EDM (Electronic Direct Marketing, email marketing) is a marketing method commonly used by merchants in the Internet era. That is, pushing valuable information to target users or potential customers through email. This marketing model includes three basic factors: user permission as the premise, email as the channel, and valuable information as the content.
Compared to traditional mail, users in the Internet era obviously prefer to use email. The huge user base and high frequency of use provide EMD with a large number of target groups. At the same time, for merchants, email marketing also has the characteristics of low cost, clear goals, high efficiency, convenience, etc., and the marketing promotion effect is also relatively easy to obtain feedback and evaluation.
In addition, email marketing also provides convenience for enterprises to push diversified marketing information. With the help of EDM software, companies can send marketing promotion content such as electronic advertisements, product information, sales information, market surveys, and marketing activity information to users.
Specifically, email marketing promotion mainly includes the following processes:
Establishing an email address database
EDM directly connects information with users, so First, you need to obtain a large number of email addresses and user names to build a database of email addresses for your website or business. Generally speaking, merchants or websites can obtain email address information in the following three ways:
★ Directly purchase a third-party email database;
★ Cooperate with other email address databases Share information to expand the number of emails in the database;
★Encourage users to subscribe to website or business information when registering their email through a variety of preferential measures.
The construction of an email address database is a prerequisite for email marketing. Among them, the third method is the most ideal. Because users who choose information subscription are generally interested in websites or businesses and can directly become the target group of EDM.
?Classification database
In the Internet era, people are more pursuing diversified and personalized demand experience, which puts forward higher requirements for corporate marketing. Therefore, the website or enterprise also needs to classify, refine and position the user information in the database, so as to provide users with valuable information in email push according to the different needs of users, and improve the user experience. reading loyalty.
A more effective approach is to provide a more detailed information classification list when users subscribe or unsubscribe, allowing users to choose the content they are interested in. In this way, information needs can be classified and marketing emails that users need can be sent in a targeted manner.
In the Internet era where information is extremely expanded, users are faced with the problem of excessive information and filtering every day. Therefore, classified push of information based on user needs is an important guarantee for the success of EDM. Those spamming emails that are one-size-fits-all in marketing promotions not only fail to achieve the marketing effect, but also cause extreme disgust among users, and may even be judged as spam.
?Avoid the risk of spam
In essence, any spam email is a marketing email. It’s just that these marketing emails do not conduct classified research on the potential needs of users, but are just sent in large quantities without distinction. Therefore, they cannot bring valuable information to users and can easily arouse users’ resentment.
As mentioned at the beginning, user permission and information being valuable to users are fundamental factors for the smooth development of EDM and are also the key to avoiding becoming spam. User permission means that the company has obtained the permission of the target users before conducting email marketing. The users are more interested in the content and information of the emails, or at least will not reject these emails. Being valuable to users means that the company has refined the target groups for marketing, and the products, services, promotions and other information it pushes are all content that users are interested in.
?Control the email sending cycle
The determination of the email sending cycle is related to the following two factors.
★E-mail marketing content: Marketing information with high timeliness requirements needs to be sent first and the cycle is short; while information with long timeliness and long-term timeliness can be postponed appropriately, and the email sending cycle can also be Relatively long.
★User’s reading habits: Sending emails too frequently can easily arouse users’ resentment, and the email sending cycle is too long, which is not conducive to cultivating users’ email reading habits. Therefore, companies need to conduct prior user research. and reading behavior analysis to develop an optimal email sending cycle.
?Email content
EDM achieves the purpose of marketing promotion through email push, so the content in the email determines the marketing effect, durability and user stickiness. If the content in the email cannot bring high-quality value experience to users, then users will unsubscribe or no longer read emails sent in the future.
Email content is valuable to users, which is the basic premise of EDM. In addition, it is also necessary to deeply grasp the user’s interest characteristics and value orientation, and try to be as diverse and personalized as possible in the design of the content, so as to effectively attract the user’s attention and avoid the singleness and duplication of the content. Finally, the email content should have a specific theme and direction every time, so that users can get a different experience every time they read, so as to cultivate users’ reading interests and habits and enhance user stickiness.
In addition to the specific content, more effort should also be made in the presentation form of email information. For example, choose a format and layout that users are more willing to accept, and be more innovative in setting the subject, sender, recipient, etc. of the email to make it more attractive. In short, like other marketing models in the Internet era, if EDM wants to achieve better results, it must also be user-centered and try to create more value for users in email push. In this way, users’ email acceptance can be improved and a strong relationship can be established with users.
?Provide unsubscription
In the Internet era of innovation and change, users’ interests can easily shift, and their attention is always attracted by the constant emergence of new things and information. Therefore, in order to avoid becoming spam, companies need to set up a reasonable user exit mechanism when conducting EDM so that users can exit the subscription at any time.
Generally speaking, companies will provide email unsubscription process instructions at the end of each marketing email. However, you need to pay attention to the following two points.
★The method of unsubscribing should be as simple and quick as possible, for example, by simply replying or clicking on a relevant link.
★You can set some simple questions and analyze the reasons for unsubscribing through the user’s responses: the content is not of high value, you don’t like the overall design of the email, emails are sent too frequently, personal interests have shifted, etc. Through the analysis of these factors, users can be positioned more accurately and promote the improvement of email marketing promotion.
?Email sending tool
The effect of EDM follows the “law of large numbers” to a certain extent. In addition to high-quality content, the quantity sent is also very important for email marketing promotions. Mass email is the most common method used by EDM, which uses mass email software to send information to a large number of users in the email address database. Since this kind of sending does not necessarily require the user’s permission, the email content should be set more carefully to avoid becoming spam.
For example, SendCloud, a relatively common mass-sending software, has strict requirements for mass-sending emails. SendCloud will continuously reduce the credibility of accounts that are reported to frequently send spam, or even ban them.