the same time, customers are more willing to accept personalized information. The website of the Computer bookstore Amazon (Amazon.com) won many loyal customers by sending emails to customers who are willing to receive suggestions and making some suggestions through their shopping history records; the IBM site "focusing on your News Digest" will send selective information directly to the customer's email box ...... Customers who agree to receive news emails can select all their contents from a list of topics of interest.

3. Provide the customer with something he cannot get from direct mail.

Direct Mailing requires a lot of time for preparation and implementation. Because email marketing is much faster, they can provide time-sensitive information. For example, a travel site on the Internet, such as Travelocity, keeps sending emails to customers that are known as fare watches (FARE watchers), providing the last minute's cheap air tickets.

If marketers engage in their marketing activities based on all these rules, they are likely to make email one of the hottest new marketing carriers.

Philip Kotler:

I am recognized as the father of modern marketing. I have created a complete marketing theory and trained entrepreneurs from generation to generation of large American companies. As a super-large multinational company in the United States grows, Mahler has made great contributions.

At present, Galle is an outstanding Professor at the Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University. He has a master's degree in economics from the University of Chicago and a doctorate in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as a postdoctoral fellow in mathematics at Harvard University and a postdoctoral fellow in behavioral science at the University of Chicago.