How does email marketing work?

Simply put, email marketing is correspondence with clients to tell them about special offers, new products or even a recent success story. It's effective because it can reach an extremely large number of people, while also being customised to make the reader feel like they're getting an individualised email.

Of course, you'll need business email lists for your email marketing campaign. While your own database of existing clients will be a good place to start, the most effective email marketing campaigns are often the ones sent out to potential new customers - thus growing your client base.

Once the email has been sent out, your email marketing isn't done. With the right tools, you can easily track and analyse the success of your email marketing, learning what works and what doesn't and put these lessons into practice for your next campaign.

Successful email marketing campaigns

A successful email marketing campaign should be both specific and targeted. This means that you should have a precise goal that you want to aim for and every aspect of your email marketing solution should be sharply focussed on that goal. It also means that you should send your email marketing to the most relevant audience - the people or companies that will most benefit from your offering.

In practice, this means first deciding what action you want readers of your email marketing to take. For example, do you want them to buy a specific product? If so, you should give them compelling reasons to do so, such as the benefits of the product and why yours is the best solution.

Alternatively, you may want to attract new visitors to your website, persuade people to join your mailing list or even follow you on a social networking site. Whatever your email marketing goal is, it should be simple and communicated with a convincing message.

For more information about how to ensure success, check out our ten-step guide to creating an effective email marketing campaign.