Talk about email marketing or mailing is talking about one of the more powerful communication tools that exist in online businesses.
Americans have known this for a long time, and that's why they have a saying:
Money is in the list
Which means that any business or project needs to have one well-maintained subscriber list And it's one of the best ways to monetize it. Especially if your project is internet-based and not a traditional business with a predominantly physical channel.
Beyond being a simple channel for sending mass emails, email marketing has become a key piece of the digital strategyIt allows you to segment, personalize, automate, and accurately measure the impact of each message. That's why designing a email marketing strategy for businesses It's not just about choosing a tool, but about clearly defining objectives, audience, content, frequency, and metrics.
The email Marketing platform
If we want to set up a mailing list, in addition to the editorial line and the subscriber acquisition strategyWe will have to deal with the more technical part: the one that refers to the email sending and deliverabilityThere are several options for this. We can send emails using our own resources, for example our server, although as we will see, this is not a good idea if we do not have very specialized knowledge, or we can hire the services of one of the numerous platforms that exist.
Starting a newsletter by sending emails from our own server can be disastrous if we don't do things very wellIt's important to keep in mind that when we start sending thousands of emails from our server, it's easy for our server's IP address to be added to a blacklist. This means that, on the one hand, our subscribers wouldn't receive their emails or they would receive them in the spam folder, and on the other hand, having an IP address on a blacklist—that is, considered a source of spam—could... affect the reputation of our website already its positioning.
To manage the shipment correctly, you have to play with multiple IPs, configure the correctly SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records, control the bounce and complaint ratesMonitoring domains, cleaning the database... There's a lot to lose and little to gain by taking on this work internally if we're not experts.
Fortunately, there are numerous email marketing platforms at affordable prices They handle all the technical aspects: sending infrastructure, reputation management, spam monitoring, bounce management, design tools, automation, and advanced analytics. All we have to do is take care of our subscribers, who are our customers, and focus on the newsletters and campaigns we send them, as well as their impact. In other words, we can truly dedicate ourselves to What interests us: strategy and results.
When evaluating a platform, it is advisable to look at several aspects key, especially if it's a business:
- Ease of use: intuitive visual editor, professional templates and easy list management.
- Good deliverability rates: that emails arrive in the inbox and not in spam.
- Advanced segmentation and labeling: being able to divide the database according to interests, behavior or demographics.
- Automations and workflows: autoresponders, welcome funnels, abandoned carts, reactivation, etc.
- Clear reports: metrics for openings, clicks, conversions, unsubscribes, heat maps and comparisons between campaigns.
- Integrations: connection with CMS, CRM, ecommerce, payment gateways and other company tools.
- Legal compliance: functions to manage consents, cancellations and data storage in accordance with current regulations.
How email marketing platforms work
These platforms operate based on subscribers and volume of emails sentIn other words, they base their prices primarily on these two factors.
When hiring a provider to run newsletter campaigns, you need to consider how much it will cost you. Cost and how it fits with your business model. Some key questions are:
- Do you have many subscribers or few? Managing a list of hundreds is not the same as managing a list of hundreds of thousands.
- Are you going to send emails occasionally or very frequently? The frequency determines the number of monthly shipments.
- Do you need autoresponders and complex automations? or just one-off campaigns?
- What integrations does your business require? Online stores, CRM, ERP or other internal solutions.
Pricing models exist based on the number of contacts, the number of monthly mailings, or even one-off purchases (credits). Each company must Calculate the cost per shipment and per customer to choose the option that best suits your way of working and your profit margin.
Email marketing strategy for businesses: key steps
In addition to the technical aspects, a company needs a well-defined email marketing strategyDrawing inspiration from the most comprehensive approaches in the sector, a solid strategy typically includes at least these major building blocks:
Define the situation and the objectives
Before sending the first email, it is important to analyze Where is the company located? And what is expected from the email channel: to increase sales, improve repeat business, educate the customer, generate website traffic, recover abandoned shopping carts, etc. From there, they focus on... specific and measurable objectives (increase the open rate, increase a percentage of sales attributable to email, reduce database inactivity, etc.).
Understanding and segmenting the target audience
The cornerstone of an effective email marketing strategy is know who you are addressingWe need to define buyer personas and segment the audience according to:
- Demographics: age, gender, location.
- Behavior: opens, clicks, website interaction, cart abandonment.
- Shopping history: new, recurring, inactive customers.
- Declared interests: preferred categories, content topics.
The more precise the segmentation, The more relevant each message will be and you will get better results.
Define email types and automated workflows
Not all emails fulfill the same purpose functionIn a company, it is common to combine several types of emails:
- Informative newsletters to maintain contact and provide valuable content.
- Promotional emails with exclusive offers, discounts and incentives.
- Transactional emails (order confirmations, password changes, shipping notifications).
- Welcome emails for new subscribers and new customers.
- Lead nurturing sequences that accompany the user until the purchase.
- Reactivation campaigns for contacts who have stopped interacting.
- Loyalty emails with benefits for frequent customers.
Many of them can be orchestrated through workflow automationsaving time and ensuring that each user receives the right message at the right time.
Email marketing strategies and tips
If you want to start an email list for your business, there are several basic steps you need to take. You have to Take good care of your subscribers and respect both their expectations and current regulations.
- Don't do anything spam.
- Don't overuse it sending emailsIt prioritizes quality over quantity.
- Be regularLet them know how often they'll receive an email. If you can't guarantee a regular frequency, don't leave the list unused for months.
- Send quality content that will interest your readers and meet the expectations you have created.
- Don't add anyone to your list without consent.
- Study the legal issuesIn many countries, double verification is required upon registration, and it is mandatory to offer, in addition to your data, the possibility of unsubscribing from the list in each email.
- Check the reports and results of the campaigns you run. Study the days and times that give you the best open and click rates.
- Search Attractive titles and topics that encourage people to open the email without falling for misleading clickbait.
- Are you planning to give away an ebook or course? Learn how they work. autoresponders and automated sequences to deliver the content and continue providing value.
In addition to these fundamentals, there are others good practice that any company should incorporate into its strategy:
- Responsive design: that all emails display correctly on mobile devices, since a very important part of the openings are done from these devices.
- Clear CTAs: include clearly visible calls to action that are consistent with the campaign's objective.
- A/B testingExperiment with subject lines, content, designs, and schedules to gradually optimize results.
- Periodic cleaning of the list: Remove inactive contacts or incorrect addresses to improve deliverability.
- Multi-channel integration: connect email campaigns with social media, SMS and other digital marketing actions.
Every company with a digital presence should take advantage of the opportunities offered by email marketing.Even if you don't start with very frequent campaigns, it's essential. create and maintain a healthy mailing list, well segmented and permission-based, to be able to monetize it and strengthen the relationship with customers when necessary.