What is Email Marketing?

Email marketing is an online marketing method that delivers valuable information to target users through emails on the premise of prior permission from users. There are three basic factors in email marketing: based on user permissions, passing information via email, and information is valuable to users. The lack of one of the three factors cannot be called effective email marketing.

Therefore, in the true sense of email marketing is the licensing of Email marketing (referred to as “licensed marketing”). Email marketing based on user licenses is different from spam (Spam). Licensing marketing has obvious advantages over traditional promotion methods or unlicensed email marketing, such as reducing the nuisance of users to advertisements and increasing the accuracy of potential customers. Degree, enhance relationships with customers, increase brand loyalty, etc. According to all forms of user email address resources applied by licensed email marketing, it can be divided into internal list email marketing and external list email marketing, or simply internal list and external list. The internal list, also known as the mailing list, is a way to use the registered user information of the website to conduct email marketing. Common forms such as news mail, member newsletters, and electronic publications. External list Email marketing is to use the professional service provider’s user email address to carry out email marketing, that is, the form of email advertisement to send information to the service provider’s users. Licensing Email marketing is a relatively independent type of network marketing method system, which can be combined with other network marketing methods or independently.

Carry out the basic conditions of Email marketing

Three basic factors are highlighted in the definition of email marketing: based on user permissions, passing information via email, information is valuable to users. The lack of one of the three factors cannot be called effective email marketing.

It can be seen that the development of Email marketing requires certain basic conditions, especially the internal list of Email marketing, which is a long-term task of network marketing. In the practice of licensing marketing, the most concerned issue for enterprises is: How is the licensing of Email marketing realized? There are many ways to obtain user licenses, such as users registering as members for certain services, or news emails, e-newsletters, etc. that users subscribe to, that is, licensing marketing is to provide users with valuable information or services. As a prerequisite. It can be seen that there are three basic issues that need to be addressed in the development of Email marketing: which users are sent emails, what emails are sent, and how they are sent.

Here are three basic issues that are further summarized into the three basics of Email marketing:

(1) The technical basis of Email marketing: technically guarantee users to join and exit the mailing list, and realize the management of user data, as well as mail sending and effect tracking functions;

(2) User’s email address resource: Obtaining enough user email address resources on the premise that the user voluntarily joins the mailing list is a necessary condition for Email marketing to play a role;

(3) Content of Email Marketing: Marketing information is sent to users through email. The content of the email is valuable to the user to attract the attention of the user. Effective content design is the basic premise of Email marketing.

When these basic conditions are met, the real sense of Email marketing can be carried out, and the effect of Email marketing can be gradually demonstrated.

It is necessary to point out that Email marketing is a broad concept, which includes the company’s own email marketing activities to establish mailing lists, as well as the delivery of email advertisements through professional service providers. In order to further explain the difference in email marketing under different circumstances, it can be divided into internal email marketing and external email marketing, or internal and external lists, according to the ownership of the email address. The internal list is an email marketing conducted by a company/website using the information of a registered user, while the external list refers to an email marketing service provided by a professional service provider or other institution that can provide professional services. The enterprise that advertises the advertisement does not own the The user’s email address data does not need to be managed to maintain these user profiles. External lists are a manifestation of online advertising. Internal list Email marketing and external list Email marketing have obvious differences in operation methods, but they must all meet the three basic factors of Email marketing: based on user permission, passing information by email, information is valuable to users. Both the internal list and the external list have their own advantages. The two are not contradictory and can be used at the same time if necessary.

For external lists, the technology platform is provided by professional service providers. Therefore, there are only two corresponding email marketing foundations, namely, the selection of potential user’s email address resources and the content design of Email marketing.

Using internal lists to conduct email marketing is the mainstream way of email marketing, and it is also the focus of discussion. The importance of a high-quality mailing list for corporate internet marketing has been confirmed by many companies’ practical experience and has become one of the important means for enterprises to enhance their competitive advantage. Therefore, it is very necessary to establish a mailing list of their own. Many websites place great emphasis on the establishment of internal lists. However, building and operating a mailing list is not a simple matter and involves many issues.

First of all, the establishment of mailing lists is usually combined with other functions of the website. It is not a work that can be done by one person or one department. It will involve technical development, web design, content editing, etc., and may also involve marketing and sales. The responsibilities of the technical departments, such as the outsourcing services, also need to communicate with the professional service providers for functional requirements.

Secondly, the mailing list must be voluntarily joined by the user. Whether it can be recognized by the user is a very complicated matter. To maintain the stable increase of the user for a long time, the content of the mailing list must be valuable to the user, and the content of the mail needs professional. Production.

Third, the number of users of the mailing list needs to be accumulated for a long period of time. In order to obtain more users, it is necessary to carry out necessary promotion of the mailing list itself, and also requires considerable marketing resources.

