By now you all know that I am a huge believer in e-mail marketing. I’ve written several blogs on the subject. I often get questions regarding e-mail marketing. I thought I would share some of the more common questions as well as my responses.

1. What role should e-mail marketing play at my organization?

As with any other marketing vehicle, e-mail marketing should be part of your overall marketing mix. The reason I put a heavy emphasis on e-mail marketing is because it works, and it’s relatively inexpensive. But, the real reason I like e-mail so much is because it’s a highly targeted, scalable interaction between your organization and your prospects. And, with e-mail marketing you’re reaching out to prospects you know are interested in your brand. Done correctly e-mail marketing builds a relationship with your prospects and guides them to your other platforms.

2. How is e-mail marketing different from other forms of marketing?

I love this one! The answer is data! E-mail marketing allows you to collect data like no other platform out there. You can almost instantly see what messages are working and what ones are a bust. Based on responses, you know what offers pull higher than others, how often you should contact your prospects, and where your prospects are in the buying journey so you can target the right offers to the right people at that right time.

3. How do I approach creating an e-mail program at my organization?

To create a quality e-mail marketing campaign you have to first begin with a quality list. You need to build a list of engaged prospects – people who want to hear from you and learn more about your product or service. In this regard quality beats quantity. Once you have a quality list, send them quality content with relevant information that speaks to them where they are in the buying process.

4. Are there any pitfalls to e-mail marketing?

There’s a lot of competition (and clutter) in most in boxes, so getting your e-mail to stand out is the single biggest challenge. The first way to address this is to have an engaging subject line and then to deliver on that promise with relevant content. Make sure you test your subject lines, your offers, and your content to see what works best. You always want to be communicating the best message at the right time.

5. How will e-mail marketing evolve?

This is anyone’s guess. But, I think we’ll see a trend in e-mail marketing that pushes it more and more toward a true one-on-one messaging program. Batch and blast campaigns will be less common as campaigns address nurturing prospects through a series of tailored messages delivered strategically.

What questions do you have about e-mail marketing?