Email marketing

E-mail marketing

Table of content

1.        Introduction        3

2.        What is e-mail marketing ?        4

2.1.        Definition of e-mail marketing         4

2.2.        Advantages and disadvantages of e-mail marketing         4

3.        How to run an e-mail marketing campaign ?        7

3.1.        E-mail marketing blueprint         7

3.2.        Analyzing our campaign         10

4.        Conclusion        11

5.        Reference list        11

6.        Affidavit        12

1. Introduction

It is a long time ago when the Internet was reserved for an elite. Today, it is clear that the Internet has taken a predominant place in our daily lives. Both from the point of view of Internet users and companies, everyone has become aware of the impact of the web in our society. In 10 years, the number of Internet users has gone from 1 024 millions to 3 174 million in 2015 (figure 1). And it's not over, because the numbers keep going up !

Faced with these changes in the Internet space, companies have understood that a presence on the web was reaching out to them and becoming unavoidable. The means of communication have evolved, and communicators ask themselves many questions in order to plan their presence on the web.

In addition, the Internet has changed the interactions between businesses and customers, now more numerous, but also between customers. A lot trust blogs, comments and other consumer reviews, even anonymous ones, rather than messages delivered by companies themselves. A brand becomes what people say on the Internet. We are indeed witnessing a "takeover by consumers" and therefore a loss of control by companies, but not everything is lost for them.

Indeed, on the Internet, companies can listen to discussions, observe trends, analyze reactions to the launch of a new product, follow the online paths of their target, thanks to the famous cookies. Thus, they accumulate useful data subject here again to possessing the necessary skills... or knowing how to find them outside. The Internet is also an ideal channel for providing value-added content (photos, videos, news, games, tutorials) and services. All things that enhance a brand, and allow it to better know its customers.

There are many ways for a company to communicate on Internet as we saw throughout our digital marketing classes, but in this paper we will focus on e-mail marketing and how it can help a company.

How can e-mail marketing help a company in its digital communication ?

After explaining what really is e-mail marketing and the different types of e-mails, we will create a blue print on how to run a successful e-mail campaign. In a third part we will learn how to analyze our campaign and see its effectiveness.

1. What is e-mail marketing ?

1. Definition of e-mail marketing

Before we start talking about e-mail marketing, we must define it : According to what I learned, email marketing is a means of mass communication whose purpose is to promote a product, service or brand by email to contacts (customers, prospects, ambassadors, partners...) of a company.

We can define two types of emailing that can easily be mixed up : the newsletter and the commercial email. So what are the differences between these two types ?

The newsletter is a form of emailing that gives recipients relevant information on a range of topics related to the issuing company and its sector, all without pushing to sell head-on. The newsletter is rather built around:

• Blog articles ;
• Customer testimonials ;
• Tutorials ;
• Invitations to events.

The objectives of the newsletter are to increase traffic and awareness of the company's website, to encourage the reader to develop his thinking around themes related to the goods and services sold by the company, and to create a close relationship with him.

For commercial emails, the main goal is direct sales. An emailing whose objective is the direct sale will use openly advertising techniques to convince the reader to place an order. Thus, direct sales emailing usually contains a promotional offer, information about a particular product or product range, and calls to action (buttons "I buy the product!", "buy now" etc.). This type of emailing is generally called "commercial emailing".

1. Advantages and disadvantages of e-mail marketing

According to Fariborzi and Zahedifard, the main benefits of e-mail marketing are easy recover of investment, easily measurable, simple (fast and efficient) :

Compared to other means of communication, the main advantage of emailing is its cost. Indeed when you have a large database of customers or prospects, you imagine the cost if you had to send messages by direct post mail ! Between buying envelopes, printing and receiving letters, postage, and the time it takes to send to recipients, you will have to spend a lot of money on a single mailing. Therefore, as you usually plan several campaigns per year or even per month, the use of this support is unthinkable. Emailing is therefore the most affordable solution, whatever the type of company.

The reduced cost is not the only significant advantage that the emailing solution has. The ease of implementation is a strong element in the use of this support. No need to call on a large number of people to send a message to your customers. Whether it is for paper mailing, a TV video communication campaign or billboard advertising, you would have to multiply exchanges with creative people, agencies, printers, editors, control rooms, the integrators and so on. Sending an emailing takes much less time and offers you much more flexibility. With existing solutions today, you can manage your campaigns alone, or just with the help of a graphic designer integrator. Between drag and drop and integrated image banks, you are autonomous and agile.

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