An all-inclusive guide to email marketing

Email marketing has evolved exponentially over the last few decades. These days, most of the formal communication and promotional news is being shared through emails. Hence, making it one of the most crucial marketing strategies for any kind of business.

What is email marketing?

Email marketing is the process of sending commercial emails to a specific list of contacts who have opted for receiving emails from you. You can use email marketing for sending emails containing special offers, welcome emails, holiday emails, etc., to engage with your target audience.

Earlier, email marketing was used for only sending any information. But now it has evolved into a mode of communication between the company and its customers.

Importance of email marketing for every business

Email marketing is progressing rapidly, and so is the number of email users. In fact, the number of email users is expected to reach 4.6 billion by the year 2025. Hence, if you want to reach the right audience, it’s crucial to implement email marketing in your business.

If you’re wondering whether there’s still scope for email marketing or not, then the image below should clear out your concerns.  

As the graph reflects, email continues to drive higher revenue and is expected to grow twice as much in the coming years. Therefore, when it comes to marketing, email has more open rates and click-through rates compared to social media. 

A carefully implemented email marketing strategy will not only help in boosting the engagement rate but will also help you achieve higher revenue. 

Interesting email marketing statistics 

To help you understand the importance of email marketing, we’ve listed some interesting email marketing facts and statistics. 

• Advertising and marketing emails influence the buying decision of 59% of customers. 

• 64% of B2B responders have mentioned that they use email automation. 
• Marketers that execute segment email marketing campaigns have witnessed a 760% increase in their revenue. 
• Email is 40x more effective when it comes to conversions, compared to other social media platforms. 

You can find out more email marketing statistics here – 20+ Email marketing statistics for 2024. 

Advantages of email marketing for every business

Email is one of the most effective marketing channels, and for all the right reasons. It not only helps you in driving more visitors and leads, but it can also help in improving the conversion rate. 

Below are the main benefits of email marketing for every business –  

1. Reach the right audience at the right time

With email marketing, you can connect with the users that have shown interest in your product or service. With the right data and insight into your customers’ preferences, you can create and send emails that connect with them.

Moreover, you can also perform an A/B split and send different variations to your email subscribers to find out which email performs better. Along with this practice, you can determine the best time and day to send emails so that it increases your open and click rates.

2. Generate higher revenue

If you thought that email marketing was just about promotional offers, then you might need to look at this statistic –

Emails are 40% better at conversion when compared to social media platforms.

Yes, by creating engaging and relevant email marketing campaigns, you can indeed drive revenue and improve your conversion rate. For example, just by sending automated welcome emails and placing CTAs strategically, you can entice your email subscribers to go ahead and make the purchase.

3. Automate your marketing process

With email marketing, you can automate your entire marketing process – right from capturing leads to engaging with them, you can build an automated process.

Your automation can be executed based on certain triggers and conditions that are fulfilled when a user takes action. This, as a result, helps you create a personalized experience for each of your visitors and customers. 

In fact, trigger-based email marketing campaigns can generate 18x more profits and 4x greater revenue. 

By integrating a marketing agency CRM into your automation strategy, you can effectively manage your leads, track customer interactions, and optimize your marketing efforts for maximum results.

Leverage the Power of Automation

Salesamate can put your entire email campaigns on autopilot.

Start My Trial Now

4. It is cost-effective

When it comes to marketing, emails are by far one of the most cost-effective marketing channels of communication. Creating an email campaign and executing it takes a lot less time and money compared to other marketing campaigns in the market.

Hence, it’s not only cost-effective but also provides great results in terms of customer engagement and conversions.

5. Create a solid brand presence

If your main vision is to create an impactful brand across various channels, then email can be an ideal platform to kick off your marketing campaign.

With personalized content, relatable offers, and engaging CTAs, you can create appealing emails that drive the attention of every reader. In the end, your main goal should be to make your customer feel valued.

