Email marketing is a form of direct marketing that uses personalised emails to educate and excite your email list about your product or services. An individual will have signed up to receive emails from you, which means they WANT to hear what you have to say!
Email marketing can be both broadcast (one email that you send to a particular list or segment on a specific day as a one off) or automated (an email or series of emails that are sent based on a particular condition being met) i.e. when a new user subscribes to your email list, they may receive a series of emails welcoming them and introducing your brand. Great email marketing is built on delivering HIGH-VALUE content. No one wants to receive more spam - and no business leader wants to be the one who is sending those kind of emails. Start by asking what your customer wants to read - what are their core questions and problems? - and build emails from there.
Email Automation is creating a limited series of emails relevant to a particular point in the customer journey.
The most common email automations would be:
the sales series - an automation that is sent to a contact after they enquire about doing business with you. Most businesses don't have a great sales follow up process, but instead leave it to individual sales team members to choose their own adventure. A sales series email automation is designed to increase conversion rates, further educate the prospect, provide a consistently strong sales experience and lower sales time.
the nurture series - an automation sent to a prospect that has signed up for an offer, accessed a resource or expressed interest in your business some how. This email series fills a huge gap in the consideration stage for prospects, creating top-on-mind awareness and an increase in interest in the product/service offered.
An email newsletter, or an email broadcast is an email sent out to a larger segment of your customer databse in order to build an ongoing connection to your brand. The email broadcast is designed to retain top-of-mind awareness across customer purchase cycles (keep them engaged), build community and increase customer loyalty. A great email broadcast provides your customer/prospect with high-value content: answer a question they have; solve a problem they have; show them something new; all in a relatable, human way.
