Email Marketing: Strategies and Benefits

Importance of Email Marketing

• Email marketing has a larger reach compared to other forms of marketing.
• It delivers messages directly to the intended audience.
• Email marketing drives conversions effectively.
• It provides a higher return on investment (ROI).
• Email is a preferred communication channel for many.
• Email marketing is an open platform accessible to all.
• Email marketing is anticipated to remain relevant long-term.

Benefits of Email Marketing

• Allows for the creation of personalized content.
• Facilitates the collection of feedback and surveys.
• Improves sales performance.
• Serves as a direct communication channel with the target audience.
• Generates traffic to a website by including links within emails.
• Enables the sending of timely campaigns.
• Effective in increasing leads.
• Helps in reaching the right people at the right time.
• Produces cost-effective campaigns.
• Provides value to the audience.
• Offers a forum for self-promotion.
• Provides ownership of media and contact lists.

Private Domain Importance

• Securing a private domain is a fundamental step when starting a business.
• Using a private domain (e.g., myname@mycompany.com) is essential and has advantages over using a public domain (e.g., mycompany@gmail.com).
• Using a private domain improves email delivery.
• It provides enhanced security measures.
• It ensures trustworthiness.

How to get a domain

• When brainstorming domain ideas avoid hard to spell words.
• Avoid numbers and hyphens in the domain name.
• Aim for a ".com" domain extension.
• Use services like whois.net to check the availability of the desired domain.
• Register the domain through services like www.wix.com or www.godaddy.com

Google Workspace Setup

• Register for an account and complete the Google Workspace setup wizard.
• Adding other users to the account is optional.
• Verify domain ownership with Google by adding a TXT record to DNS records.
• Set up email by adding MX records to ensure proper email routing.
• You need to create a Google Workspace account.
• Indicate if the business already has a domain name.
• If there's an existing website and Google Workspace is desired, select "Yes, I Have One I Can Use".
• Enter a username and password, noting the username becomes the business email (username@yourdomain.com).

Domain Verification with Google

• Domain ownership must be verified with Google through a TXT record.

MX Records

Journey of an Email

• The sender composes and uploads emails using an email service provider (ESP).
• The ESP allocates an IP address.
• The email travels through the internet, "knocking" on the receiver's mail agent.
• The email undergoes validation, including authentication, SPF checks, and compliance verification.
• Reputation, content, volume, and spam complaints are all checked.
• The email passes through the receiver's firewall.
• The email lands in the inbox or spam folder.

Email Checklist

• Elements to consider are From Email ID, To Email IDs (Database), Email Content (2nd module), Email Template Design (3rd module), Authentication, Reputation.
• It is important to have Corporate Firewall.

Email Anatomy

• "From name" refers to the sender's displayed name.
• "From email ID" is the sender's email address. E.g. notify@sethgodin.com
• "Subject line" is the email's title.
• "Pre-Text" displays a short preview message in the inbox.
• The IP address of the sender which is typically not visible.

Authenticating Emails with SPF Records

• SPF records help protect against identity theft by specifying which mail servers are authorized to send emails on behalf of a domain.
• If an email originates from an unauthorized server, ISPs will block it.
• Hosting providers offer instructions on how to add an SPF record (a line of text).

DKIM Authentication

• DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) assigns responsibility for message delivery to an organization.
• The Identifier's reputation ensures email delivery.
• DKIM verifies the domain through encryption.
• Updating your DKIM CName for each of the domains which emails will be sent from is recommended.

Compliance

• Email compliance in corporate and ESP settings ensures emails adhere to legal and ethical standards.

Reputation Score Factors

• Reputation depends on the content's quality.
• Use subject lines that encourage opens and design campaigns to avoid spam filters.
• Filters
• Volume
• Blacklisting
• Reputation depends on email marketing metrics that lead to engagement.
• Marked as Spam

CAN-SPAM Act of 2003

• The CAN-SPAM Act includes that misleading header information or deceptive subject lines are not used.
• To identify the message as an ad.
• Tell recipients where you're located.
• Provide recipients a way to opt out.
• Honor opt-out requests promptly.
• Monitor the actions of affiliates.