What is Email Marketing?
When talking about email marketing, what comes to mind to so many individuals are the various hindrances that may be encountered in the future. However, like all strategies, there are setbacks and consequences to be had in the way of notable progress in a marketing campaign.
Email marketing is the use of the electronic mail or email facility in order to reach a wide range of potential customers or readers when offering products and services. Simply put, it is marketing via email. Email marketing also has the potential of becoming very much relevant inasmuch as it has been known to respond to reader queries and provide them the information they need.
Email marketing, of course, does not go off without any negative perception from society. Many individuals see themselves as greatly inconvenienced by email marketing, which is at times classified as spam. However, it has come a long way since the early days of a complete and absolute negative stigma of email marketing; now people have the right to choose what they find useful and suitable content arriving into their inboxes.
An alternate definition of email marketing, however, is when a company continues to foster communication with existing clients in order to enhance the service being offered and the relationship in existence. These are all done with the intent of gaining customer loyalty and patronage.
Email marketing, in either definitional paradigms, aims for the end of loyalty and patronage. If email marketing were to be used on potential clients, the role that the strategy has to play is that of trying to transform readers into real clients. The same idea holds true for existing clients. If existing clients were to receive continuous check-ups and evaluation of the service offered, the perception of forwarding the satisfaction of the customers would be made even clearer.
However, with email marketing, it is important to know what rights and limitations are in existence. In the United States of America, different states revolt. Others would legislate against email marketing (which is considered spam); others would not.
The legality of receiving an article of email marketing is unquestioned when the customer being serviced is that with which the company has had previous transactions with. A pre-existing business relationship may vary, but it may very well be someone from whom the company has previously requested information from, or someone who has bought or acquired the services of the company. This implies a level of consent that must be present in all the emails that will be used in email marketing campaigns.
Because of these various reasons, there are imperative steps that must be taken by a party wishing to take part in any email marketing pitch.
Integrity of Content—Legislation against email marketing, and marketing general, are in fact in place because prior period saw how abuses abounded. Therefore, it is imperative that of some of the things considered in an email marketing campaign is that of integrity of content. This would mean the inclusion of the senders’ complete and accurate information.
Clarity of Consent—It is imperative that companies make sure that the persons they are sending emails to are those they’ve had previous transactions with, and are in good standing with each of them. There is a necessity to keep close track to each and every email address being added to the list of clients because similarly, it would be easy to duly evaluate consent in each and every scenario.
Aggressiveness of Content—While companies may want to carry on with their aggressive marketing strategies, their interests must be balanced with the rights of individuals against marketing strategies that are far too aggressive and neglect their rights and wishes. At the end of the day, companies should use subject lines that reflect content, use a valid address, and make arrangements for the recipients to opt out of the service or from receiving future notices and marketing pitches.
At the end of the day, email marketing works because of its low-cost and its far-reaching capacities. However, because there are no singular restrictions as to how it may be used without going to the extent of the legal borderline behavior, companies that wish to use it in its full potency must in return expect a degree of compromise to be made—compromises that will not endanger the company, but may, in the long run, help build a healthy corporate image.