The enormous development of the Internet has enabled emails conveying useful information, to be transmitted simultaneously to several hundred thousand recipients in a matter of seconds. The power, reach and sophistication of emails are such that it has become one of the most inexpensive and effective ways to promote, provide offers and brand your company to consumers.

What Is Email Marketing?

Email marketing offers a vehicle to send a consumer a message over the Internet. These emails can be simple text messages (TEXT), provide links (RTF), or have images and photos in them (HTML). Most emails offer content pertaining to a specific offer and then direct the viewer to click on a link which takes them to a web site or landing page (a page on a web site that was created specifically for the email) Once on the site or landing page the consumer is able to view and print the offer or coupon that you have provided.

Email marketing campaigns generally provide a very high ROI, they also can be implemented quickly, and increase the impact of other marketing efforts such as social media marketing. The real beauties of email marketing however are the ability to personalize for your customers, track results, and easily test and modify your messaging to improve the effectiveness of your campaign.

How Email Marketing Affects Purchase Decision

Email promotions and offers generate immediate action: sales, inquiries, registrations, etc. Informative emails provide information on current offers, prepare the way for new products or locations, build awareness, contribute to branding, strengthen relationships, encourage trust and cement loyalty.

Email marketing is the most cost effective form of Internet Marketing; it’s a tried-and-true method of increasing repeat customers capturing customer feedback and information, and increasing conversions about your company. Emails open a channel for you to update customers on new products and specials, items they may be interested in, or information about you. Email also works to support your brand’s popularity in your target market by creating close connections with valuable customers.

In a recent “Epsilon” survey, 88 percent of respondents said a retailer’s e-mail has prompted them to download/print out a coupon; 75 percent said it has led them to buy a product online, and 67 percent said it has prompted an offline purchase; 60 percent have been moved to “try a new product for the first time.”

Email Marketing Usage

Email Marketing can be a component of numerous business initiatives, including:

• Generating sales
• Market research
• Boosting new product roll outs
• New customer acquisitions
• Uniform branding
• Customer appreciation campaigns
• Customer feedback
• Targeted marketing campaigns

Why Use Email Marketing?

Email marketing is one of the most powerful marketing tools available to your business today. It’s easy, affordable, direct, actionable and highly effective. According to surveys, customers would prefer to hear from you via e-mail than any other way. And when you add e-mail to your marketing mix, you spend less time, money and resources than with traditional marketing vehicles (for example, direct mail or print advertising). Your time-sensitive information is sent in seconds, not days or weeks, and you can see the results of your efforts instantly.

Through email marketing, you can:

• Increase Sales
• Save Money
• Increase Revenue
• Create “Top Of Mind” Awareness
• Proactively Communicate
• Generate Repeat Business
• Measure Results
• Generate Immediate Results

Increase Sales

The average person has to see or hear about your product 7 times before they will buy from you. Using email marketing; you can send a series of messages to your email subscribers, educating them about your products and services. An educated consumer trusts you, and when you have a consumers trust, inviting them to buy your product becomes a painless, more natural process – increasing your sales as a result. Even if that consumer is not planning on buying now, you’ll be first on their mind when the time is right.

Save Money

It is roughly 6 to 12 times less expensive to have an existing customer refer a friend, than it is to acquire a new one, the value of your existing customers are too compelling to ignore. You need to keep your customers engaged. Increase Revenue According to research conducted by the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing generated an ROI of $43.62 for every dollar spent on it in 2009. It out-performs all the other direct marketing channels examined, such as print. If ROI is not enough, Shop.org’s State of Retailing Online 2009 survey of retailers found that “E-mail is the most mentioned successful tactic overall”.

Create “Top Of Mind” Awareness

Email will allow you to communicate more information, more often, creating “Top Of Mind” awareness with your consumer. Your businesses communications can include newsletters, preferred customer promotions, sale notifications, new location announcements, event invitations, greetings and much, much more. Communicating via email is an affordable way to stretch your marketing budget, it can cost as little as fractions of a penny per email. With a better response rate than direct mail, email marketing is the most effective way to increase your visibility and ultimately drive sales.

Proactively Communicate

Email marketing enables you to proactively communicate with existing customers instead of passively waiting for them to return.

Generate Repeat Business

What’s better than someone buying your products or services once? How about the same person buying your products and services multiple times, referring friends and family members in the process? It costs a lot more to ac-quire a new customer then it does to keep an existing one, and email marketing is your secret weapon when it comes to customer retention.

Measure Results

Unlike other marketing vehicles, results from email campaigns are easily measured. Results are reported in terms of “opens”, which report how many people viewed your offer, Click Through Rates (CTRs), which measure how many people actually clicked on the links in your email, and who actually clicked on those links. Generate Immediate Response Email marketing generates an immediate response. The call to action is clear: “Click here to take advantage of this offer”, or “to learn more about your company”. Initial campaign response generally occurs within 48 hours of the time the email campaign is sent.