E-mail marketing advancement and retreat

Among the various strategies for implementing email marketing, the most important strategy is to design strategies for entry and exit. Entry and exit strategies don’t have to be too complicated, and simple techniques can make marketing more effective.

Is it a perseverance to keep sending emails to the target customers without any feedback? Is it an arrogance? Email marketing expert Jeanne Jennings questions the validity of this email, which she believes is serious. The problem may lead to complaints caused by spam in the future. “If you are too persistent in email marketing, it’s easy to scare the readers of emails, and even worse, it may increase the risk of users complaining about spam,” she said.

Don’t let spam scare away customers

If the customer who sent your email for a year hasn’t opened or clicked on your emails, isn’t that enough that she or she is not interested in it? Companies that are now engaged in email marketing may be unacceptable, but The fact that has to be faced: Sometimes, users on your mailing list are not necessarily interested in your mail. What’s more, if you send “junk” emails so unscrupulously, waiting for you may be a user complaint!

Therefore, design entry and exit strategies are critical to the email program “Contact Flow.” This strategy may vary from case to case. According to Jeanniey Mullen, director of global email marketing at Ogilvy & Mather, the entry strategy is a confirmation of whether a company’s email messages have been received or not, or whether the exit strategy is clear at what time and in what way, from your email list. Go to the list of some customers.

Design entry and exit strategies

There are a few key questions you need to ask yourself before you develop a strategy for entry and exit.

For the entry strategy:

Is this the first letter he received from your company?

If so, how long does it take to receive the email to the subscription?

If not, how long has it been since I received the last email from your company?

Does the email match the recipient’s priority receiving criteria? Does the contact address come from a larger target group or something else? For example, I subscribed to the email and stated that I was interested in the service, but I received it. The mail is about wireless communication, perhaps because it takes the parameters of my work title as the target.

For the exit strategy:

Do you have a direct mail or telemarketing program for the same group?

When you send an email, does this target group also receive email messages from other companies?

If you temporarily remove them from the list of senders, when can they receive your email again? (If they have received your email before)

What preparations will you prepare for them when they decide to join?

Using entry and exit strategies can bring real benefits to your company, including:

Reduce potential complaints about spam;

Increase the number of email readers by participating in the confirmation;

Increase email feedback through reductions in non-responding members;

Improve the effectiveness of target consumers through personalized information.

Cherish the last chance

Entry and exit strategies need not be too complicated, simple techniques and additional work can make it effective. Unilever’s “Home Care Series” provides an example of a simple entry strategy: the new member receives a statement saying: “We are very excited to know that you have subscribed to our courier information and you can change your parameters at any time. Settings.” Members who have just quit will also receive an email: “You received this email because you previously agreed to Unilever to send you specific information. We hope that you will like the delivery information you receive. You can change your parameter settings at any time.” A simple confirmation of this relationship can greatly gain consumer support.

Because the exit strategy is about removing some people who don’t provide feedback from your directory, you won’t be able to create more opportunities for further development. The easiest exit strategy is to exclude lists from your directory that have sent you many emails but have never been opened or clicked. Many companies send a “last effort” email to give the list of people a last chance.

If for a period of time (for example, 2 months to 12 months, depending on how often the mail is sent), the recipient of the email does not click on the email or the link provided, which may be a hint that the recipient is not interested in it. . If you are not willing to give up, you can send another confirmation to tell them that if you want to continue to receive such information, you need to provide a feedback, otherwise you will stop sending such information to them.

How to correct E-mail marketing

The infamous spam seems to make E-mail marketing a tasteless, Mehta Group said that as long as it is used properly, sending e-mail is still a simple, effective, and low-cost marketing tool. Therefore, following some basic principles in business activities, systematic planning, using email to conduct marketing can also achieve the desired results.

First, the black sheep in the network – spam.

I believe that most netizens have troubles with spam. Spam is like a snow flake filled with everyone’s e-mail, forcing consumers to be helpless. The seemingly spam letters are deleted, which greatly affects the lives of netizens. Work, taking up network resources.

Spam, also known as “unsolicited commercial email,” no one does not hate it. Sending spam over the Internet is not an effective marketing tool. In most cases, such behavior is resentful to consumers, not only does not achieve the purpose of marketing, but damages the company’s image.

Responsible, honest companies rarely use spam to market, which will not only bring potential consumers, but will also shut out potential consumers and greatly damage the company’s image and brand. Personality.

Second, the status of E-mail marketing.

Everyone has already had a preliminary understanding of E-mail marketing. E-mail marketing has gradually been applied in daily business, but due to lack of full understanding of E-mail marketing. Therefore, it has universal blindness, no systemization, and lack of science.

Third, how to properly conduct E-mail marketing.

