Here at Adtrak, we’re always looking at new ways to expand our product range to bring the most to our customers. Two recently and officially launched products are Email Marketing and Data Capture.
These are exciting times for Adtrak and I’m lucky enough to be at the head of this new and effective method of marketing communication. For this article, I’d like to outline the whats, whys and hows of Email Marketing.
What?
Simply put, Email Marketing is the method of using email in marketing communications. You can think of Email Marketing as the equivalent of direct mail, sending people a print newsletter or placing advertisements in magazines and newspapers.
There are a few different types of digital Email Marketing that you have more than likely come across. Here are some examples:
- Promotional Emails
- Email Newsletters
- Catalogue Emails
- Press Releases
- Transactional Emails
Why?
There are numerous benefits to using digital Email Marketing communications over the traditional ‘analogue’ mail. This has proven to be a vital tool for business in the 21st Century, but one that many overlook. Here are a few key reasons why it is so successful:
Cheap
Sending email is much cheaper and environmentally friendly than other forms of marketing communication, requiring vastly fewer resources than billboards, newspaper adverts and television slots.
Instant
Email Marketing lets you communicate your message instantly, with the advantage of hyperlinks leading to specific web pages (whether it’s a particular product, details of an upcoming offer or anything else).
Targeted
Allowing people to opt in to receive emails on specific elements of your business, you can feel confident that your message is reaching the right audience.
How?
There are a few required elements to consider when thinking about sending email campaigns:
- A list of email address data (from users who have specifically opted in to receive email marketing communications from your business)
- An Email Marketing Platform (which is used to send out emails as well as manage email campaigns and lists)
- A coded email template
Here at Adtrak, we use an online publishing platform called Mailchimp, it has an excellent integrated report system allowing us to analyse data such as email opens, click rates and preferred links to help us improve future campaigns.
Risks?
While there are great benefits to using Email Marketing, there are also a lot of risks involved if proper protocol isn’t followed. One of the main risks of email marketing is the quality of the email list data; owner permission is required before sending a commercial email. If you don’t have this permission, then the recipients of your mail may well regard your message as SPAM; unsolicited commercial (bulk) email. If you are accused of sending spam, then you may find that your email account’s closed down and your website shut off.
At Adtrak, we understand the importance of clean list data and try hard to ensure that the correct message reaches the correct user.
So what’s this Data Capture then?
Data Capture allows clients to store any email enquiries sent from a website form into an email system (Mailchimp) in preparation for any email marketing campaigns they may wish to pursue in the future. Typical examples of Data Capture are newsletter sign up CTAs and checkboxes on a contact form.
At Adtrak, we use incentive based Data Capture services that run alongside email campaigns to ensure that we have a fresh flow of data to keep lists up to date. The method behind this practice is to provide the user with an incentive to opt in (special offers, competitions, and newsletters, for example).
Email marketing is something that we’re keen to evolve at Adtrak and we’re very excited about the positive impact this will have for our clients.
