Automated Email Marketing
Automated email marketing does not have to turn people off. While there is a great deal of spam moving through email inboxes throughout the Internet, there are also a number of ways that automated email marketing can prove useful. In an age when print advertising is too expensive for many small businesses, automated email marketing is a viable advertising alternative.
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Function
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When email came along, it revolutionized the way that a business could interact with customers. It might surprise some to learn that the purpose of email is not to get a customer to actually read the email. According to Looking Fit, email is no longer designed to be read. Instead, the purpose of email --- and especially of automated email marketing --- is to simply keep the business or the product at the forefront of a customer's mind. So, while customers might not open the email from Red Passion Boutique, seeing it in their inbox might remind them that they need to stop by the retailer to pick up hand cream.
Considerations
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Many businesses combine their automated email marketing program with social networking. Pairing opt-in email marketing with a presence on social networking sites allows a business to target customers without running into the danger of having the material labeled as spam, or unwanted email sent out in bulk, which could result in it being filtered out by software such as Microsoft Outlook or Mac Mail.
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Types
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There are two types of automated email marketing. With basic bulk email marketing, a software program sends the email to a list of addresses provided by a third party. This is the source of most spam, because the third party gets the email addresses by using an email "skimming" program that sifts the Internet for email addresses. (This is why many businesses that ask for an email address add the disclaimer that the email address will never be sold to a third party.) The other type of email marketing is called "opt-in." With this method, only customers who provide the company with their email address, such as when signing up for a free product or service or to get notification about upcoming sales, receive automated email marketing material.
Benefits
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Automated email marketing allows a company to deliver information about itself its products and services quickly and efficiently. Using an opt-in approach, it can also be targeted to certain customers, providing information and offers only to those individuals who have expressed an interest in dealing with a company.
Warning
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Many states have spam laws in place; therefore, the "opt-in" method is likely the safest way to use automated email marketing. People who violate spam laws risk criminal prosecution.
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References
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