The existence of spam does not mean that email-based marketing is not available. Mehta said that as long as it is used properly, sending e-mail is still a simple, effective and low-cost marketing tool. Therefore, following some basic principles in business activities, systematic planning, using email to conduct marketing can achieve the desired results.

1. Proper use of licensed E-mail marketing.

E-mail marketing has multiple models, and the effectiveness of licensed E-mail marketing has been proven by practice.

The model “licensed E-mail marketing” analyzed in this paper helps to play the marketing effect of licensed E-mail in actual marketing activities, and avoids the misunderstanding of spam.

(1) According to the existing customer information, sort out the customer’s mail data, and formulate personalized information according to their specific consumption habits, and communicate regularly.

(2) Each e-mail address has hidden opportunities to grasp various opportunities to obtain e-mail addresses. For example, some retailers will use discounts as a condition for exchanging customer e-mail addresses. Set to a potential customer base, send specially crafted information, and stay connected.

(3) Proper use of the license mailing list, make good use of the method of regular mailing: Regularly send a letter to the customer to keep in touch, and the mail can take advantage of the promotion, such as the latest event notice, new goods information, etc. Can use the “internal journal”, “information briefing” and other forms.

(4) Let the customer be the master: fully communicate with the customer, and the customer determines the frequency of the receipt and the type of the letter, which is attributed to the VIP management mode.

(5) Congratulations on mail (personality mail): similar to the customer’s birthday or wedding anniversary, company celebrations, etc., write a letter congratulations. It can also be cleverly included with implied promotional information, but in this case it should be used with caution to prevent counterproductive.

(7) Rewarding outstanding customers: Good customers deserve special privileges, such as gifts, or discounts for early discounts.

2. Some basic principles to be followed in licensing E-mail marketing

Timely reply: When receiving the mail, it is necessary to develop a habit of replying smoothly. Even if “thank you, the letter has been received”, it will have a good communication effect. Usually, mail should reply to the customer within one working day. When it comes to more complicated problems, it takes a while to accurately answer the customer, and we should simply reply and explain the situation. There is really no time to reply, you can use the automatic reply mail method.

Avoid untargeted delivery: Do not send advertisements to a large number of unfamiliar mail addresses in the form of mass-mailing, which not only has little effect, but also becomes spam, which damages the company’s image.

Respect the customer: Do not send multiple letters of the same content to the same mail address. When the other party directly or indirectly refuses to accept the mail, you must never send an advertising letter to the other party. Respect each other, otherwise it is Spaming.

The content should be concise: the customer time is precious, when looking at the mail, it is mostly a matter of time, so the letter should be concise, fully attracting the customer’s interest, and the long and cumbersome will make the customer give up reading your mail. Be sure to check the contents of the mail carefully before sending it. The statement is fluent and there are no typos.

Attach the contact information: the letter must be signed and attached with a phone number, so that consumers do not know how to contact when they need to find someone to help.

The content of the email can be displayed in the text, and the attachment form is not used.

Respect for privacy: You must not forward or sell the sender list and customer background before obtaining the customer’s approval.

Avoid crashes: In promotional activities, promotional channels include media, email, traditional DM, telephone, etc. It is important to coordinate in advance to avoid the same customer repeatedly receiving the same promotional letter.

To admit mistakes: If you can’t immediately respond to a customer’s inquiry or send a wrong letter, you should actively confess the mistake and make you humbly. Can not be used as an excuse to not receive mail, self-defeating, not only can not attract customers to the door, but the customer is turned away.

3. How to write E-mail?

Including two aspects: text and signature

The mial text should be concise, without spelling mistakes. The E-mail program used by others is different from yours. If the E-mail program you use is browser-based, don’t send E-mail in HTML format. The format looks ugly in other E-mail programs, cannot be displayed in the correct way, and is sent in plain text format.

Keep the line length. Don’t let people turn pages from left to right to read your articles, 6070 characters should be the maximum length of each line.

The use of polite language, such as “you”, “please”, “thank you”, “shun”, “shangzheng” and other words, give a blunt computer language to give humanity, often will achieve good results.

When sending bulk emails, be sure to pay attention to the words of the email subject and the content of the email. Many websites’ mail servers set up common spam filtering for filtering spam. If the email subject and email content contain: mass, promotion, money, First, if the word is used, the server will filter out the email. Therefore, when writing the subject and content of the email, you should try to avoid the words and words that you think are suspected of spam.

The correct use of mail signature, the meaning of the signature file, just like the letterhead of the regular letterhead, can clearly identify the identity of the sender, contact methods. It is also an important brand marketing resource, and the design of a well-designed signature document will leave a good impression on the recipient.

How to set the signature correctly?

(1) The signature should be simple and tidy. Do not put special characters. The content should be kept within 5 lines. Generally, it should include: contact, department, company name, contact information, slogan, etc. If the content is too much, it is too long. It is easy to affect the expression of the body of the mail. Don’t put too much company advertising information, it will be counterproductive.