6. Measure various metrics

One of the main benefits of implementing email marketing is that you can get insights into various email performance metrics. Based on the data and information, you can make better decisions for your upcoming marketing campaigns. 

For example, if your emails have a very high open rate but there are fewer clicks on your CTA button, then you need to work on making it more eye-catchy and have a better placement in the email body.

Don't Know How Your Email Campaigns are Performing?

Check how Salesmate's advanced email analytics to get you the insights you need.

Start My Trial Now

7. Have control over your email marketing campaigns 

When we are discussing an email marketing strategy, it implies that you have full control over every step of the process, unlike in traditional marketing. 

From your email list, and content, to the distribution process, you are the one who controls the entire campaign, hence you can expect improved results. 

8. Nurture customer relationships 

Email marketing is not just about attracting new prospects; it’s also about nurturing existing and past customers. 

You can send emails about product offers, new launches, sales, or discounts to grab the attention of your email subscribers and keep them in the loop.

To gain more insight into the benefits of email marketing, you can read the full article here – 8 Benefits of email marketing for your business 

By now, I assume that you must be contemplating to implement email marketing in your business. So, how do you execute that? Well, the next part will show you how you can build a solid email marketing strategy for your business. 

Build a solid email marketing strategy 

In order to have a successful email marketing campaign, you need to build a solid email marketing strategy. To help you achieve your goals, we’ve curated a list of 11 effective email marketing strategies that can help you in improving your email performance. 

1. Determine your target audience – Before you send an email, ensure that you find out your target audience based on their preferences and interests. 
2. Build a list of your prospects – You can’t send the same email to all your subscribers. You need to build a list to send targeted email campaigns. 
3. Define your goals – Before executing any campaign, you first need to determine your goals and find out what exactly you want out of a specific campaign. 
4. Segment your email subscribers – Once you have created a list, you need to segment your subscribers based on demographics, interests, behavior, etc. 
5. Identify the types of email to send – Once you know your audience, you need to find out what kind of content they want to consume and plan your email marketing strategy accordingly. 
6. Personalize your email content – Personalization not only helps in bringing more engagement, but it can also positively impact your ROI. 
7. Optimize your email for mobile screens – Now that the majority of people are using their mobile phones to access their emails, it’s crucial to optimize your content and layout for mobile screens as well. 
8. Automate your email marketing campaigns – If you want to connect with your audience at the right time, then you need to implement email automation into your marketing strategy. 

Want to know how to execute email automation? Here’s a detailed guide on email automation 

9. A/B test your email campaigns – The same email isn’t going to work for every customer; hence you need to create different versions of your email and send them to your audience to find out which one performs better. 
10. Improve email deliverability – To ensure that your email doesn’t land in your receiver’s spam folder, you need to take certain measures and improve email deliverability.
11. Measure performance – Lastly, you need to measure the performance of every email marketing campaign and monitor certain email marketing KPIs. 

If you want to know more details on building an email marketing strategy, then fret not, because we’ve got you covered! We’ve explained each of the above points in detail in this article – Email marketing strategy: 11 ways to create effective email campaigns

Now that you’ve created an email marketing strategy, you need to ensure that it’s fully optimized. For that, you will find email marketing tips and best practices in the next section! 

Email marketing tips and best practices 

If you want to create effective email marketing strategies, you need to implement these email marketing tips right away!

1. Include relevant CTAs 

The end goal of every marketing email is to make your user take the required action – signing up, making a purchase, upsell and cross-sell, etc. 

Did you know that personalized Calls to Action perform 202% better than a basic CTA? 

Yes, having a clear and personalized CTA in your email body can guide the email subscribers into taking the action and help you achieve your goals.  

2. Have a crisp subject line 

The subject line is the most crucial aspect of your email, as that is what drives your email subscribers to open the email. 

You need to create a compelling subject line that catches the attention and conveys the clear intent of your email. Moreover, you need to refrain from using certain keywords in your email subject lines to avoid getting landed in the spam folder. 

