Email Marketing

An email list is a gold mine. Email marketing can be very profitable if done correctly. This marketing strategy has been successfully used for years, and every serious online marketer is using it. Marketing by email is just a highly effective direct marketing strategy, and here are the main factors in why it works.

Advantages of Email Marketing
Email direct marketing can be a powerful and effective marketing medium. Here are a few things you can do with an opt-in email list:

• Provide an easy way to reach out to your customers and prospects.
• Develop customer loyalty and enhance the relationship with your customers.
• Send promotional emails to have people buy products or services.
• Increase conversion rates with follow-up emails.
• Create a newsletter or an ezine to build the relationship and promote your business.
• Reward your most loyal customers with special offers etc.

Create an Emailing List

Obviously, you need a few people to send emails to. So you have to create an email list before you can start sending newsletters or otherwise promote yourself or your business.
It will take some time and effort to build an opt-in email marketing list of interested, loyal subscribers, but it will certainly pay off in the long run. Use the double opt-in method (see How to Build an Email List) when building and managing your direct mailing lists. That way you'll avoid spam complaints because you only have subscribers that want your emails.

Why Marketing by Email Works

There are a variety of reasons why this marketing method works, like...

• It's very cost effective.
• You can deliver your message to people (instead of waiting for them coming to you).
• It outperforms all other direct marketing channels.
• You reach a targeted audience.
• Email campaigns can be automated.
• Marketing by email drives direct sales.
• It supports sales through other channels.
• Email promotions generate immediate action (sales, sign-ups, downloads etc.)

Huge Marketing Potential

The simple truth is that several hundred million people all over the globe are using the internet every day, and the number one reason for going online is to check their email. People expect emails to contain business information like confirming transactions and shipping, and they accept the idea of their email being used to promote additional offers.
So the marketing potential is huge, especially for merchants offering products or services that can be sold worldwide. Further advantages of email marketing are it's easy, fast, cheap and direct, and the recipients often respond immediately.

Build Relationship

An email was formerly mostly used for gaining new customers - often via spam technics. It has since changed to promotional and customer relationship marketing. Building a relationship with customers is important in any business, and even more in online business because people are more reluctant to buy on the internet if they don't know the merchant.

Take Care of Your Contacts

An email is an ideal tool for customer service. Most consumers use email for customer service, and they expect an instant response to a service inquiry. So be sure to answer any question as soon as possible.
Don't take advantage of your contacts in any way - that's a safe way to lose them. Instead, give value to the people on your list, provide helpful and useful information and they will stay on your list.

Quality Versus Quantity

Obviously, the more people you have on your email list, the more money making potential there is in it. However, the quality of your list is most important; it's better to have a few hundred people who are genuinely interested in your business and what you have to offer, than thousands who don't really care what you are doing.

I do not recommend purchasing bulk email lists with hundreds or even thousands of email marketing leads. The quality can be very poor so you wouldn't make much money from it, and the number of spam complaints could be high!

Instead, aim at building an email opt-in list of people having an interest in your business, and who have clearly agreed to receive information from you.

Building targeted email lists take time and some hard work, so be sure to make your subscribers want to stay on your list. Keep in mind that your primary objective is to give value to the individuals that "follow" you. Provide the stuff that they want, and you'll reap the reward.

The articles listed below explain some email marketing strategies and how to make the most out of this marketing method. They go into more detail on different aspects of actually how to do 'email business'.

To learn about the technology related aspects like building and managing an email list, creating an opt-in form on your website, which email service providers and tools to use and so on, refer to our List Building pages.