(2) Different mail sending objects can use different signatures, and can be customized according to your specific customers, products and services.

(3) Let your signature email be left instead of centered or right. The reason is that the character size is not the same on different machines. If it is centered or right, the neat layout will become messy.

(4) The distance between the signature file and the body of the email should not be too long. Simply distinguish the two information, usually three lines. The signature and the text should have a “” dividing line directly. Such a dividing line is indispensable. Without it, people would mistakenly think that your signature is part of the body of the email.

(5) Do not use bold symbols like <><><><><><> or $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. The “marketing” who will be deceived by the “fast get rich” signboards, these symbols are almost their identity.

(6) Whether you are creating or changing a signature file, you must first test it. The method is to send yourself an email and look at the effect of the signature file on different computers: Is it within the width of the mail window? Is there a fold? Is the link in the file correct? Is the overall effect feeling good?

Fourth, how to correctly evaluate the effectiveness of E-mail marketing.

By understanding the impact of marketing tools on the target market, it helps to adjust (optimize) marketing strategies and accumulate successful marketing experience.

E-mail marketing is a relatively new field. There is no accurate and effective evaluation system. At present, the evaluation of online advertising results in the use of click-through rate and response rate, but the evaluation of E-mail marketing can not rely solely on click-through rate and The response rate is simple, because E-mail marketing is a long-term process that plays a subtle role. Not only can we achieve the most direct purpose, but also help us stay in close contact with our customers and gradually influence their impression of our products or services.

Email Marketing Golden Rule

Companies that advertise by email face a promising but dangerous road, and any mistakes (such as sending an email to a customer who doesn’t need it) can ruin the company’s reputation overnight. However, if the company is just right for the use of e-mail, it can not only establish contact with customers, but also get excess profits, and the cost is only a small part of the cost of direct mailing.

More and more companies are adopting the email marketing model because email marketing can bring many tangible benefits—the Internet allows marketers to instantly connect with thousands of potential and existing customers.

Studies have shown that 80% of Internet users respond to incoming e-mails within 36 hours, while in direct mail (referred to as direct mail) activities, the average response rate is only 2%. At the same time, compared to other ways of online marketing, e-mail is an undisputed winner, which can be fully reflected by the “click-through rate” indicator. However, there are a few factors to be aware of when sending an email. In order to achieve a higher “click through” rate, or to allow email recipients to respond as quickly as possible, marketers must follow a basic rule of email marketing: obtaining consumer consent.

1. Give the customer a reason to reply. Yang Dini Company has made it possible for online surfers to have a strong desire to read these email advertisements and online advertisements. Innovative direct marketing companies use small games in the form of e-mail, scavenger search to clear and instantly know about winning or losing activities to attract customers. So far, more than 1 million Internet surfers have agreed to read product information from companies such as Sprint, Reader’s Digest and Major League Baseball. ) Companies, etc., the purpose of the user is to compete for products, such as a trip to the Caribbean or a bag of gold.

2. Personalize the content of your email. The network enables companies to personalize the content of emails they send based on their past purchases or partnerships. At the same time, customers are more willing to accept personalized information. Amazon.com’s site wins many loyal customers by sending customers emails and making suggestions to customers who are willing to accept suggestions; IBM’s “focus on your news digests” The site sends the selected information directly to the customer’s email address… Those who agree to receive the newsletter can select all of their content from a list of interested topic profiles.

3. Provide customers with something they can’t get from direct mailings. Direct mailing activities take a lot of time to prepare and implement. Because email marketing is much faster implemented, they can provide some time-sensitive information. For example, a travel site on the network, such as the Travel City, constantly sends customers an email called FareWatchers, which offers last minute cheap tickets; ClubMed site E-mail is used to provide 34,000 customers of their database with discounted vacation plans. If marketers engage in their marketing activities based on all of these rules, they are likely to make email one of the hottest new marketing vehicles. (Philippe Kotler)

E-Mail marketing 16 tricks

Spam email (spam) is as unpopular as flat spam, but the industry is keeping it right, forcing consumers to close their eyes. However, the Meta Group’s research report shows that spam emails are not only not promotional, but will be resentful to consumers.

Volkswagen usually associates spam with untrustworthy companies, and legitimate retailers rarely use it to promote, because the industry knows that it will not attract potential consumers to the door, but will make potential consumers deterred, over time, consumption There is a negative association with spam.

