Direct marketing has become essential for companies. Indeed, thanks to the Internet, it is possible to quickly and inexpensively target prospects and inform them about new products or offers. A comprehensive marketing strategy must therefore include some consideration of the scope and success of direct marketing.
However, online marketing is booming and many customers are bombarded with advertisements. If you do not stand out with your emailing, then your emails may be classified directly in the recipient’s “spam” folder. To avoid this, it is important to pay attention to a number of basic rules.
Direct marketing has become essential for companies. Indeed, thanks to the Internet, it is possible to quickly and inexpensively target prospects and inform them about new products or offers. A comprehensive marketing strategy must therefore include some consideration of the scope and success of direct marketing.
However, online marketing is booming and many customers are bombarded with advertisements. If you do not stand out with your emailing, then your emails may be classified directly in the recipient’s “spam” folder. To avoid this, it is important to pay attention to a number of basic rules.
What is emailing?
Emailing refers to the irregular sending of emails to several (potential) customers. The goal of each company is to get in touch with prospects, arouse their interest through banner ads, convert them into customers, or retain them.
There are several types of email marketing: we find, among others, welcome emails when registration is finalized, regular newsletters with an overview of the company’s products or news, as well as marketing emails. unique on new products or current promotional offers.
A successful emailing in 8 steps
Thinking of launching a promotional offer to say goodbye to winter? Or have you developed a new product that you want to present to your customers quickly? The Internet offers you many possibilities. However, your competitors also use this medium. Successful emailing requires preparation, creativity, and above all, a structured plan. A small mistake, no matter how small, such as a bad redirect link or the subject of your email that looks like spam, can send your email directly to the recipient’s bin, even before it has been read. We have therefore listed the important points to follow to ensure the success of your direct marketing.
Step 1: Establish a precise plan: the basis of a successful emailing
With a well thought out concept, you lay the foundation stone for the success of your direct marketing. The planning stage is the most important in the development of the project since it will have an impact on all the following stages. You must first write down all the relevant questions related to email marketing and define your goals. Answering the following questions helps with planning:
- What goals would I like to achieve with my project? (Customer loyalty, customer acquisition, increase in turnover, etc.)
- Which indicators of success are realistic? (How many new customers can we expect, what increase in turnover is possible …)
- Who are my target customers? (Individuals, business partners, adolescents).
- Which key performance indicators are important? In direct marketing, in particular, these are the open rate, the mobile telephony rate, the click-through rate, etc.
- Are there any prerequisites for sending email marketing? (well-structured database, legal aspects).
- How can I attract the interest of prospects? (Discounts, free delivery, welcome gift (s), …)
- What should the content look like to appeal to the target audience?
- What design is best for my email marketing?
- At what time I wish to send my email marketing?
- What optimization measures should I take to continue to increase my success?
Step 2: Identify the target customers
Identifying target customers already plays a role in planning. It has such an important influence on the success of email marketing that it deserves special attention. All the other steps, from the creation of the content to the choice of the design, must indeed be adapted to the target group. It is therefore essential to think about who will address your project.
Collect information about your target group
The easiest way to get insight into your target group and assess your own customer data. If you have the right data, you will be able to quickly determine which types of products are mainly purchased by which gender and which age group. Thanks to web analytics, it is also possible to glean important information about your target group.
Step 3: Adapt content: relevance to the recipient
The more relevant the email content is to the recipient, the more likely they are to be concerned with your email. If the content isn’t relevant enough or doesn’t target the prospect enough, then your email will land directly in the trash without being read.
In order for your email marketing to have a particular resonance for the recipient, it must meet two basic conditions: you must define the target group (otherwise, you cannot determine what is relevant to your recipients) and you must adapt the content. to the target group.
Step 4: Arouse interest: create personalized and unique content
Good content is the sine qua non of direct marketing. If you can’t deliver interesting and relevant content, no one will read your emails. Be creative! Try to stand out from your competition.
Ideally, your content should also:
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be unique: the recipient should not find texts with similar content in emails or on your competitors’ pages.
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be entertaining and informative
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have a clear and concise main message
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be adapted to the tone of the target group
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visually appealing: images and graphics should not distract from actual content but support it
Step 5: Legal protection: the practice of double opt-in
Step 6: Send a test email
Before sending an email to the selected recipients, first, send a test email to yourself. This will allow you to check the email presentation and redirect links. Please also note that the display may differ from one email client to another. In addition, the display from a mobile phone differs from a desktop computer. It should be noted that most emails nowadays are opened from mobile devices. This change in user behavior should also be taken into account in the context of direct marketing. Ideally, you should check the display of test emails on different mobile devices.
Step 7: Send: check important data
The following points must be absolutely checked before sending.
The right target group
Many programs allow you to create different mailing lists from which you can choose the right target group. Before sending anything, check your email marketing once again and the consistency of the list of recipients chosen.
The right sender
Along with the subject, the sender’s name is one of the first things the recipient sees. If it is unreliable, the email will be deleted immediately. So make absolutely sure that the sender’s address is correct. You should start with the name of your business.
Time of sending
The timing of sending also plays an important role in the success of your email marketing. You have to adapt the day of the week and the sending time to your target group. Business clients can be contacted Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Individuals will be better able to respond to your email marketing in the evening. The best time is obviously Friday night.
Step 8: Maximize Success
If you have sent your email, you will now be able to measure and optimize the success of your action. Many programs contain analytical tools that allow you to verify the success of your direct marketing campaign. Integrated monitoring provides all the key performance indicators you need, including:
- Delivery rate (percentage of emails sent)
- Bounce rate (emails not received)
- Open rate (open emails)
- Mobile rate (emails opened on mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets)
- Click rate (open links)