Everything you need to know about enterprise email marketing and more.

Is Email Still Relevant in 2021?

Yes! Email marketing is still one of the most effective ways to reach your customers and will provide you with a higher return on investment than any other marketing channel.

If you’re still skeptical, here are a few email marketing stats that are sure to change your mind:

• Email marketing has an ROI of 3200%
• Personalized emails can increase revenue by up to 760%
• You’re 6 times more likely to get a click-through from an email marketing campaign than from a tweet
• 28% of customers would like to receive promotional emails more than once a week

The great thing about email is that not only will it directly impact your revenue and ROI. It’s also a channel that your audiences want to hear from you on.

Your customers are still using and checking their emails frequently. Most people check their emails at least once a day, and a large portion of mobile purchases are influenced by promotional emails. Image courtesy of Whatagraph.

Knowing that customers want to receive promotional emails from the brands they love means that they’re interested and engaged in your content — meaning you’ll see even higher success rates.

It is important to note that while email is a very powerful tool, you’ll want to make sure to keep your content fresh and stay up to date with industry changes.

For example, while it seems like a lifetime ago, it wasn’t that long ago that mobile marketing didn’t exist. But as our technology has improved and more people began to adopt smartphones, mobile marketing has risen to the forefront.

Today, 60% of emails are opened on mobile devices.

During that transition from desktops to mobile marketing, the companies that adapted and recognized the importance of mobile were able to change as the industry trends did quickly. At the same time, other companies are still struggling to adopt the mobile-first mindset.

While we can’t predict the next big thing in marketing, by staying on top of trends and keeping your email marketing practices agile, you can set yourself up for continued success.

The Types of Email You Should Be Sending

Now that we’ve got the importance of email out of the way, let’s talk about the kinds of emails you should incorporate into your strategy.

There are many different types of emails that can help you reach your audiences with the right message at the right time. By creating individual experiences based on each customer’s journey, you can increase the chances of your email being opened and acted upon.

Let’s quickly look at a few email types you’ll want to send to your customers.

Newsletter Emails

The newsletter email. These emails are sent out to your subscribers on a regular schedule. Generally, these emails are more informational and provide customers with company updates, new content such as blog posts, and any other relevant content.

Newsletters can earn an open rate of 22% and are a great way to get more eyes on your newest content. They can also help to build stronger customer relationships and increase brand awareness.

While your brand might not be sharing articles about wildlife and grasslands, this is an excellent example of a newsletter that provides subscribers with educational and engaging content. Newsletters provide you with an opportunity to engage your audiences without having to push a sale. Image courtesy of Sendinblue.

Promotional Emails

Next up, promotional emails. These are the emails that you send to customers to entice them to complete a purchase. A promotional email can be telling subscribers about an upcoming sale or providing them with a discount or coupon code to encourage them to shop your site.

Knowing that 59% of people say marketing emails influence their purchase decisions, incorporating promotional messages into your strategy is a must. It’s a win-win situation, your customers will be happy to receive a discount for their favorite products, and you’ll see higher sales numbers.

You don’t have to have a specific reason, like a birthday, to send discount codes — but it’s a great opportunity to send promotional emails to your customers. If you’re looking for a way to get people back to your site to shop around, these types of emails are the perfect option.

Nurturing Emails

Nurturing emails is something you’ll want to include in your email marketing strategy. These emails are generally a series of messages sent to users based on their real-time interactions and behaviors with your brand.

There are many different types of nurturing campaigns you can incorporate into your strategy. Here are a few common examples:

• Welcome campaigns
• Reengagement campaigns
• Product-focused campaigns
• Upselling campaigns

Incorporating nurturing emails into your email marketing efforts is essential because 96% of visitors who come to your website aren’t ready to make a purchase. By enrolling them into a nurturing campaign, you can keep your brand top of mind and encourage them to come back and complete a purchase.

This JetBlue email is a great example of a nurturing campaign that is targeted towards newer subscribers. Not only is the copy on point, but the message speaks to building a lasting relationship between the customer and the brand.