People who travel frequently and travel often hate spam. These people often have to use the hotel network to check emails. The hotel’s network is slow, and it is billed in seconds. There is more to pay for spam. For most netizens, when you encounter spam, delete it first. For businesses, spam is not only annoying, it also affects the company’s email system and reduces employee productivity. What’s more, after receiving spam, an angry employee can also sue the company for sexual harassment. Therefore, the company must take action to prevent spam from entering the company’s mail server, in addition to protecting itself, it also protects employees. Although the anti-spam organization strongly urges Internet service providers (ISPs) such as AOL to work hard to resist, the spammers can change the address and company name at any time, and then re-attack after a period of time, so the banning effect is not Zhang.

The Meta Group’s research found that when a decent retailer sends an email promotion, the following principles are followed:

Avoid indiscriminate delivery: If the consumer or potential customer has directly or indirectly indicated the intention of rejecting the email, the operator must respect it, otherwise it is Spamming.

Find out why the letter was returned: About 5-30 emails will be returned, due to incorrect address, router or gateway crash.

Find out why the letter was returned and improve it: Correct the wrong address in the recipient’s list. If the router or gate is down, the letter will have to be resent.

Classify the list of recipients: categorize them according to their interests and provide promotional messages that vary from person to person.

Quick Reply: At least 24 hours to respond to customer inquiries, and complex issues such as insurance policies may require more time to prepare, but at least immediately notify the customer that they have received a letter.

The content has to be said: the customer’s time is precious, so the letter has something to say, so that the customer feels that there is no white sigh after reading.

Attach a phone call: Before you send the letter, you must ask someone to look over it and attach a phone number so that consumers don’t know how to contact when they need someone to help.

Take advantage of the opportunity to get an email address: every email address has a hidden opportunity, so you have to be sure to get it when you have a chance. Some retailers will use a 10% discount as a condition for exchanging customer email addresses.

Make good use of the opportunity to send letters on a regular basis: the industry will send letters to customers to keep in touch, and don’t forget to take advantage of the promotion in the letter, such as the latest event notice, new information.

Investigate customer preferences: Use focus groups, online sample surveys, and store questionnaires to investigate what information customers like to receive via email.

Avoid stacking houses: If the promotion channels include media, email, traditional DM, telephone, etc., it is necessary to coordinate in advance to avoid the same customer repeatedly receiving the same promotional materials.

Let the customer be the master: the frequency of the customer’s receipt and the type of letter.

Respect for privacy: Before winning the customer’s approval, you must not resell or rent the recipient list and customer background.

Add human touch: If you encounter a customer’s birthday or wedding anniversary, don’t forget to make some expressions, such as a discount coupon, etc., so that customers can feel at ease.

Rewarding good customers: Good customers deserve special privileges, such as giving gifts and giving them early discounts.

To admit mistakes: If you can’t immediately respond to a customer’s inquiry or send a wrong letter, you should be honest with the mistakes.

In short, retailers must properly manage online marketing and send different emails to different customers. Spam may be a means of reaching out to customers without spending a lot of money, but it may also be self-defeating, not only unable to attract customers, but to push customers out to opponents.

Email Marketing Success Principles and Misunderstandings

★SMEs: the success rules and misunderstanding of Email marketing

Companies that advertise by email face a promising but dangerous road, and any mistakes (such as sending an email to a customer who doesn’t need it) can ruin the company’s reputation overnight. However, if the company is just right for the use of e-mail, it can not only establish contact with customers, but also get excess profits, and the cost is only a small part of the cost of direct mailing.

More and more companies are adopting the email marketing model because email marketing can bring many tangible benefits – the Internet allows marketers to instantly connect with thousands of potential and existing customers. Studies have shown that 80% of Internet users respond to incoming e-mails within 36 hours, while in direct mail (referred to as direct mail) activities, the average response rate is only 2%. At the same time, compared to other ways of online marketing, e-mail is an undisputed winner, which can be fully reflected by the “click-through rate” indicator. Whenever a user connects to the company’s home page or sales site, a click occurs—whether they are viewing a site’s window ad or sending an email. The “click-through rate” of banner ads has dropped below 1%, and the “click-through rate” of emails has reached 80%; one more is the cost, the cost of paper, printing, and mailing is very expensive, and one year is more than More expensive a year (Microsoft spends an average of $70 million a year on direct mail), and now Microsoft sends 20 million emails a month, but it costs far less than direct mail.

However, there are a few factors to be aware of when sending an email. In order to achieve a high “click through” rate, or in order for email recipients to respond as quickly as possible, marketers must follow a basic rule of email marketing: obtaining consumer consent. For example, as a pioneer in direct marketing on the web, Seth Godin, the president of Yoyodyne (acquired by Yahoo!), even proposed marketing based on customer permission. Permission-based Marketing. Godin believes that consumers are tired of marketing ads that they don’t want. By using the human-machine dialogue function of the Internet, consumers are allowed to decide what kind of e-mail they need, and using marketing based on consumer permission will benefit it. Godin compares “marketing based on consumer licenses” to dating: if the company performs well in its first contact with consumers, it will increase consumer trust in the company and motivate them Accept the various services provided by the company in the future.

