Email marketing

Email is a flexible, low-cost, instant, direct communication tool and, as such, it has no effective peer. Other tools can cover parts of what email can do, but none can achieve so much so effectively and, just as importantly, so cost effectively.

What is email for?

Email is the mechanism that connects you to your customers. It can work at all stages of the customer lifecycle, but it works best where there is a relationship in place already; at least that's what the response rates tell us.

Acquisition

Part 1 - lead generation : By using other people's relationships, you can also use email as an acquisition tool. This works in much the same way as traditional mail based direct marketing. You buy a list of email addresses that someone else has generated and you send your marketing messages out to that list. Electronic communications, however, are more tightly regulated than their offline counterparts and you can only legally send people email when they have given you (directly or indirectly) their permission to do so, ie. when they have "opted in".

In order to work effectively your list must be effectively targeted. Many 3rd party lists on the market are generated by unrelated incentive schemes (eg. sign up to receives emails and we'll give you discounts). While the recipients will provide details about their interests, there is a genuine question about whether they actually want to receive your email, as in reality they are after the incentive. This tied with the electronic communications requirements and the relatively high cost of buying the lists reduces the scope of email as an acquisition tool in its own right.

Part 2 - a conversion tool : The real opportunity for email in the acquisition process comes once a potential customer has made an initial contact. Buying processes are often complicated, particularly when looking at expensive or complex products. Typically a potential purchaser will identify a number of products from a number of sources; you might be one of a dozen places that they are looking to buy from. The buying process can last from days to months. Email can be very effective in converting that interest into transaction, in ensuring that you are the top of the list when the buying decision is made.

If you can gather an email address from a potential customer in the course of their enquires, you can use email to help close the sale. This is no different to customer relationship management, other than that they are not yet customers. This may mean that you wish to send different messages (aimed at acquisition, rather than a repeat transaction), but the principles are the same.

Client /customer relationship management- eCRM

Email is a key relationship management tool.

Of course your customers are free to come back to your website to do business with you whenever they want, but what will make them do so? They might have a specific need for which you are the established solution, but more likely your site is one of a number of places that they can go. By sending them appropriate communications you try to trigger a need (and therefore a solution) or ensure that when the need arises they think of you first.

Email is your channel into your customers' daily lives, it gives you a chance to 'push' your marketing messages. A regular communication will keep your offering top-of-mind and can carry your offers effectively. But you also need to ask what's in it for the customer. Why should they receive, let alone read your missives?

The answer is value. You need to ensure that your email represents value to them. In a discount retail environment this can be a simple as a list of your current best offers, but in a more premium or service environment, you have to provide something that they actually want to read.

Best practice

Email marketing is a bit of a mine field in terms. Done well it is a powerful tool that can add a new dimension to your relationship with your customers, done badly it can encourage them to break off that relationship. It is essential to set out your best practice before you start to ensure that your campaign is positive.

The single biggest issue in email marketing is permission. The regulations require you to have your customers permission to before you can send them any marketing communication. This permission can be "opt-out" for customers (ie. they have not said that they don't want to receive it), but it must be "opt-in" for non-customers (ie. they must have actually asked for it). NB - this is a complex legal area, you should get legal advice if you are not clear on how it works.

Best practice on permission follows common sense. If you send people what they want, your emails will be welcome. If it is what they have asked for, they will be more welcome.