We’ve specifically created a list of 60+ best email subject lines that can help you level up your email campaigns! 

3. Personalize your emails 

Users are more likely to respond to your email if it is addressed directly to them. 

For instance, if you received an email with “Jennifer, we’ve curated the list of best gadgets for you!”  

It’s more likely that you’ll end up opening the email as it mentions your name and based on your search history, has provided a list of products that you’re interested in. Hence, instead of sending generic emails, you need to step up and personalize them. 

4. Avoid using “no-reply” in the sender’s email address 

You must have received emails in which the email address starts with “no-reply.” Now, this is a term that not only appears sketchy but can also be considered spam. 

Instead of this practice, you can go for the email address that represents you and your company, as it will help build credibility and customer loyalty. 

5. Always test your emails

Before you send any email to your subscribers, always shoot a test email first to see how it appears on different screens. 

You need to look out for any errors, correct image placements, and CTAs, your selected email list, and the overall content of your email before sending it to the subscribers. 

The above list contains 5 main email marketing tips that every marketer needs to implement. Wait, the list doesn’t end here! Check out our blog and find the complete list of the 10 best email marketing tips and best practices. 

Factors to consider before selecting email marketing software

You’ve made a decision to get email marketing software, now what? 

Well, you’ll find a plethora of options when it comes to email marketing services. So, before making any decision, you need to consider certain factors and then pick the right email marketing software for your business.

1. Key features 

Every email marketing tool comes with a certain set of features, and based on your company’s needs, you can find out how many features you require. Moreover, if you want to create an impeccable first email marketing campaign, these are the essential features you’ll require in your email marketing software.  

• Segmentation – Creating different segments or using tags for email subscribers with varied interests and preferences. Based on the segmented list, you can create and send targeted emails. 
• Email limit – Many email marketing software contains a limit on the number of contacts or emails that you can send per month. So, based on your email list, you can check whether it suits your requirements or not. 
• A/B split test – It’s crucial to A/B test your email campaigns, thus making this a crucial feature for any email marketing software. 
• Autoresponders – This feature enables you to set up automated email sequences that are triggered based on any specific event. 
• Templates – Creating an email from scratch can become time-consuming. Therefore, you can look for an email marketing service that provides pre-built email templates for different events. 
• Reporting – You must check for the reporting feature as that will help you check email open rate, click-through rate, email bounce rate, etc.  

These are the essential features that your email marketing software needs to provide! So, ensure that you get a proper demo before making the decision. 

2. Ease of use 

Ease of use is highly important whenever we bring any new software into the company. A complex email marketing tool and all your effort will go in vain! 

Not every team member will have expertise in such advanced technology as email marketing is getting more and more comprehensive. In this situation, you need to find email marketing software that contains a simple yet helpful user interface so your marketing team can access it without any hassle. 

3. Cost & add-ons 

Every company has a dedicated budget for each task. Therefore, it becomes crucial to find an email marketing tool that not only contains all the required features but is cost-effective as well. 

The cost of email marketing software can vary based on many factors, such as – email list size, monthly email volume, technology, email templates, email marketing automation, customer support, and any hidden costs. 

To know more about factors affecting the cost of your email marketing software, the average cost of email marketing software in 2024, and creating the budget for email marketing campaigns, here’s a full article – How much does email marketing cost? 

4. Integrations 

When it comes to sending emails, there are different platforms that you can use. Hence, it’s essential to look for integrations so that you can seamlessly execute your email campaigns. 

Whether it’s integrating your Gmail inbox or using a tool to send bulk emails, you must check the list of integrations your email marketing software provides. 

Based on these factors, you can decide whether the email marketing software you want to get is the right fit or not. Many times, we go ahead and select the software that is loaded with complex features, assuming it’ll help us in executing the campaigns. However, that’s not always the case. 

