Does Email Marketing Work?

With so many spending so much to get the word out; email marketing must work, right? According to Maxine Grossman of GOT Corporation, email marketing works–if done correctly.

“Email is an excellent tool for customer retention and loyalty,” says Maxine. “You can develop a relationship with readers and be top of mind. You’re always inviting them back to a place they know. Remember, it is much easier and more cost effective to retain a customer than to acquire a new one.”
Maxine outlined keys to successful Internet marketing. It comes down to whom you reach and what you tell them.

“The first basic is the list,” she says. “It is critical to work from a permission-based opt-in list. You want to email people who want to hear from you, who are already interested in your products. This works better than simply renting a list.”

The second basic is content, and relevance is the key. “With a small list, yours is a niche market and your group is much more likely to be interested in new offerings,” Maxine says. “The larger the list, the more groups and demographics you may have. Segmenting lets you target groups with a message better tailored to those smaller segments. Recipients will perceive the message as more relevant to them and you’ll get a higher response rate.”

The first two basics support the third one, reputation. “Reputation is crucial to email marketing,” says Maxine. “The relevance of your message as to customer and content insures that, over time, you continue to be delivered to the in-box as opposed to being ignored. Remember, people are more likely to press ‘block’ than ‘unsubscribe.’ Build your reputation with relevant content.”

Statistics show that 47% of online marketers say emailing to a house list is the most effective tactic. Looking forward, 27% of marketers plan to increase their email marketing budget by more than 5%.

GOT Corporation is an email marketing service provider and the exclusive email marketing provider integrated into Yahoo! Small Business since 2001. They offer easy to use web-based marketing tools. “We’re your partner to get you delivered to the in-box,” says Maxine. “Campaigner is easy to use. It’s do-it-yourself email marketing. Campaigner Pro automates one-to-one marketing. For example, you can program a different birthday greeting for male and female customers. Configure it once and it operates automatically after that.”

A quality list with a relevant message is a good place to begin email marketing. To learn from the pros, contact Maxine Grossman at Maxine@Campaigner.com.