A General Overview of Email Marketing

Submitted by: Dan Pierce48

The newest way of advertising is email marketing which is fast and inexpensive. But there are many things you ought to know about this. Read on.

Email marketing is a method of direct marketing using electronic mail as the medium of communication of a fundraising or commercial message to a selected group of people. Broadly speaking, every email that is sent to a customer, current or potential, can be referred to as email marketing. But email marketing usually means sending an email with the intention of encouraging customer loyalty and for continuing the business, for gaining new customers, convincing older customers for a purchase and for the addition of advertisements that other companies wish to send to the customers.

There are many reasons why companies prefer to market through email. Firstly, mailing lists enable the distribution of information to a number of people at a much lower cost and it is relatively inexpensive when compared to printed newsletters or direct mail. At least half the people who use the internet send or check mail on any given day and it is also instant as an email takes only a few seconds to arrive. Moreover, related messages can be sent by specific interaction of messages. And of course, email is paper-free.

The biggest drawback to email marketing is spam. There are many companies that email unsolicited bulk mail in the name of legitimate marketing. As a result people are not able to distinguish between a legitimate commercial email and a spam mail and often delete these emails thinking it is spam. Moreover, because of the sheer volume of spam mail circling the internet, there is a requirement for spam filters which more often than not, filter even genuine commercial mail and delete it as spam.

Companies that want to advertise through email marketing must make sure that they comply with spam laws. But despite some companies following the laws, they get blacklisted because the internet administrators find that they are sending spam.

For all these reasons, the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 was passed where each marketer who wants to market through email should use software which complies with the act. According to the act they must furnish details like a return address, a physical address and allow for options like one-click unsubscribe etc.

To overcome the disadvantages of email marketing, many companies have started permission marketing commonly known as opt-in email. Opt-in email means that the advertisement is sent after the consent of the recipient, for example, when a firm sends its customers a newsletter regarding new products and upcoming events. Here the customers have already consented to receive the newsletter at the time of purchase.

In order to make opt-in form of marketing easier, email marketing software was developed. This is a computer application that allows for bulk sending of email to target recipients. This software helps in sending promotional materials and newsletters to a number of subscribers. But very often this software is also used to send spam.

This software is extremely useful in importing customer lists, tracking when a particular advertisement has been opened and for automatic unsubscribe and handling of bounce backs. Moreover, this software makes business advertisements look more professional.