Emailing Marketing: Enhancement or Annoyance?

I will be the first to tell you that I enter my primary email on just about every online form that comes my way.  This is a bad habit, and I am soon reminded of my sloppy behavior when my college inbox is flooded with coupons, deals, promotions, and upcoming events for various companies.

Sifting through and taking a look at some of these emails today, they are all in my trash folder. Many of the advertisements are of very poor quality, do not link to correct pages, and are just a hassle to move around when trying to organize or clean out email inboxes. Some are so vague that it is clear the same advertisement was sent to 1 million other “lucky” customers.

Purpose

Why are these companies using email? Well, what are their objectives and what are these companies trying to accomplish? Sometimes this is difficult to understand, and I still cannot put my finger on why they do this besides a pathetic attempt to bring in more customers and ultimately increase their profit.

Coupons

Take coupons for example, many companies send out coupons and other discounts via email to every single customer in their database. Is this effective? Are coupons most effectively sent out to new or old customers? This can be answered or hypothesized with a measure of customer profitability, software tracking of spending, and the customers search habits. Many customers will buy from a company without a coupon, but others may not- and this is what companies want to track, and usually can translate over into the type, and frequency of emails a consumer will receive.

When are they sent?

Statistically, emails are viewed the most in the early morning, or in the evening. NOT in the middle of the day. Monday may be considered the least attractive day to send emails because inboxes are often filled with emails that have not been read over the weekend. Promotional advertisements may be overlooked.

Pros of using email marketing… There are not many…

• ·        Cheap
• ·        Can be personalized
• ·        Automatically individualized
• ·        Social media integration

Market Segmentation

Segmentation targeting is a good..or at least better approach companies can use for email marketing. Customization reinforces the idea that the business cares about the customer, or is trying to care. I have received emails letting me know that I have not spent money with a company in a longtime, and then they offered up a 25% off coupon on my next purchase with them. This encourages and reminds me of old habits, and maybe brings ideas of things that I want or could buy from their company.

Social Media

Companies are also integrating social media into their email advertisements much more frequently. Is this effective? It is if the consumer takes the time to click on it and falls into yet another trap. Once you have liked this company on Facebook and Twitter, they now have access to your news and twitter feeds. Not only will you be bombarded on your work and personal emails… but on your social media pages as well!

I am not convinced by email marketing. Are you still annoyed by the endless promotions and advertisements too? Many consumers have found a way around the flood of potentially useless emails; create a “fake” email address. I do not have one myself, but I know many who do. If you create an email that uses your name, and information but one that is not connected to your primary account, the junk emails that are automatically sent due to registrations, or purchases can go unseen.. or at least temporarily until that “dummy” address is checked.