E-mail marketing
The current world of communication includes a myriad of tools for reaching customers and promoting your company but, of all, email marketing is the one that continues to have great communication effectiveness and relatively simple management.
An email marketing campaign is a coordinated set of individual email messages that are distributed over a specific period of time with a specific purpose. It is a fundamental means for establishing and promoting relationships with customers in a personalized and long-lasting way.
Some data…
Despite the growth and importance of mobile messaging and chat apps, email is an integral part of daily online life. In 2022, the number of global email users amounted to 4.26 billion and is expected to grow to 4.73 billion users in 2026 (source Statista).
In 2020, approximately 306 billion emails were sent and received every day around the world. This figure is expected to increase to over 376 billion emails per day in 2025.
Recent industry data shows that the trend towards mobile also applies to email: in December 2018, 43 percent of emails were opened via mobile. The open share of desktop email clients had fallen to 18%, and webmail accounted for 39% of opens. Given the dominance of mobile telephony, it is no surprise that the iPhone email application has been the most popular email client
Open rates in marketing emails 2022
Email marketing can be of 3 types:
Transactional emails:
they contain information on actions that the user has carried out on the web, they are practically “service communications” such as emails confirming an order or registering on a platform. They have a very high open rate because they contain important information for users.
Direct email marketing (DEM):
these are advertising emails through which the user is offered discounts on services, offers or is informed about particular company initiatives.
Newsletters:
they are informative in nature; therefore, they must have valuable content and be sent at a certain frequency. Newsletters contain free resources, industry news and useful information and are a great tool for inbound marketing. Through these emails it is possible to create a permanent appointment with users, improve the credibility of the brand and increase traffic on your website.
Every email marketing campaign must follow the following guidelines:
GOOD SUBJECT:
an appropriate and attractive subject encourages the user to open the email which otherwise risks being immediately trashed given the high number of emails that each person receives every day
EASE OF READING:
the type of writing must be simple and direct and must not exceed two minutes of reading
OPTIMIZATION FOR MOBILE DEVICES:
as seen in the previous statistics, most people read emails from their phone, it is therefore essential that email campaigns are mobile-friendly
RELEVANCE:
the content must be relevant, relevant and personalized for the user. This involves good work upstream in customer segmentation.
DESIGN:
a clear and attractive design makes reading the email enjoyable and demonstrates the company’s professionalism and attention towards customers.
For those who work in the tourism sector, setting up a good email marketing campaign presents a series of advantages:
BUILD RELATIONSHIPS WITH CUSTOMER:
through email marketing, travel agencies and tour operators can establish and cultivate long-term relationships with their customers by regularly sending newsletters, service updates and personalized offers.
TARGETED PROMOTIONS:
a personalized approach to email marketing campaigns ensures that recipients receive relevant offers, increases loyalty and uptake of promoted offers.
UPSELLING AND CROSS-SELLING:
Emails are an excellent sales tool. For example, after purchasing a flight, the user may receive an email with accommodation or tour options. It is a strategy that helps increase revenue and improves the travel experience.
FEEDBACK and REVIEWS:
through emails you can collect customer feedback and reviews. A good practice for tour operators and agencies is to send post-trip surveys to collect data on the services offered.
TARGETED CONTENT:
It’s important to share valuable content with your customers, such as destination guides, travel tips and insider information. By providing relevant and useful information, tourism businesses become trusted experts and points of reference for future travel needs.
RECOVERY CART:
it may happen that a user does not complete the online booking process. With email marketing, agencies can send automatic follow-up emails to encourage the customer to complete the operation.
Furthermore, for a good email marketing campaign it is recommended to include calls to action, the so-called “Call to action“, clearly in the text of the email. A CTA can be contacting the support team, booking a tour, accepting a discount on a service. The CTA must be clearly visible and lead users to the landing page.
Each email must have only one CTA, so as not to create confusion.
The CTA must be visible, the best solution is a colored button that redirects the user.
The button must be in a position that is easily identifiable even by the distracted reader.
There are various software on the market that combine the features of CRM (see chapter 3) and email marketing. These integrated platforms offer an optimal solution for managing customer interactions and running email marketing campaigns, allowing you to send the right content to the right people, work on updated data, organize follow-up messages, share data with various work teams.
Among the best-known integrated platforms that offer these services are Hubspot, Zoho, Mailchimp, Salesforce and ActiveCampaign.
For a review of the best email marketing software see the video.
