Email marketing is still one of the most viable digital marketing strategies to employ to date. It has the highest ROI of all the digital marketing methods. There are several types of email marketing such as bulk email marketing, B2B email marketing, B2C email marketing, and direct email marketing.
Direct email marketing focuses on sending standalone advertisements to specific recipients. These emails may be in text, rich media, or HTML format.
Sometimes, they resemble web-based ads instead of traditional email messages. Is direct email marketing effective?
How much does direct email marketing cost? Continue reading this post to find out the answers to these questions and several others.
What is a Direct Email Marketing?
Before we answer all the other questions, this one seems the most important. Direct email marketing is a type of email marketing where you send your emails to prospects directly.
These emails are mostly to advertise products and services as well as to improve your relationship with existing customers.
Several elements differentiate direct email marketing from less sophisticated email campaigns or spam emails.
You can make use of the customer segmentation feature on your email marketing platform. Another technique is to personalize each email by addressing the recipient on a first-name basis.
Below are some of the main goals of direct email marketing:
- Establishing new relationships with prospects.
- Improving relationships with existing customers.
- Tracking product or service success.
- Monitoring customer feedback.
- Optimize email marketing strategies.
- Increase customer loyalty and brand awareness.
Is Direct Email Marketing Effective?
This is another question that this post seeks to answer. Many digital marketing experts are beginning to lose faith in email marketing because of the rise of social media.
However, we must understand that the only hindrance to the effectiveness of direct email marketing is the employment of poor strategies.
Several other factors may contribute to the ineffectiveness of your email marketing campaigns. For example, not having sufficient information about the recipients affects the quality of your emails. This may result in your emails landing in their spam folders instead of their inboxes.
Another mistake that can affect the effectiveness of your emails is sending too many emails. Doing this may lead to most of your recipients unsubscribing from your list.
This affects your reputation and increases your chances of landing in spam folders. You need to be strategic with sending direct emails to get the best results. Here are some communication strategies to consider:
- Loyalty: This campaign focuses on retaining customers to improving sales.
- Commercial: Announces new products or services, and sometimes, promotions to increase customer impulsive behavior.
- Location: Informs prospects and existing customers of the address of a physical store.
- Informational: Provide clients with helpful information.
Employing these communication strategies will ensure that your direct email marketing campaigns are more effective.
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Direct Email Marketing Strategy
Research shows that there will be more than 4.2 billion users of email platforms at the end of 2022. This means that email marketing campaigns will flourish now more than ever.
To get the best results from your email marketing, you need to employ the right direct email marketing strategy. Here are a few for you to choose from:
Get personal
Email personalization is one of the best tactics in email marketing. Personalized emails have about 29% open rates.
This is far higher than non-personalized emails. Customers are more likely to patronize your brand if you use personalized emails.
Getting personal has loads of benefits but you must know where to draw the line. Don’t overuse names as it may become weird, even for customers that are familiar with your brand.
You also need to gather as much information about your recipients as possible to improve email personalization.
Choose the right time to send emails
The success rate of your direct emails largely depends on timing. You should choose your sending time wisely if you seek a higher click-through rate.
Also, you must realize that your loyal customers may want to spend some time engaging with your emails. Sending the emails at the wrong time means they cannot.
The challenge with sending times is that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all time. You need to figure out the best time for each recipient.
This is where choosing the right direct email marketing company comes in handy. The best platforms come with a time optimization feature.
Use less-ambiguous subject lines
One of the keys to having a higher open rate is using shorter subject lines. Your subject lines are very important to your campaigns so you must be mindful of the content.
Experts believe that using the right content is important, but the number of characters also matters. Work with subject lines having between 6 – 10 words for the best results.
Best Direct Email Companies
There are so many direct email companies out there promising heaven and earth. You need to find the one that best suits your business for the best results. Here are three of our best based on different important factors:
Mailchimp – Best overall direct email company
Mailchimp is regarded by many email marketing specialists as the best email marketing service right now.
The reason is that it comes with an array of features that suits the needs of different businesses. You can use it to send direct emails, bulk emails, and get analytics. Below are the pros and cons of Mailchimp.
Pros
- Integrates with several hundred platforms.
- Easy access to analytics.
- Drag-and-drop feature for easy creation and customizing of emails.
Cons
- Limited phone support.
- Doesn’t work well for advanced marketing teams.
ActiveCampaign – Best for automation
If you are after email automation, then ActiveCampaign fits the bill perfectly. This platform presents you with hundreds of inbuilt automation to personalize campaigns for every subscriber. You can also access guides to help with setting up your emails on the platform.
Pros
- Top-notch automation features to simplify customer interaction.
- Over 850 integrations with popular software.
- Free CRM with sales automation.
Cons
- Difficult learning curve.
- Price increases with a higher number of contacts.
Moosend – Best affordable direct email company
Moosend is our most affordable option. The paid plans are far more affordable than what is obtainable from the other companies. It also offers the option of paying for either the number of emails or the number of subscribers.
Pros
- User-friendly interface.
- Lowest plan costs.
- Easily customizable templates.
Cons
- Limited integrations.
- Doesn’t send emails from Hotmail or Gmail.
The Key to Effective Direct Email Marketing -Conclusion
That’s it for direct email marketing. The key to effective direct email marketing is to plan thoroughly before embarking on it. Or hire the services of an email marketing specialist.
Do you have any questions? Feel free to drop them in the comments section. Remember, email marketing is still the most viable digital marketing option out there.
Employ the strategies in this post and your direct email marketing becomes more effective.