Email Marketing Software – and Why You Should be Using It

Email marketing has a well-deserved reputation for providing powerful, direct contact with your customer group. This typically results in a tempting ROI. Most companies use an email marketing software platform like Mailchimp, SendInBlue (now called Brevo) or Klaviyo. If you aren’t using a platform like that now, you really should be.

This article explains why.

Increasingly stringent data protection regulations, principally GDPR, must be met. Without appropriate software, maintaining compliance with data protection laws and anti-spam regulations is a job that falls to you.

You are responsible for your own legal compliance and your legal obligations are not static. The penalties for data compliance violations can be eye-watering.

Reputable email marketing software providers take these regulations seriously, implementing security measures to protect user data. A good platform will evolve as legislation changes and will implement new legal requirements for you in good time. Typically you needn’t do anything to stay within the law.

For ease of maintaining the legality of your communications and mailing list alone, you really should be using an email marketing platform.

Email is a notoriously difficult environment to design for. While browsers have improved enormously and improve steadily, many email clients (the software on which subscribers view their emails) remain stubbornly awkward. Many use code conventions which are specifically deprecated in recent HTML specifications.

Workarounds that work on one platform (e.g. Outlook) may well not work in another (e.g. Gmail).

In short, creating great-looking emails which work across all platforms is unbelievably difficult. Without expensive specialist software (e.g. litmus.com) and long-winded inbox testing, it is all but impossible.

Most modern email marketing software does much of the hard design work for you. A good platform will have an intuitive interface and a drag-and-drop editor to facilitate the design of visually appealing messages.

Email marketing software streamlines the entire process of creating, sending, and managing email campaigns. Scheduling options enable businesses to time their emails for maximum impact, adhering to legal requirements and ensuring responsible marketing practices.

• Personalisation – Love it or hate it, personalisation is paramount in contemporary marketing. Good software will allow you to merge user data into your messages. It may appear cheesy but it really does improve open rates.
• Automated Transactional Emails – pre-defined workflows triggered by specific actions or user behaviours can make huge differences to business success.Personalised and timely interactions with customers and subscribers can have a huge effect on outcomes. Browse abandonment and checkout abandonment workflows have helped out clients make many thousands of pounds.
• Segmentation for Targeted Outreach – targeting is indispensable for successful marketing campaigns. Email marketing software allows businesses to segment their email lists based on various criteria such as demographics, purchase history, or engagement levels. This ensures that businesses send tailored messages to specific segments, enhancing relevance and aligning with privacy regulations.
• Integration with Other Tools – Email marketing software seamlessly integrates with other marketing tools and platforms, creating a unified marketing ecosystem. Integration with customer relationship management (CRM) systems, analytics tools, and e-commerce platforms enhances the overall efficiency of marketing operations, ensuring a consistent and cohesive brand experience for customers, all while adhering to legal requirements.
• A-B Testing – just as with websites, making small differences to message layout can make a big difference user responses (for mail – open rates and click-throughs). Some platforms will let you test these variations.

Like all marketing efforts, feedback and data analysis is essential to make the incremental changes required to build lasting success. Without it you are destined to repeat your mistakes forever.

Email marketing software provides robust analytics tools that track key metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates. Increasingly the platforms will advise on the best time to send your campaigns.

Not only does this data improve your marketing strategybut also ensures compliance with regulations by demonstrating responsible data handling.

Compared with more traditional marketing channels, email marketing is highly cost-effective. Email marketing software further maximises this advantage by providing scalable solutions with pricing models that suit businesses of all sizes.

The return on investment (ROI) for well-executed email campaigns can be substantial. Many of our clients rely heavily on their email marketing to make a profit. Email marketing software is a key investment for businesses.

Digital communication is integral to business success: the use of email marketing software is not merely a strategic choice but a legal imperative.

The efficiency, personalisation, and analytics capabilities offered by these tools empower businesses to create impactful and targeted campaigns. Email marketing software drives, conversion and, when used well, long-term customer loyalty.