In its email marketing, Iomega has successfully leveraged a marketing approach based on “consumer licensing,” which sells computer peripheral storage devices (such as Zip drives). Amiga has launched several email marketing campaigns, each starting on a registered customer basis. From its selection list, Emiga only sends emails to customers who allow Emiga to send e-mails to them. By focusing on those customers who are willing to receive these emails, companies can avoid being rejected on the Internet and increase their chances of receiving responses or increasing their sales.

Since consumers are angry at receiving a lot of spam, they always delete them into the trash. These angry consumers may even counterattack online, they simply send an email to his friends, give the company a list of everyone, or give users on other Web sites, or It was to build their own Web site to oppose the company, so an angry consumer could almost immediately discredit the offending company. For this reason, companies that use e-mail for marketing not only let users who are willing to “come in” “enter”, but also let them “go out” each time they want to “go out.”

Here are some other important guidelines that pioneers in email marketers follow.

1. Give the customer a reason to reply.

Yang Dini Company has made it possible for online surfers to have a strong desire to read these email advertisements and online advertisements. Innovative direct marketing companies use small games in the form of e-mail, scavenger search to clear and instantly know about winning or losing activities to attract customers. The purpose of the user is to compete for products, such as a trip to the Caribbean or a bag of gold.

2. Personalize the content of your email.

The network enables companies to personalize the content of emails they send based on their past purchases or partnerships. At the same time, customers are more willing to accept personalized information. Amazon.com’s site wins many loyal customers by sending customers emails and making suggestions to customers who are willing to accept suggestions; IBM’s “focus on your news digests” The site sends the selected information directly to the customer’s email address… Those who agree to receive the newsletter can select all of their content from a list of interested topic profiles.

3. Provide the customer with something he can’t get from direct mailing.

Direct mailing activities take a lot of time to prepare and implement. Because email marketing is much faster implemented, they can provide some time-sensitive information. For example, a travel site on the network, such as Travelocity, constantly sends customers an email called Fare Watchers, which provides last minute cheap tickets.

If marketers engage in their marketing activities based on all of these rules, they are likely to make email one of the hottest new marketing vehicles.

Misunderstanding of E-mail marketing

Although you have hundreds of thousands of corporate email addresses, you will find it really a valuable resource, but after using it, you will find that it costs a lot of money. In fact, the outgoing emails are like a sea of ​​water. No audio. Here, we do not deny the authenticity of the resources of these websites, but from this we can see some misunderstandings in the E-mail vendor and user E-mail marketing:

As a supplier that provides e-mail addresses to a wide range of enterprises, their work is only the beginning. I have seen so many e-mail resources on many websites. In fact, they only use some things like search engines to collect them from the Internet. of. Such an address is naturally scaled in terms of quantity. However, it is very easy to build a website at present. Large companies, small companies, and even some leather bags companies have websites, and the e-mail addresses usually reserved on the Internet are usually companies. The alternate address, these companies do not use the Internet as a tool that is used every day. Therefore, the authenticity and effectiveness of these addresses are greatly reduced. On the other hand, these E-mail addresses do not even have a company name. How can the user be targeted for marketing? It is like the real estate has been issued for half a day. The original mailboxes are all in the food and beverage industry; there are also some industries. But the same is not the same, sent a bunch of out, people look at it has nothing to do with their own, click on it to delete, and how to market.

As a user, E-mail marketing is just a means of disseminating information, but it is unrealistic to rely on full E-mail marketing to obtain a large number of customers, and many customers believe that E-mail marketing can bring solutions. A lot of problems, in fact, are not as good as they are. There are several reasons for this. On the one hand, the subject matter of the mail sent by the user is not prominent, and it is arrogant without any creativity. Today, when the virus continues to flood, the party receiving the mail often thinks it is a virus and deletes it. On the other hand, the mail sent is not user-friendly, it does not make the customer feel close to him, and the customer’s relevant personnel do not have much time to stay on the Internet, so how to write a simple and simple Attractive email titles and content are important to improve the effectiveness of E-mail marketing.

To improve the effectiveness and strength of E-mail marketing, as a supplier of E-mail, it is required to collect information in a comprehensive manner. It is best to have the name of the company, relevant contacts, and telephones. It can be more targeted and user-friendly. As a user, when you send an e-mail, you need to conduct a comprehensive study. Before you send it, you need to filter it. You should double-click it, send an e-mail, and find the phone. Perform rapid tracking so that the success rate will increase.

In short, E-mail marketing is like using the yellow pages of the phone. It is not that the yellow pages of the phone are not used, but the information is incomplete and the information is inaccurate. As the “yellow page” of the Internet era, the e-mail library needs to be taken seriously. In order to make E-mail really effective.