Abandoned Cart Emails

Last but not least is the abandoned cart email. Abandoned cart emails are a way to bring customers back to your site to complete a purchase that they left behind. These types of messages are an extremely effective way to increase sales.

When you consider that 69% of online carts are abandoned by shoppers, having the ability to reach those audiences and remind them about the items they left behind is a great opportunity. Many companies choose to do a three-part series to remind shoppers and often provide an incentive to make the deal even sweeter.

Abandoned cart messages don’t have to be over the top or take hours of your time to create. A simple reminder note is all you need to let the customer know that the items they were looking at are still available and waiting for them.

The Metrics You’ll Want to Track to Measure Success

Once you’ve built your strategy and finally start sending emails, the next step is to track the success of your campaigns.

There are a number of different email metrics you’ll want to track, including:

• Open rates
• Click-through rate (CTR)
• Conversion rate
• Bounce rate
• Number of unsubscribes
• List growth rate
• Spam complaints

Which metric is most important to your company will depend on your goals, but open and click-through rates are commonly used to define success for many companies.

So how do you know if your campaigns are over or underperforming? The benchmarks vary across industries, but the overall average open rate is 16.97%, with a click-through rate of 10.29%.

Email metrics can vary across industries and are something you need to consider when evaluating the success of your campaigns. If your business is in the automotive services industry, you can expect to see open rates as high as someone in the animal services industry.

If your emails are averaging open and click-through rates in this range, then you’re doing a great job. Don’t be discouraged if your metrics are below the benchmark. There’s always room for growth, and email is a perfect channel to do testing to identify improvements.

It’s also important to remember that your metrics won’t be the same across every email type.

For example, to measure the success of an abandoned cart email, you may want to track conversions or revenue growth. While with a nurturing campaign, you may mainly be interested in opens and click-through rates.

Many factors go into determining what a successful campaign looks like. Over time you’ll start to learn what works for your audiences and how you can best measure the performance of your campaigns.

How to Get Started with Email Marketing

Now that you’re a little more familiar with the importance of email marketing, the types of emails you should be sending, and how to measure success — it’s time to get started with your email marketing efforts.

Step 1: Find an Email Marketing Platform

Investing in an email marketing platform is one of the first steps you’ll want to take. These platforms allow you to manage your subscriber list, tap into customer data, and create, manage and execute all of your email campaigns.

There are many things you’ll want to look for in an email marketing platform, but here are a few must-haves:

• A simple email creator tool, whether it’s a drag and drop format or a large selection of predesigned templates
• Automation and scheduling tools that allow you to create various campaigns and workflows that subscribers are automatically enrolled in
• The ability to send multiple types of emails, including triggered messages, broadcasts, and newsletters
• Dashboards that provide you with all of the tracking data you need to understand how successful your campaigns are

In the next section of this article, we’ll provide you with ten email marketing platforms to help get you started on this step, but don’t be afraid to shop around and request multiple demos!

Step 2: Start Growing Your Subscriber List

Before you can send your first email, you need to have subscribers. This should be one of your top priorities when you first start because the more subscribers you have, the higher engagement you can achieve.

There are tons of different ways to grow your subscriber list. Here are a few examples to help get you started:

• Use sign-up forms on your website and other marketing channels
• Add pop-ups to your website when someone scrolls a percentage of the page or is about to leave your site
• Gate high-quality content
• Run giveaway and contests to build excitement
• Provide discounts and incentives for joining

However, you choose to do it, start building that subscriber list — and never stop working to grow it! Your list will constantly be changing, and you’ll inevitably lose some subscribers, so it’s essential to be reaching new audiences continuously.

Step 3: Create Your First Email Marketing Campaign

After you’ve nailed down the perfect platform and started to build a substantial subscriber list, now it’s time to create your first email marketing campaign!

Determine what type of campaign you want to start with. Will it be a nurturing campaign that moves subscribers towards a purchase? Or maybe it’s a triggered campaign based on shopping behavior. Either way, choose one campaign type and start getting creative!

