What Is Email Marketing

What Is Email Marketing? A Complete Guide To Getting Started

Email Marketing has been around since 1971. This digital communication is already half a century old and it’s probably one reason why skeptics are saying it no longer works — it sounds like an old tactic.

Still, email marketing is undeniably one of the most widely used marketing channels. In 2022, there are 333.2 billion emails sent and received in one day.

 

Billions Of Emails Sent Daily2

 

Plus, anyone can easily have an email account, and it’s free! There are 4.25 billion email users worldwide and it’s expected to grow even more.

 

Wordwide Email Users

 

Lastly, email marketing can more than just double or triple your money. For every $1 spent in email marketing, you get an average of $36 back. Not bad for an ROI, right?

 

Email Marketing Roi

 

In this guide, we’ll learn:

  • What is email marketing?
  • Why is it still relevant in 2022?
  • How does email marketing work?
  • 7 must-send emails (with examples)
  • Best email marketing strategies
  • How to automate your email marketing
  • Email marketing FAQs

What is email marketing?

Email Marketing is ‌simply marketing to your prospects or customers using emails.

It’s so flexible that it can be used to accomplish different goals you set. Let’s say you want your audience to learn about your business, promote your offer, make your audience buy, or reward loyal customers with a coupon code. You can do all that with email marketing.

Plus, emails can be easily used all throughout your funnel to make sales.

Why is email marketing still relevant in 2022?

For years, it has been said that email marketing is dead.

Yet, here we are, talking about email marketing! Clearly, it’s still widely used, whatever business you’re in.

For one, it’s the single most thing almost every business asks from people who visit their website.

Businesses get your email to:

  • Send you a freebie or discount code
  • Try out their app for free
  • Keep you updated on their launches
  • Send you the results of the quiz you just took
  • Give you access to the free webinar recording

See? Everybody loves it.

Sure, you can live off social media, paid ads, or third-party marketplaces to sell your products or services, but guess what.

One, you don’t own them. What will happen to your business when they shut down?

Two, marketers still use emails to nurture the leads and boost their campaigns.

Three, why use a paid channel when you can use email marketing to

generate revenues with a minimum budget? Yes, it can be done.

Chase Dimond, an email marketing nerd has driven $100+ million in email revenue for clients.

Point is, email can be a lucrative channel that you actually own. Here’s another reason why you’ll love email marketing:

Email marketing helps you make more sales.

When there are gaps in your marketing funnel, or in other words, your sales process, email marketing can save the day.

Think of abandoned cart items that don’t make it to check out. With the proper email marketing, you could potentially recover 18.64% of the lost sales. And that’s just one email marketing campaign alone

And in the past 2 years, when the brick and mortar industry has declined, the businesses that transitioned to digital marketing survived.

How does email marketing work?

For email marketing to work, you first need to have an email list. This list contains your potential clients’ information.

If you don’t have a list yet, then it’s about time to start one! Some business owners are buying lists, but we strongly recommend you to not purchase an email list.

Don’t worry, we’ll show you how to build your own.

You need a lead magnet

To grow your list, you’ll need to create a lead magnet.

It’s that “bribe” you use, so your potential buyers will give out their email addresses to you.

It could be a coupon code (like the one below), a downloadable file, a virtual pass to a webinar or event that you’re hosting, or anything you can offer for free in exchange for their personal email address.

Lead Magnet Email Marketing

You need an email marketing software

Next, you’ll need a dedicated email service provider so you can send emails. There are a lot of choices out there, you might feel overwhelmed. But if you’re looking for a straightforward email marketing software that’s easy to set up, then DirectIQ is your best choice.

 

Email Marketing For Zero Dollar

 

It’s also more affordable. So you can keep your costs manageable, while you’re growing your business.

Now that you know the basics of email, let’s get to the fun part — the emails you can send to get more money.

7 must-send emails (with examples)

1) Welcome email

The Welcome email is the first email that you send to your readers to thank them for giving out their email addresses to you.

Remember the bribe? The welcome email usually delivers that bribe you promised. This is also an opportunity for you to introduce your business and to share your reason for doing what you do. Make a great impression and inspire them with your story.

 

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2) Nurture emails

The nurture emails are the emails you send after the welcome email.

These emails help you build a relationship with your audience and your goal is to gain their trust. It’s your way of priming them up before you tell them what you offer.

Remember, the human brain is hard-wired to remember stories. Nurture emails are your best bet to make them remember your brand. And with personalization, you get to build authentic connections with your audience.