The biggest obstacle to email marketing

★ bounce letter: the biggest obstacle to email marketing

If you run a mailing list and send emails frequently, you must be impressed with the rising rate of email bounce rates. According to the recently published “Email Trends Report” by professional online advertising company DoubleClick, the bounce rate of mailing lists has increased every quarter since the third quarter of 2001, and has risen to 12.6% in the third quarter of 2002. history record. According to DoubleClick, the main reason for the increase in e-mail bounce rate is that too many e-mails are sent at the same time, email service providers have reduced mailbox capacity, and economic conditions have caused people to change jobs and change mailboxes.

If the bounce rate is only a 12.6% “record”, it may not be a big surprise, but in fact, the domestic mailing list may have a higher bounce rate than the DoubleClick survey, and the reason for the bounce is not so simple. . We have counted the bounce status of the “New Online Weekly Marketing Electronic Weekly” (http://www.marketingman.net/ezine/content.htm), and found that due to the mailing list of the mail service providers, users Due to the abandonment of the original mailbox, free e-mail termination service, etc., the mailing list bounce rate is rising, from 5% at the end of 1999 to 20% in 2000, and the return rate of the mailing list at the end of 2001 was 35%. At the end of March, it has reached 43.9%. In addition, according to the author’s understanding of the professional field of Email marketing, some service providers have experienced a higher rate of mail bounce rate than these figures, which is close to or even more than 60%!

The premise of licensing email marketing is to have user resources, which usually requires a long process of accumulation. It is the biggest challenge for email marketing success. Now the rising bounce rate has become the biggest problem affecting email marketing: even if it has a large number of The user’s email address resource still can’t “deliver the right information to the right person at the right time in the right way.” In the face of email marketing information transmission barriers, what countermeasures should be taken? Let’s take a look at DoubleClick’s recommendations.

In the Email Trends Report, DoubleClick has proposed nine strategies to reduce email bounces:

Try to avoid the wrong email address: When the user joins the mailing list, please repeat the email address, just like the password confirmation when the user registers.

Improved data registration method: It is mainly suitable for manually recording the user’s email address by telephone, and performing necessary training for the staff.

Send confirmation: The way to confirm the user can join the list.

Encourage users to update their email address: For returned email addresses, when the user returns to the website, remind them to confirm the correct email address, or make a representation of the wrong email address to request the user to update.

Allow registered users to easily change their email address: It is normal for the user’s email address to change. How to make the user update their registration information easily after the change, will get more corresponding.

Keep the list information accurate: Analyze and judge the mailing list address, and clear the mail with invalid user name or domain name format.

Take advantage of the professional services that keep in touch with email address changes.

Have a correct understanding of the process of returning the mail: the bounce letter has a hard bounce and a soft bounce, and take corresponding countermeasures for different situations.

Repair the invalid email address as much as possible: If the user registration information has other contact information such as postal address, you may contact the user by other contact methods to request him to update the email address.

Among the nine strategies for DoubleClick to reduce email bounce, DoubleClick actually reflects three issues: improving the accuracy of the user’s email address, understanding the reasons for the mailing list’s bounce, and taking appropriate countermeasures to effectively manage the mailing list. In the actual operation of Email marketing, each aspect contains many specific problems, and most of the problems have corresponding solutions, we will continue to explore in the future.

The status problem of email marketing service market

It is difficult to find professional service providers through conventional means such as search engines. There are six reasons for this situation: the lack of a strong service provider brand, the lack of smooth supply and demand information in the email marketing service market, the low level of service productization and standardization, the limited service level of service providers, and the lack of sales channel construction. Spam problem. Email marketing is one of the important contents of online marketing services, but in the 177 network marketing service providers surveyed, there are not only “service providers” who sell email addresses and spam advertisements. One is a professional email marketing service provider in the true sense, so that companies will not be able to find professional service providers through search engines. In fact, it is not only difficult to find a professional email marketing service provider in the website directory, but also in other search engines and categories. Why is this happening? Is there a real email marketing service provider, or is there a real market for professional email services? According to the research, there are mainly the following reasons for this situation.

(1) Lack of a strong service provider brand. If you ask which websites are better for online advertising, many people will think of the three major portals at once, but if you want to ask email providers to prefer the service provider, it may be difficult to answer. In fact, it is not a lack of service providers, but a strong brand. Some professional service providers who have been engaged in professional services for more than 6 years have been engaged in professional service email services. However, due to marketing strategy issues, they are not known to most companies, and even others. Network marketing service providers are also not well known.

