How do I send an email? Key steps and software
Launching an email campaign shouldn't be done at random, and it's in your interest to prepare it carefully so that you can hope it will have a real impact on your customers. Choosing your target audience, segmenting your data file and using an email marketing solution will all help to make your email marketing more effective. Here are a few tips to help you along the way.
Collect opt-in e-mail addresses
Data linked to opt-in e-mail addresses is information for which the owner has given you permission to use it for commercial purposes. Therefore, to carry out your email marketing campaign, you must first ensure that you have obtained the consent of the customer or prospect allowing you to send them advertising or informative emails.
Consult the constraints applied to the collection of personal data that you may need to use for commercial purposes. You must not use an email address that you have obtained from a public or social networking website. It is essential that you obtain the agreement of each owner through voluntary consent. Moreover, it is forbidden to pre-check the opt-in boxes giving you permission to use the email address.
Using a free or paid emailing solution
There are a number of solutions available to help you run your email marketing campaign. You can opt for free or paid emailing software, depending on your needs. The free versions sometimes offer less sophisticated parameters than the paid solutions. On the other hand, they can sometimes be sufficient if your email campaign is limited. You can put your trust in Brevo (formerly Sendinblue), Mailjet or Mailchimp. These are the benchmark emailing solutions for segmenting your audience, optimising the design of your email campaign and analysing the impact of your email marketing so that you can make any necessary adjustments.
Creating a high-performance email campaign
Your email campaign should be based on a database sorted and segmented according to the products or services you want to promote. We cannot stress enough that a good campaign is linked to a message delivered to the right person at the right time. So you need to establish a strategy to ensure a positive image for your company. It's not a question of flooding your customers' or prospects' e-mail inboxes with messages that could be defined as spam. Design your e-mailing with care and focus on a clear, concise and effective message. It should be easy to understand and pleasant to read, so as to encourage people to click on the link you have included, which will take them to your website.
Automatic email marketing
With email routing, you can ensure that your messages are delivered professionally and accurately. E-mailing software, whether free or paid, sends your marketing e-mail directly to your customers' or prospects' e-mail inboxes. By defining a regular rhythm or predefined dates, the targeted information can reach the audience concerned more successfully.
Analyse the results of your email campaign
By analysing the open, click and conversion rates, you can assess the effectiveness of your email campaign and make changes if the results are not conclusive. It's worth taking the time to consult the analysis reports offered by emailing solutions, which give you a real insight into your marketing activities. There's no point in stubbornly producing marketing emails if you realise that your customers never read them. This may be due to an error of choice in the message or a spam filter problem that can be difficult to get past. You can then remove the blockages or redefine the type of messages sent to reach your audience more effectively.
New tools integrated into the emailing solution
To take your email marketing campaign even further, you can decide to use the increasingly powerful tools offered by emailing software. To reach an increasingly connected population, emailing solution platforms have innovated by thinking up ways of sending text messages to customers' smartphones. To do this, you will of course need a telephone number that the customer has given you in advance. You can programme the automatic sending of SMS messages via an SMS campaign, to invite your customers to take advantage of a promotional offer or to take part in a private event, expressing your desire to reward them for their loyalty. SMS is a fast and effective way of reaching your audience in a less formal way than email.
Knowing your customers well and taking their needs into account are crucial to enhancing your company's image and ensuring the success of any marketing campaign. By devising a precise, targeted emailing campaign, you can achieve convincing results in terms of sales of your products and services. Choose a paid or free emailing solution that is perfectly suited to your needs.
Article translated from French