Businesses have been generating revenue through email marketing campaigns since Hotmail was first introduced in 1996. More than 25 years later, email has become one of the, if not the most, popular and lucrative marketing strategies. Email marketing has evolved alongside technology, which has made the process more effective over time.
The Outdated Approach
Traditional email strategies involved distributing marketing material to a massive audience hoping that the message would reach the right person. When email marketing was a relatively new concept, this method yielded sufficient enough returns for businesses.
The belief behind the strategy was the more emails you sent, the more likely you were to contact an interested consumer. The problem with this system is that it often includes broad, generic information, making it easy for users to disregard. Eventually, marketers had to alter their approach when consumers got tired of being sent unprompted, impersonal ads.
Modern Email Campaigns
Instead of blindly messaging prospects, the new email marketing method creates ads using segmentation, personalization, and data. The Data and Marketing Association found that 77% of email marketing ROI came from segmented, targeted, and triggered campaigns. Segmentation is the process of dividing email subscribers into smaller sections based on their criteria.
Marketers are significantly more successful if they know what and when to send messages to potential clients. Therefore, segmentation helps businesses send the right person the ideal message at the correct time. Personalization involves customizing an email so it aligns with subscribers interests.
The Process
- Analyze the data of the contacts you possess and segment them based on predetermined criteria.
- Draft an email that your target audience finds intriguing.
- Start a cold email campaign by emailing the recipients you believe would be interested in or could benefit from your business.
- Begin the email nurture process by adding the consumers who opened or replied to the message to your list of email subscribers.
- Develop a relationship with subscribers by sending them periodic automated messages or special offers.
The purpose of the campaign is to convert subscribers into customers by driving people to your sales funnel. Consumers are significantly more likely to do business with a company when they are familiar with it.
Benefits
Open rates are substantially higher when businesses use the modern email marketing strategy. The average open rate across all industries in 2022 is 21.33%, while using the old system open rates are only 6.53%. The new method also tracks more detailed metrics than just open rates.
New software add-ons and marketing/sales platforms inform users how many times each email was opened by the receiver. These new resources also tell the sender if consumers went to their website to learn more about their business.
New Technology
Machine learning and data science capabilities allow marketers to make deeper connections with consumers. These tools give marketers access to more detailed metrics and user data. Marketing professionals can then analyze the data and discover patterns and trends to ensure each campaign is more successful than the last.
With all the email marketing resources available to businesses today, learning the process is the only obstacle standing between you and a successful campaign. If you want to find out more about how we use email marketing to boost conversion rates, sign up for a free, 15-minute introductory call here!