(2) The information on supply and demand in the email marketing service market is not smooth. Like many emerging industries, the information of buyers and sellers in the early stage of the market is not smooth, which brings certain difficulties to communication. Email marketing services are no exception. Which companies need email marketing services? How to convince these companies to use email advertising as a means of online marketing? Problems like this have caused some professional service providers to be upset. On the other hand, some companies that want to benefit from email marketing are faced with the problem of how to choose a professional service provider. Sometimes they can’t even find a suitable service provider because the general advertising agency does not have such a business, even some network marketing service providers. No email marketing service. In addition, the lack of sufficient information for the number of valid users of mail advertisements, charging standards, performance measurement, etc., is also the main reason why advertisers finally give up the choice of email advertisements.

(3) The degree of productization and standardization of services is low. Our survey results show that the search engine services and 3721 network real names of the three major domestic portal websites have become the main business represented by many network marketing service providers. The key point is that these services have formed a relatively standardized pricing model and sales method. Therefore, online sales can be easily realized. However, email marketing has great differences in the content and quality of services provided by different service providers, and it is difficult to form a fixed price system. Therefore, it is very difficult for other service providers to sell agents.

(4) The service level of the service provider is limited. Although there are quite a few network service providers with standardized mailing lists (the mailing list is the user’s voluntary registration information), there are not many companies that can really use these materials to carry out the email service. Some service providers send email advertisements for advertisers. It seems that there is no difference between spam and mail, so that users can get the effect of regular email service, but get the effect of spam.

(5) The construction of sales channels is relatively lacking. Although in theory, many online marketing services can be realized online, due to the limited understanding of online marketing services, the professionalism and service level of service providers themselves are different. In many cases, face-to-face services are required. At this stage. Online marketing services are still inseparable from localization, so it is very difficult to promote email marketing services without establishing sales channels in the traditional sense.

(6) Spam problem. Spam has a very serious impact on formal email marketing. Many service providers who claim to provide “Email Marketing” are actually sending spam. This situation not only makes the company misunderstand Email marketing, but also corrupts the formal Email marketing service. Reputation, some companies often try to collect or purchase e-mail addresses to send spam, or be deceived by some spammers, the results can not get the expected return, and even suffer losses. In this environment, the truly standardized email marketing service may also be covered by spam, so it is also reasonable for the service provider to promote their brand kimono.

Gmail marketing success

In the United States, many people are willing to exchange Gmail mailboxes in various ways, including luxury travel, taking a ride by car, even someone in the chat room using “a person with Gmailinxition” as a user Name to advertise yourself.

Gmail Mailbox is Google’s free email address. Although it’s free, it’s not easy to get it. It can’t be applied through layers. The artificial shortage has created the tightness of Gmail mailboxes. The artificial shortage refers to the means by which producers or sellers use limited production or limited sales. The shortage of man-made manufacturing is aimed at stimulating the desire of consumers to use the rare value law. Western economists summed it up as “utility theory,” which we call “hungry marketing.” Utility refers to the pride and satisfaction that consumers receive from the products and services they purchase. This is different from the use value of an item, which is an attribute inherent to an item and is determined by its physical or chemical properties. The utility is the pride and satisfaction of consumers. It is a psychological concept and subjective.

Man-made manufacturing shortages require a certain amount of risk. The premise of hunger is that the product has no alternative products from a certain point of view, which needs to be created.

Nobel laureate in economics and American economist P. Samuelson has a famous “happiness formula”: happiness = satisfaction / desire, which reveals another rule of hunger marketing – appetite. As a result, viral marketing was triggered.

Viral marketing is to launch a marketing strategy like infectious diseases for consumers, so that consumers can be infected quickly and extensively without drugs, thus winning the popularity of large-scale and large-scale products.

The target consumer of Gmail is a network of activists who have a strong desire for new things and have certain channels. Through these activists, the merchants spread a large amount of relevant content such as “recommended registration” to susceptible people, and thus formed a wide range of interpersonal communication, and they did not have to spend a single pawn, but the market was extremely hot.

Successfully using hunger marketing and viral marketing, Gmail has come to the forefront in the highly competitive free mail market, which has taken the lead in the market.

Gmail better solves the following aspects: providing unique products or services, subtly communicating information to others, and leveraging the enthusiasm and behavior of “opinion leaders”. Consumers’ selective attention, selective understanding, and selective memory are more critical than ever, but for “opinion leaders,” these are negligible. The so-called opinion leader is a person who is active in the interpersonal communication network, often provides information, opinions or suggestions to others, and exerts personal influence on others. As a relay and filtering link of media information and influence, it has an important impact on the mass communication effect. Once the opinion leader accepts the information, he will actively spread to the people around him. This kind of enthusiasm and behavior is spontaneous and the most easily believed. Gmail uses this enthusiasm to spread sales information and influence the target market.

Gmail’s marketing success is innovative, it achieves the marketing purpose of how to let consumers buy its products, rather than how to sell products to consumers; it is worthwhile for companies to learn from the combination of network resources and modern marketing.