Email Marketing: History, Types, and Benefits

This article introduces you to email marketing. Also, it discusses its history, types, benefits, and importance. Read on

What is Email Marketing?

The act of sending a commercial message via email, usually to a group of people, is known as email marketing.

Every email that is sent to a client, whether present or prospective, might be regarded as email marketing in the broadest sense.

It includes sending adverts, making business requests, or requesting donations or purchases over email.

Businesses can update their contact list of clients about new products, sales, and other information by using email marketing, a direct marketing method.

The majority of organizations’ total inbound strategy depends on it because of its strong ROI.
Instead of focusing on mass mailings that are one size fits all, modern email marketing instead emphasizes consent, segmentation, and personalization.

Also, check out The Importance of Content Marketing.

Although it may seem time-consuming, marketing automation actually does most of the labor-intensive work for you. In the long run, a successful email marketing approach not only increases sales but also fosters brand community.

History of Email Marketing

In 1971, Ray Tomlinson, a computer engineer, sent the first email. He transmitted a message that was little more than a series of numbers and letters, but it signaled the start of a new era in communication.

Additionally, Tomlinson was the one who first popularized the use of the “@” sign-in email addresses.
The first commercial email was sent in 1978 by Gary Thuerk, a marketing manager at Digital Equipment Corp., as a way of informing customers about a new product. Only 400 people were on his email list, yet the letters he sent generated sales of roughly $13 million.

The internet was widely accessible on a commercial level by the 1990s. As communication between people started to shift drastically, marketers realized that email could be a useful tool for advertising.

Regulation modifications were also necessitated by the emergence of marketing emails; the U.K.’s Data Protection Act, for instance, was changed to mandate an “opt-out” option for all marketing emails.

Benefits of Email Marketing

Due to the fact that emails remain in the inbox until they are read, deleted, or archived, email has grown to be a very popular marketing tool for companies.

However, email is also one of the most reasonably priced technologies out there. In fact, a 2015 study by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), located in the U.K., discovered that email has an average return on investment (ROI) of $38 for every dollar invested.

Check out our email marketing statistics by industry to learn more about the effectiveness of email marketing.

Email marketing can help you establish a connection with your audience and increase traffic to your blog, social media accounts, and other websites you want people to visit.

To ensure that consumers are only receiving the messages they wish to view, you may even segment your emails and target users based on demographics. Here are some starting points for your email marketing campaign.

By employing email marketing software that can also be configured to simply send out emails, you can also use email marketing to do A/B tests on a subject line or call to action to determine the best-performing message.

Types of Email Marketing

Promotional, informative, or serving a specific function in the buyer journey are all examples of marketing emails.

Promotional Emails

Email marketing campaigns are used to advertise limited-time deals, fresh merchandise, gated content like webinars and eBooks, and your overall brand.

Three to ten emails sent out over the course of a few days or weeks make up a campaign.
Promotional emails clearly state the CTA or call to action.

The CTA stands for the particular action you want the reader to perform, such as visiting a certain page on your website or making a purchase using a coupon.

How frequently you send this kind of marketing email will largely depend on the sales and marketing cycle of your company.

You might send many promotional emails within a 24-hour period during important times like Black Friday.

It’s possible that there will be a few weeks between your advertising activities during dull periods in the marketing calendar.

Informational Emails

Newsletters: As the name implies, a newsletter shares news about your company. Consider achieving new goals, introducing new product features, or showcasing insightful material like case studies.

Newsletters that are distributed on a regular basis—weekly, biweekly, or monthly—help you keep in touch with your email subscribers.

However, did you realize that newsletters aren’t limited to covering the news? Concentrate on the letter component, advises email specialist Ann Handley.

Consider that you are producing a personalized message to each of your subscribers about a topic of interest to them.

Simply defined, a newsletter is a chance to impart knowledge, ideas, and advice – whatever is most beneficial to your readership.

Email is the ideal approach to let customers know about corporate news, the launch of new products, service adjustments, etc.

Email is the preferred method of communication for essential messages most of the time. The easiest approach to keep in touch during website problems, shipping delays, and system or software failures is to send updates to your contacts via email.

It can fit the official tone of even the most significant announcements and is safe, quick, and efficient.

Reengagement Emails

The re-engagement email is a crucial subset of marketing emails. Re-engagement emails, as their name implies, assist in re-engaging inactive clients or subscribers.

Importance of Email Marketing

Email is not a recent invention. In actuality, when it initially appeared in 1971, it was among the earliest forms of digital communication.

However, despite being 50 years old, email marketing is still more popular than ever.

Is email still used by individuals today, you might be asking. Isn’t marketing today all about social media?

Email provides a number of benefits, despite the fact that social media is a crucial channel for every digital marketing strategy.

First, compared to social media, email marketing campaigns can be more highly customized. Next, prices are significantly lower than for other channels, especially when you consider email marketing’s reach and conversion rate.

This contributes to the reason why email marketing is so beneficial for small firms. Finally, the fact that email marketing allows you direct, one-on-one access to your audience’s inboxes is what makes it so effective and profitable.

Final Notes on Email Marketing

These and more are benefits of Email Marketing. Make the right choice by promoting your business with Email Marketing. Reach out to us at Badrostechies for proper business marketing.