Email marketing is a very effective tool and this has many benefits compared to other forms of marketing. Some of these include the following:

Familiarity – Email has now become “the norm” both in business and home. Most people use it on a regular basis to keep in contact with friends, family and colleagues. It has become an integral part of people’s daily routines, so much so that email is now the most popular online activity. In 2005, US users sent more that 5 billion emails.

Costs – Email marketing costs are much lower than their paper equivalent. An email can be sent for pennies. Depending on the service chosen for sending, the cost can be anything from nothing at all to a few cents per recipient.

Ease of setup – Even novice users can get into email marketing – anyone can send a text based email. If more sophisticated graphical content is required, this can be set up once and the same template used over and over substituting images if needed.

Faster – Email achieves results quickly. Most emails are read within a day or two, if not sooner. Plus instant delivery means it does not take weeks to measure the results.

Branding – Email marketing is an ideal opportunity to build brand recognition. Including your logo, tagline and other branding helps the recipient to become more familiar with your name. Permission based emails and newsletters are especially valuable for reinforcing your brand among customers who have voluntarily chosen to subscribe, indicating they clearly want your information.

It’s irresistible – A carefully chosen subject line causes people to feel the urge to open that message. It’s a push marketing strategy that is much more compelling than some of the more traditional internet advertising approaches such as banner ads and links which require the user to click for more information. The recipient may not read the entire message, but it is highly likely they will consume at least some of the message.

Some examples of how email marketing can be used:

• articles/datasheets about your products and/or services,
• customer profiles, testimonials and success stories,
• weekly, monthly, tips and tricks,
• newsletters,
• event announcements,
• advertisements about your company