You need to pay heed to the usability of the email marketing tool and check if it provides essential features. Lastly, always look at the cost of your email marketing software and find out if there are any hidden costs that will incur in the future.

Choose an Email Marketing Tool That Integrates with Your Favorite Platforms

Salesmate integrates with all popular platforms and provides a smooth email marketing experience.

Start My Trial Now

List of best email marketing software & tools for 2024 

To make your decision process easier, we’ve created a list of the best email marketing software for 2024! These are the top-performing email marketing tools in the industry and have been recommended by users across the globe. 

1. Salesmate 

2. BIGContacts 

3. Mailchimp 

4. ConvertKit 

5. Hubspot 

6. MailerLite 

7. Salesforce Pardot 

8. AWeber 

9. ActiveCampaign 

10. GetResponse 

To help you make an informed decision and for easy comparison, we’ve created a full article containing the list of 20 best email marketing tools and software which includes key features, pros and cons, and pricing. 

Email regulations you need to follow 

Email marketing is a process that requires consent from the subscribers to receive your marketing emails. Hence, there are certain email regulations that you need to comply with in order to use the contact information of your users to send emails. 

1. GDPR compliance 

GDPR compliance is an email regulation that allows people to choose whether they would like to receive any email from you or not. This is applicable to the businesses that operate in the European Union and the businesses targeted at EU citizens. 

Here’s how you can comply with GDPR law – 

• Collect data that’s relevant to your business. 
• Request consent to access personal information in clear language. 
• Store the data securely and only use it where it’s agreed upon. 
• Remove the data when requested. 
• Ensure you have the records to prove you’re complying with GDPR laws. 

2. CAN-SPAM Compliance 

CAN-SPAM act is implemented to prohibit fraudulent email practices connected with email advertising by using fake email identities or using misleading subject lines. CAN-SPAM law was passed in 2003 and it applies to any commercial emails that are used for business purposes. 

Here’s how you can comply with the CAN-SPAM act –  

• Include a clear unsubscribe link in every email. 
• Add your company’s name and address. 
• Create subject lines that reflect the email content. 

3. Avoiding spam filters 

If you want to reach the right audience, you need to prevent your emails from getting landed in the spam folder. This can result in low deliverability, impact on your brand, inaccurate reports, and not being able to reach your email subscribers. 

Here’s how you can avoid being labeled as spam –  

• Use a reliable email service provider as it can affect your email deliverability rate. 
• Get whitelisted by having your new email subscribers add your email to their address book to build credibility. 
• Don’t use too many exclamation points or spam words as it can be identified by the ESPs (email service providers) and mark you as spam. 
• Use SPF checker. It prevents your emails getting landed in the spam box. SPF, is an email authentication protocol that checks the trustworthiness of your domain. Also, it is a great tool against fraudulent actions ensuring no email is sent on your behalf to your partners or employees.

Email marketing ideas to implement in 2024

Email marketing is a broad concept, so you need to stay ahead of the competition and have information on new trends and ideas. Below are some important email marketing ideas that you can implement in your email campaigns. 

1. Increase accessibility 
2. Optimize your newsletters for various platforms 
3. Create interactive email campaigns 
4. Send hyper-personalized emails  
5. Incorporate AI and automation 
6. Include user-generated content  
7. Track the right metrics for your campaign 
8. Reduce data decay  
9. Ensure data privacy 

These are some of the most effective email marketing ideas that every marketer needs to implement in their business! Get detailed information on these email marketing ideas in this article – 9 Best email marketing ideas for 2024.

Conclusion

Email marketing is a process where you can only reap the benefits if you’ve been patient and consistent in your email marketing efforts. 

You can create and execute your email marketing campaigns based on the current market trends so that every email resonates with your reader. This guide on email marketing is curated so that every marketer can execute their email campaigns effectively and get desired results. 

I hope that you found this comprehensive article useful. So, get started now and plan your next email marketing strategy!