Once you have that first campaign under your belt, you can start to understand how your customers are engaging with your content and apply that to your future efforts. The more campaigns you develop, the easier it will get and the more content you’ll have to keep your customers engaged.

10 Popular Email Marketing Platforms

The first step in getting started with email marketing was to invest in the right platform. This step is so important because it will help set you up with all the capabilities you need to succeed in your endeavors.

In this section, we’ll take a look at ten popular email marketing platforms that you should check out. So what are you waiting for — go ahead and dive in!

1) Listrak

Listrak is an all-in-one digital marketing platform for retailers and brands of all sizes. This platform will allow you to automate your email marketing efforts and take it a step further with advanced technology like AI and predictive analytics.

Never miss a sales opportunity with the help of cart abandonment emails. This platform will allow you to create automated triggers that identify audiences who have left items behind and send them reminder messages about the items. Image courtesy of Listrak.

Email Marketing Highlights:

• Effortlessly create eye-catching, responsive emails with the drag-and-drop responsive email editor tool
• Create customized email experiences through data-driven, intelligent journeys that engage audiences based on their real-time interactions
• Send abandonment messages that remind users about a product they were browsing and bring them back to your site to complete a purchase
• Set intelligent trigger campaigns that enroll subscribers into relevant campaigns such as welcome series, back-in-stock alerts, and more

What their customers are saying: 

“Our previous digital marketing provider could not deliver the results, product depth, and support that Listrak does. We could tell from the minute we began onboarding with Listrak, there was no comparison. They truly care about our business’ success and help us daily to maximize our growth” — Listrak Customer Testimonial

Pricing: This platform has customized pricing based on business needs. You’ll need to speak with a representative to learn more.

2) Sendinblue

With Sendinblue, you can send and manage all of your email needs in one central location. From quickly creating messages to integrating dynamic content and personalization into each message — it can all be done with this platform.

Personalization provides customers with the most relevant content, which then increases the chances of them converting. Integrating personalization into your emails easily should be a critical factor in choosing an automation platform.

Email Marketing Highlights:

• Use pre-built templates or quickly build emails from scratch with the intuitive drag and drop builder
• Dynamically integrate personalization into your messages to tailor each message and increase engagement
• Continue to grow your subscriber list as long as you want with unlimited lists and contacts
• Use A/B testing to better understand what elements your audiences engage most with and improve future content

What their customers are saying: 

“I love creating campaigns with the drag & drop builder! I just choose a template, then customize the design how I want.” — Sendinblue Customer Testimonial

Pricing: There are four plan options available for this platform, and pricing varies based on the number of emails you plan to send each month. The plans include the Free plan, the Lite plan starting at $25 per month, the Premium plan starting at $65 per month, and the Enterprise plan with customized pricing.

3) Mailchimp

There’s a good chance you’ve heard of this one before. Mailchimp is a great option for email marketing platforms and will provide you with all the tools you need to create effective email campaigns.

Having the ability to build automated workflows will allow you to move your customers through their purchasing journey with ease. You can identify exactly how you want to follow up with a customer based on whether they choose to interact with your content or not.

Email Marketing Highlights:

• Ensure your sending each email at the right time with send-time optimization tools designed to know when each user is most active
• Build personalized journeys for each of your customers through automated marketing workflows
• Send triggered emails that are sent to users to keep them engaged once they’ve completed a specified action
• Connect this tool with your eCommerce platform to leverage all of your customer data and increase sales

What their customers are saying:

“Mailchimp has essentially been our 6th man, and we’re only a team of 3. It’s allowed us to reach our customers (without having to do it manually) and customize everything, so it feels intimate and personal.” — Mailchimp Customer Testimonial

Pricing: There are four plan options available, and pricing increases based on the number of contacts you have. The plans include the Free plan, the Essentials plan starting at $9.99 per month, the Standard plan starting at $14.99 per month, and the Premium plan starting at $299 per month.