Think of these emails as you personally checking in on them.

 

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3) Transactional emails

Transactional emails are emails you send when a customer does important things with your business. For example, when they placed an order, verified their account, or opted into your paid subscription offers.

 

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4) Product update emails

Product update emails contain updates with regards to stocks, any company news, or updates of new products coming. Once your readers know, like, and trust you, they’ll be watching out for product updates from you.

 

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5) Newsletters

Newsletters are the emails that you regularly send out to include the latest trends and updates, your new blogs, your new projects, advocacies, or other similar corporate activities that you do.

The information that you share here may not be limited to your business, but also within your industry. This is optional, but they’re a good way to be on top of mind for your audience.

 

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Check out more email newsletter inspiration here.

6) Event invitation email

This email invites your audience to your upcoming event, be it in person or online. It could be an online webinar, a conference, or a pop-up event. See the below example from AWS’ Event.

 

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7) Surveys

Email is a convenient way to send a survey to your list. Doing surveys is also a smart way to segment your list based on their preferences from the survey results.

 

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Best email marketing tips

Before you send these emails, here are some tips on how you can make your email marketing campaigns effective.

1) Send personalized, beautiful emails

In Email Marketing, you, as a business owner are considered a guest. You’re like a stranger knocking in their inbox, trying to make them open your email. Avoid sending generalized subject lines that could easily drown out in the inbox.

Make it as personal as it can be. Can you spot what can be improved in the subject line below?

 

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DirectIQ allows you to personalize your subject lines so that it reflects each of your subscribers’ names. That way, they feel important, not just a number on the list.

Plus, we have plenty of beautiful email templates you can choose from.

 

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2) Clean out inactive subscribers

Adding the new contacts you gather each day sounds exciting. But how do you manage and maintain your list?

The number one reason to clean your list is the increasing cost of the monthly subscription. As a business owner, you need to look at cost-effective ways for your business to grow. Remember, as your list increases, the higher your subscription cost with your email service provider will be.

It is best to clean your list from time to time and aim for higher deliverability and conversion rates.

If you’re asking how to do that, it’s simple. It’s by regularly cleaning your email list so that you only keep the most engaged and active subscribers that are worth every penny.

DirectIQ allows easy segmentation by interests, age, and gender. This routine alone accounts for a potential of 760% increase in revenue.

Segmenting your subscribers into more manageable groups using the right filters makes it easier for you to target ideal customers. It’s also easier to personalize the content to a particular profile, setting up the best condition for higher engagement.

3) Always induce one response

It is always best to ask for one response — whatever that could be. Do you want them to buy your product? Reply to the email? Or click on the link?

Always point your readers in one direction when writing your emails. Go straight to the point so your readers won’t get lost or overwhelmed with the information that you’re trying to point out.

4) Do A/B tests

You’ll never know the most effective campaign that will work if you don’t test. Should you use a text-based email campaign? Include images? Try videos? Or do a mix? You’ll never succeed at guessing.

DirectIQ makes it easy for you as it’s built for marketers. On our A/B campaign setup page, all you have to do is just choose your templates, then select which you’d like to A/B test and you’re all set to go!

 

Ab Split Testing With Directiq

 

5) Make sure your email is mobile-responsive

In case you didn’t know, ​​61% of all email readers across demographics use their mobile phones when checking their emails.

Make sure it’s easy for your subscribers to browse and read your emails even when they’re on the go. The more responsive your emails are, the more likely it is for your emails to get opened, read, and clicked on.

DirectIQ is very convenient for marketers and business owners like you with our 100% smartphone and tablet compatible email templates. Or design your own in minutes.

Automating your email marketing

Now you’re probably wondering how to manage your emails especially when your list starts to grow.

You don’t have to. Your email marketing tool will do it for you. Choose a tool that can help you sync new subscribers, schedule emails, and set up automated campaigns.

With DirectIQ’s 1-Click Email Marketing Integrations, automation is a no-brainer. DirectIQ is connected to all popular websites and services like Shopify and WordPress too. You can easily transfer all your contacts and start sending emails with ease.

Grow your business with emails

When it comes to marketing your business, it’s no longer a question of whether you need to send emails or not. Email is the default marketing of almost every brand out there. It’s time that your brand does this too.

Whether you are working on your business alone, or you’re trying to scale, having an email list is a must for every business owner.

It may seem complicated at first, but with the right tool or email service provider, email marketing software will be a breeze.

DirectIQ is created for busy entrepreneurs in mind, just like you. Try DirectIQ free up to 1000 contacts.