We have all heard about email marketing. Some would say that it has eclipsed telemarketing. Yet, it has survived because it still holds value. Like other marketing tools, email marketing targets a specific audience. It creates excitement for new products, services or sales in the form of a personalized “commercial.” These emails are crafted to gain attention through content and design as well as a call to action. That’s the easy part. The hard part is keeping the attention of the customer long enough to read the entire email. If you are new to email marketing, it can be overwhelming because there are several types. Here are the top six types of email marketing.
- Welcome Email — This is the first email sent to the customer after confirming the email address and/or purchase. It is the most read type of email because the customer wants to see what you have to say as well as how the email is constructed. The main goal of the welcome email is to clearly define your brand. This is accomplished by telling the brand’s story as well as teasing about future sales and products.
- Tutorials and Tips Email — To make a company’s email worth a customer’s time is to provide valuable information via tutorials and tips. This sends the message that you care about your customer and want to ensure they can get the most out of the product or service. Customers will associate what they have learned with your brand. With tutorials, it’s best to create installments to ensure the customer will look forward to the next email.
- Brand Email — Like the Welcome Email, this one also talks about the brand. Yet, it is the story behind the brand. People love to hear about the inspiration for a product as well as how it was made and business decisions. It can put your product or service in a positive light.
- Time Sensitive Email — This email is created to generate a sense of urgency due to a sale or product issue. The deadline is clearly stated in the subject line of the email to ensure the recipient will open it as well as read it.
- Re-engagement Email — When a customer has stopped using your product (or service), this is the email that is sent out. It usually has the words “miss you” and “come back” in the subject line. The purpose is to win back customers or get them interested in your company again. Another way to win back a customer is to offer a discount. The discount is clearly stated in the subject line along with the deadline.
- Follow-up Email — If your customer has to wait to receive the product or service (e.g a real estate loan), you can send him or her this type of email in the meantime. It’s a great opportunity to not only recap what the customer purchased but to provide order updates and customer support information. Don’t forget to end the email with a tease of future promotions!
It is interesting to see which type of email works better than others. The bottom line is email marketing is utilized to create relationships, in which the focus is on long term. No matter what your product or service, email marketing provides measurable results and should be added to your marketing tool kit.