Email Marketing

1. Email Marketing

2. Definition and uses.
• Defined broadly, Email marketing is the use of electronic mail for
commercial purposes with the aim of boosting sales, recruiting potential
clients or improving the relation between vendors and their existing
clientele base.
• Research estimates that by the year 2016, firms in the US alone will be
spending over 2.4 billion dollars annually, on email marketing. This is a
clear demonstration of the immense value of this model of marketing
• The strength of this model lies in its ability to reach a broad global
audience within a relatively short period of time and with minimal cost
and effort.

3. How does it work?
• The process generally involves broadcast of commercial email messages in
an attempt to accomplish the following.
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Encouraging uptake of products and services by improving the relation
between merchants and clients.
Enticing potential customers in a more personal way in order to acquire
new clients.
General advertisement with the aim of notifying the target audience
about new products/services or improvements/promotions on existing
products and services.
• If done correctly, email marketing has the potential to significantly
increase sales and client loyalty.

4. Categories of email marketing?
• Email marketing can be categorized as direct or transactional.
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Direct email marketing is used to promote products/services or to solicit
business from potential clients.
Transactional email marketing is often induced by the client and
becomes applicable either before a sale is made, e.g. sending of purchase
orders, or after a sale is made, e.g. sending thank you notes or receipts
for purchase.
• In both cases, the aim is to keep constant communication with clients.
• Tools that can be used for email marketing include; iContact, Benchmark
Email, Constant Contact and many more.