History of Email Marketing
Email Marketing is a method of promoting products and services over the internet. Email marketing is a type of direct marketing where companies send commercial messages (email) to customers. These emails may advertise a product or service, request feedback on a previous purchase experience, promote a special offer, or provide updates about ongoing promotions and events. In addition, some marketers use e-mail newsletters to update customers about their brand’s activities.
The term ‘electronic mail’ was originally coined in 1969. On 14 May 1971, Berners-Lee wrote the first email message at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, later known as the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
In the early days of the web, electronic mail (also referred to as email or just mail) was mainly used to communicate via the Internet among friends, colleagues, and institutions. However, its popularity grew beyond these initial circles as people realized they could use it to stay in touch with anyone, anywhere in the world, at any time.
Today, almost everyone uses email in his or her daily life. According to Statista, around 2.9 billion people worldwide have access to email. Of those, 1.8 billion people use it on a regular basis.
What is Email Marketing?
Email marketing is a method of advertising or communication through digital platforms, including mobile phones and websites. Marketers often use email marketing to send advertisements, promos, offers, and other forms of promotional content to users who have opted in to receive them.
We usually see two types of Email Marketing:
• Transactional – This type of email marketing occurs after the customer has completed a transaction. After the sale is complete, the company sends out a series of follow-up emails to the customer.
• Relationship – This type of email marketing builds relationships with customers over time. Companies use relationship email marketing to keep customers updated on new products, sales, events, etc.
How Does Email Marketing Work?
When someone subscribes to your list, he or she receives periodic emails from you. You can send emails to your subscribers using different methods.
Sending Emails Using Your Own Server
You can set up your own server and host your own email program. If you do not want to pay for hosting, you can rent space on a third-party server.
Email Marketing Tools
Email marketing tools have evolved from simple newsletters to more sophisticated marketing campaigns. The use of these tools is not limited to just sending out newsletters and they can be used for a variety of purposes like building an email list, sending out automated messages, and other marketing activities.
The use of email marketing tools has increased in recent years due to the rise in competition on the internet. It is now essential for many businesses as it provides a cost-effective way to reach customers without having to spend money on advertising.
The first step in any email marketing campaign is choosing a platform. There are many different platforms out there that allow businesses to create and manage their campaigns.
Benefits
The biggest benefit of email marketing is its low cost. You only need to pay for your mailing list and the cost per acquisition is usually less than $0.10. When compared to traditional advertising methods (i.e. print ads), email marketing costs much less and provides results faster. Because of these reasons, many companies, including big brands, use email marketing to promote products and services. Another benefit of email marketing is the targeted reach – you can target certain audiences based on age, gender, interests, and even geographical locations.
Best Practices
There are some best practices that you should always keep in mind while doing email marketing. Here are three of them: –
- Make sure your message is relevant to your audience – If you’re sending out newsletters about new products, make sure the content is valuable to your subscribers. Don’t just go ahead and send any old thing without having a clear idea of what’s going to work. Also, don’t forget to include links in your newsletters – this helps drive traffic to your website.
- Be brief – Your emails should not exceed 200 words. Anything longer than that might annoy readers due to excessive length. Keep it simple and get straight to the point. Remember, shorter equals more read rate.
- Automate emails – To save yourself time, you can automate your campaigns. Create a series of emails and schedule them to be sent automatically. Then sit back and relax knowing that everything is taken care of.
Email Marketing Examples
Here are some examples of successful email marketing campaigns.
Example 1: PepsiCo - "Got Milk?" Campaign PepsiCo wanted to know if Millennials were interested in drinking milk. So they came up with the "Got Milk?" campaign. Their goal was to generate buzz among young adults by encouraging them to drink dairy products. Many people shared their thoughts on social media platforms, making the campaign a success. Click here to view more email marketing examples. Example 2: Nike - "Just Do It" Campaign
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