Email marketing is basically the act of sending out a commercial message, usually to an entire group of individuals, by means of email. By its most strict definition, any email sent out to a prospect, current or even existing client can be deemed email marketing. However, it does involve the use of email to sell products, solicit donations or even advertise. All email messages that result from this action are considered marketing emails. The individual who sent the message might be called the “marketer” and the company who is being advertised or sold could be called the “company.”
Every email marketing campaign is affected by the promotional method used to craft the subject line. Email marketing software can assist in generating interesting subject lines, which can make all the difference between a boring subject line and a very catchy one. An intriguing subject line will capture the attention of a prospective client and will increase the chances of that client purchasing a product. A boring subject line will turn off prospective clients and will also decrease the amount of sales generated from a particular email marketing campaign. The type of language used in the subject line should be similar to the language used in a website’s home page, but should be concise enough not to confuse the reader.
Email marketing is primarily intended to reach the target audience, but some email marketing software includes ways of targeting specific audiences. For instance, a marketing company may include the names of certain geographic areas or certain types of careers in the subject lines of their emails. This enables their clients to better market to these target audiences and increases the chances of those audiences purchasing the products or services offered by the company. If an email marketing campaign is sent out to the entire population of a city or town, the likelihood of many recipients viewing the message is high. However, if a single person from that town or city only sees the email, it will have a much lower conversion rate.
Email marketing campaigns are not subject to the approval of any government agencies. Even so, email marketing has come under fire from the federal government in the past, due to concerns over how spammy some email marketing techniques could be. In general, though, email marketing is considered less “spammy” than direct marketing campaigns, which require consumers to call or visit a phone number to receive a brochure or sample of a product. Direct marketing campaigns, in addition to the ability to track the sale of the product or service, also allow a company to see the demographic data provided by an email marketing campaign and use that data to improve their overall marketing strategies.
Marketing with email marketing campaigns can be very effective for marketers who know how to create and send email messages in an effective manner. Some marketers work with small groups of individuals before sending email marketing campaigns to larger audiences. Other marketers work in larger groups and send mass email messages to hundreds or thousands of people at once. Regardless of the method used to reach an audience, mass email marketing campaigns do not work for all marketers. Some marketers find that creating custom emails and fine-tuning their message in order to attract specific consumers is more effective.
There are also some email communications experts who believe that some email marketing triggers are actually counterproductive to the goal of reaching an audience. They argue that some email marketing triggers can cause recipients to search for more information on the Internet, which in turn may lead those people to click on ads or links. However, there are many email communications experts who support the use of certain email communications triggers in order to make sure that the email marketing campaign is effective. For example, a marketer may trigger an email marketing campaign by including a subject line with a product’s link in order to draw attention to the email. The same case can be said for using graphics and other internet based tools in email communications to draw attention to certain products.