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Email Marketing Guide 1: Getting started

2. People's relationship with email

Email is perhaps one of the most popular activities on the internet today. Recent studies show that people are increasingly reliant on and comfortable with email as a communication channel. It is no longer a novelty and is fully integrated into the personal and professional lives of most people.

Email has matured from being mainly a prospecting tool to become a key retention, relationship and loyalty-building tool. The medium still serves as an important prospecting tool, but it will work only if there is a 'quality' attitude - rather than a "capture and/or buy as many new email addresses as possible" attitude. Companies should spend time and budget finding targeted prospects, engaging them with customised email marketing and moving them to their own opt-in subscriber database, before (hopefully) moving them into their customer database.

Customised email marketing

Using customised email marketing as part of your retention programme is important because an existing customer is like gold dust. The old marketing adage holds true here: It is easier to sell to an existing customer than find a new one. With the advent of the internet everyone has access to a huge array of competitors and better deals. Therefore the edge will be given to those businesses who spend time and budget retaining and building loyalty with existing customers using customised email marketing.

A word of caution: email marketing is cost effective but should NOT be viewed as the 'cheap' channel in which to reach customers. If it isn't done right, it actually damages a company's brand. It is extremely important to handle your email communications carefully and focus on implementing a customised email marketing programme.

Related article: Set goals before you send ezines

Areas covered in this guide

• Introduction
• > People's relationship with email
• Email marketing applications
• Getting your HTML emails right
• Get started with an email newsletter