Read Also: Sendinblue vs Mailchimpre

4) Campaign Monitor

Campaign Monitor is an email marketing platform that gives you all the tools you need to connect with your customers with the right content at the right time. Whether you’re looking for ways to increase personalization or create revenue-driven campaigns, this tool can help you achieve your goals.

Creating beautiful and professional emails doesn’t have to take hours of your time. With the help of pre-designed templates and simple drag and drop editing, creating attention-grabbing emails can be done easier than ever.

Email Marketing Highlights:

• Make email creation simple with access to hundreds of professionally designed, templates or use the simple drag-and-drop editor to create your own
• Build and visualize unique a customer journey for each customer that moves them from awareness to decision and increases revenue
• Use personalization in your messages to build a stronger bond between your brand and your customers
• Improve segmentation with smart segments that allow you to hyper-target audiences and send the most relevant emails

What their customers are saying:

“We’ve been using Campaign Monitor for a variety of email needs, beyond just traditional email marketing and newsletters, like using automation to nudge people who haven’t completed their profiles in the Girlboss professional network. Overall, we’ve found all of the features easy for a small, nimble team to use.” — Campaign Monitor Customer Testimonial

Pricing: There are three plan options available and the pricing does increase based on the number of contacts you have. The plans include the Basic plan starting at $9 per month, the Unlimited plan starting at $29 per month, and the Premier plan starting at $149 per month.

5) Moosend

Moosend is an email marketing platform that will help you build custom campaigns that reach your audiences with the right message. By using actual customer data, you can create personalized experiences that result in more successful campaigns.

The more you know about your customers, the better you can serve content to them. With the ability to understand customer behaviors and intent, you can customize each email to their wants and needs.

Email Marketing Highlights:

• Easily create emails without the need to know and understand coding with the help of the drag and drop editor
• Level up your segmentation capabilities with the ability to break down your audiences based on real-time behaviors
• Get the analytics you need to know exactly how your campaigns are performing and where you might need to put a little extra work in
• Use advanced personalization to add more value to each email and give customers the content they want

What their customers are saying: 

“Moosend are everything they promised to be, and more! The communication is excellent, and both our Moosend account manager and technical support team help us meet our goals every time we needed them to. The product is also really intuitive and easy to use. I cannot recommend Moosend enough!” — Moosend Customer Testimonial

Pricing: There are three plan options available, and the pricing does increase based on the number of subscribers you have. The plan includes the Free plan, the Pro plan starting at $8 per month, and the Enterprise plan with customized pricing.

6) Drip

If you’re looking for a platform that will help you manage your emails and drive eCommerce, this is the tool for you. By making the email creation process simple and allowing you to use customer data and insights to drive campaigns, Drip can help you achieve your email marketing goals.

The Drip platform provides you with all the tools you need to create high-performing email campaigns. Understanding how each message is performing to find ways to integrate actual customer data — Drip makes it easy.

Email Marketing Highlights:

• Use customer data to send emails with dynamic content to relate to your customers
• Send behavior-based recommendations that encourage subscribers to engage with your content and convert
• Use A/B testing to drive continuous improvement opportunities and learn what resonates best with your audiences
• Create triggered campaigns that are sent to customers based on their interactions and behaviors with your brand

What their customers are saying: 

“We use Drip to collect, organize, and use data about their clients’ customers to grow ecommerce businesses 2X, 3X, and even 20X.” — Drip Customer Testimonial

Pricing: There is one plan option available that starts at $19 monthly and increases based on the number of subscribers you have.

7) EngageBay

EngageBay is a marketing automation platform that allows businesses to align marketing, sales, and support teams. While it has many additional features, it has the email marketing tools you need to create engaging campaigns.

Manage all of your emails in one central location with the EngageBay platform. From broadcast to triggered messages, this tool can help you do it all.

