Email Marketing

Direct Communication with your Customers

Unlike other forms of communication like social media, email offers a direct link. Other than spam filters and the arrival of ‘focussed’ inboxes, email is not subject to algorithms in the way social media posts are. Provided everything is setup correctly your email messages should always be delivered to your entire audience. This is not the case with social media.

Email marketing platforms also allow for segmentation, grouping your audience by interest. With this kind of find-grained control you can communicate with specific groups of customers. This targetted approach ensures communication to be more narrowly focussed.

Most email platforms provide in-depth analytics. This can help uncover insights which will further help you refine your communication. And platforms like Shopify enable organisations to create lists of contacts based on their activity, such as number of purchases or total sales value.

DNS Configuration

All email marketing platforms require DNS configuration as part of the setup process. DNS stands for Domain Name System. DNS records are technical details assigned to every website domain name which facilitate things like:

• Routing website and email traffic

• Proving ownership of a domain name

• Enabling recipient servers to recognise legitimate email

In recent months Google and Yahoo implemented stricter DNS requirements for email marketers. They now require every domain to have:

• A valid SPF record

• A valid DKIM record

• A valid DMARC record

These DNS records are all good practice, as they make it easier for recipient mailservers to spot and reject spam. It’s important these records are configure correctly for your domain name. If you’d like help with this please get in touch with us.

Brevo

Brevo (formerly Send In Blue) is our preferred email marketing platform. It offers a range of communication options, including:

• Email campaigns

• Automated campaigns

• Transactional email

• Web chat

• Meeting scheduling

Organisations can make use of as much or little of the Brevo service as they like. For example, we’ve setup Brevo for customers’ websites in order to improve the deliverability of automatic emails such as sales confirmations.

We’ve also developed automated campaigns using Brevo. These allow us to drip-feed information to recipients over a period of time. This can be a really effective way of introducing your brand, services or products to potential customers.

Mailchimp

Mailchimp is another widely used email marketing platform. Like Brevo it offers a range of options, from 1-off campaigns to transactional emails. Offers lots of ways to group contacts, using segments and tags, providing infinite flexibility.

Shopify

The ecommerce platform Shopify comes with it’s own email marketing platform built in. It’s similar to Brevo and Mailchimp, in that it can facilitate single emails as well as automated campaigns. However, because it’s directly integrated into a website’s online store it’s easier to use and customers can be grouped by activity in ways which is harder achieve with other platforms.

GDPR Legislation

GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation and is a legal framework for the protection of personal information. Under GDPR email addresses cannot be added to mailing lists automatically. Users must give their permission for their email to be used in this way. This is why there are so many tick boxes on websites these days! While this does mean that it’s harder to build a sizeable mailing list, it tends to result in higher quality lists. This is because everyone who is subscribed to a mailing list has chosen to recieve emails from that organsiation. This means that open rates and click through rates tend to be much higher. Ultimately GDPR legislation has helped reduce the volumes of unsolicited email being sent, which is a good thing.

How Can We Help With Email Marketing

From DNS configuration to planning, creating and implementing email campaigns – we’ve done it all!

If you already have an email marketing platform in place we’re happy to work with that. Or, if you’re starting from scratch we can work with you to identify the most appropriate platform for you. We’ll get you setup, configure your domain name and provide as much support as you need. Whether you’re happy to create and send emails yourself, or would like us to manage the whole process, we’re here to help.