Email Marketing Highlights:

• Understand the entire customer journey and start integrating email marketing tactics to reach users at the right time
• Design emails at the click of a button and quickly get those messages out to your audiences
• Create automated campaigns that enroll your customers into targeted nurturing campaigns based on their interactions
• Create segments to create better content and improve targeting to ensure the right message is getting to the right customer

What their customers are saying: 

“Most basic and advanced tools you need in your online business is inside Engagebay, from lead generation, email marketing, page builder, CRM (alternative for Hubspot and Infusionsoft) and my most favorite is the marketing automation.” — EngageBay Customer Testimonial

Pricing: This platform has multiple programs and plan options available. The pricing for the marketing platform includes the Free plan, the Basic plan starting at $7.79 per month, the Growth plan starting at $14.99 per month, and the Pro plan starting at $29.99 per month.

8) Hubspot

Hubspot is an enterprise email marketing platform that can help you manage all of your email marketing needs. From subscriber management to campaign testing and optimization, Hubspot has the tools you need.

The Hubspot dashboard gives you everything you need to know about your email efforts in one central location. Whether you want to check open rates or see how people engaged with your message, it’s all at your fingertips.

Email Marketing Highlights:

• Make email creation simple with premade templates and a drag and drop editor that makes customization a breeze
• Integrate personalization into your emails with data such as lifecycle stage, list membership, and more
• Use A/B testing to optimize your campaigns and understand what’s working well with the right analytics
•  Automate email sending to save your team time and frustration

What their customers are saying: 

“I wanted to introduce HubSpot to Harley-Davidson because it helps us bring our customer experience to the forefront. It lets our sales and marketing teams work together to be able to provide the experience customers want.” — Hubspot Customer Testimonial

Pricing: This platform has a free plan available, but the Marketing Hub plan starts at $800 per month if you need more capabilities.

9) GetResponse

The GetResponse platform is a marketing automation tool that will provide you with various services, from email marketing to website building. Its powerful email marketing tools will be just what you need to get your email strategy up and running.

Creating professional emails doesn’t have to be complicated. With the help of this platform, you can easily create and customize emails for each individual in no time.

Email Marketing Highlights:

• Send newsletters to keep your customers up-to-date and informed on everything going on with your brand
• Create autoresponders that follow-up and nurture leads automatically
• Ensure messages are sent at the right time with the Perfect Timing and Time Travel delivery tools
• Send transactional emails such as receipts and reminders to keep customers in the loop

What their customers are saying: 

“GetResponse’s email marketing tools are consistent and reliable, even when I’m not.” — GetResponse Customer Testimonial

Pricing: This platform has four plan options, including the Basic plan starting at $15 per month, the Plus plan starting at $49 per month, the Professional plan starting at $99 per month, and the Max plan with customized pricing. Plan pricing does vary based on the number of subscribers you have.

10) MailerLite

MailerLite is an email marketing tool that can help you elevate your email strategy. Whether you’re looking to create and manage campaigns, implement automation or grow your subscriber list — MailerLite has your back.

Know who your customers are and how they’re engaging with your content. This then allows you to create customized workflows that serve them content based on their specific needs.

Email Marketing Highlights:

• Create outstanding email campaigns with the help of the drag and drop editor and newsletter templates
• Drive an increase in sales with eCommerce email campaigns
• Increase your subscriber base with landing pages, pop-ups, forms, and more
• Send the right message, to the right person, at the right time with personalization capabilities

What their customers are saying: 

“Today, most email marketing services offer automation and landing pages, but MailerLite is truly distinguished by its simple, beautiful UI and attentive customer service. Since making the switch, the Notion VIP email list has exploded, much thanks to the dependability and ease-of-use of MailerLite.” — MailerLite Customer Testimonial

Pricing: The pricing for this platform is based on the number of subscribers you have, and pricing starts at $10 per month.

Email Marketing is Here to Stay

As hard as people try to kill off email, it’s an adaptive marketing channel here to stay. This means that no matter what your brand sells or the industry you’re in — email is a vital communication channel.

This article should prove to be a good starting place to help kick-start your enterprise email marketing efforts, but now it’s up to you to get started and wow your customers.