The Definitive Technical Guide to Email Marketing

The Definitive Technical Guide to Email Marketing

Blog-ui -Welcome to my Definitive Guide to Technical Email Marketing. In this tutorial, I will go over all of the ideas and subjects that you should be familiar with before diving into the realm of email marketing.

I'll talk about the following topics:

 Overview of Email Marketing:

• What exactly is email marketing?
• Is Email Marketing Still Effective?
• Email Marketers Come in a Variety of Styles.
• Structure of the Email Marketing System 

Deep Email Marketing System

• What exactly is SMTP?
• What exactly is an Email Marketing Application?
• Email Marketing Services.

Email List Building.

• What exactly is list building?
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• What are lead magnets?
• 
  
• What Exactly Are Opt-In-Forms?

Crucial Terminologies

• Rates of Open and Click
• Inbox and Spam.
• The email is bouncing.
• Reputation of IP Addresses and Domains

Finally, I'll tell you about my own email marketing system and how I developed it.

Overview of Email Marketing:

What exactly is email marketing? (please also read Email Validator)

Simply put, email marketing is a kind of digital marketing in which you gather emails from people who are interested in a certain specialty (List Building).

 

Then you send emails to those folks marketing a service, product, blog, or anything else you can think of in order to boost your revenue and web traffic.

The Advantages of Email Marketing

When compared to other digital marketing techniques, the major advantage of email marketing is primarily two:

@1  Price: Did you know you can send up to 100,000 emails for only $10?

Later, I'll show how you can save a lot of money with Email Marketing, particularly if you utilize your own email marketing system.

@2  Ease of Use: It's Easy to Use Email Marketing Automation!

Today, we have a plethora of email marketing platforms like as MailChimp, Aweber, GetResponse, and others that make it simple for you to manage your email marketing campaigns, email lists, and everything else.

Even if you use your own system, which will be far less expensive, you may have the same simplicity and features as those firms.

Is Email Marketing Still Effective?

Without a doubt, YES!

• Today, email is used by 94 percent of Internet users, while social media is used by just 61 percent.
• Email marketing is the preferred marketing strategy for 75% of adult web users.
• The “opt-in” aspect of email permits consent-based marketing, which means individuals are subscribing to your list and will allow you to sell to them and send them messages.
• When you construct your lists effectively, you may target a specific audience based on region, demographics, or hobbies, or simply individuals who enjoy your material.
• Email communications offer a considerably wider range of formatting options than social media messages. In the final portion, we'll go through email templates.
• Email allows you additional data and analytics, such as click-through rates, open rates, bounce rates, and conversions.

So, if you perform email marketing effectively, it may significantly improve your revenue. I will teach and advise you on how to start successfully and how to follow the best practices, so don't worry.

Email Marketers Come in a Variety of Styles.

I divide Email Marketers into two categories:

I refer to the first type as "bulk mailers."

The second group is known as "straight marketers."

Of course, I made these terms up to make it simpler for you to comprehend; they are not scientific.

Bulk mailers :

Bulk mailers are persons that gather, scrape, or buy people's addresses in order to send them promotional emails in order to promote their service or share an affiliate link in order to make a commission. They are regarded as spammers.

Because they are sending emails to persons who have not authorized them to do so and whom they do not know.

Marketers who are straight:

The “Legal” type of Email Marketing, in which websites and company owners promote their services and send updates and newsletters to only those who have registered to their lists.

Structure of an email marketing system

Where Do I Begin?

 

To put it simply, if you want to work with Email Marketing, you must first grasp the Email Marketing System Architecture.

Any email marketing system is made up of two parts:

Why do spammers exist?

• This is the technical part: the sender (SMTP service). You may use it to send emails via the internet.
• The Management Application, where you can create and manage your Email Lists, Marketing Campaigns, monitor and analyze outcomes, and control your sending servers, among other things.

As a result, we connect both to create an Email Marketing System.

We now have two options:

• We may use an Email Marketing Company that combines all elements into a single platform, such as MailChimp, Aweber, Getresponse, or others.
• Alternatively, you may create your own email marketing system by creating or subscribing to a Sending Service (SMTP) such as AWS SES, Mailgun, Mandrill, etc.

Installing an email marketing application such as Mailwizz, Mailster, Mamura, Interspire, or others.

Then you connect the two and you have your own system.

Using your own system has just one minor disadvantage: constructing the system manually for the first time, which might take up to 2-3 days to set up correctly. However, you will be able to send ten times as many emails at a fraction of the cost.

For example, you may send up to 100K emails for as little as $10.

2. Deep Email Marketing System

What exactly is SMTP?

.

I said that the SMTP service is the initial component of an email marketing system, but what exactly is SMTP?

SMTP, or Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, is a technical word that simply refers to a network protocol that is in charge of delivering emails over the internet.

jabetto.com

What exactly is an Email Marketing Application?

Now that we have an SMTP server that can send emails, the major concern is how do I send emails? How can I store my email lists and set up email marketing campaigns? How can I track my campaigns and send automated email messages?

Simply link an Email Marketing application to the SMTP service, and we can monitor and oversee everything as the app sends emails via the SMTP. 

Services for Email Marketing

The other option is to sign up for an Email Marketing service that will provide you with both components (SMTP and the Application) in one straightforward, uncomplicated platform, without having to worry about any technical things.

Which email marketing solution is the most effective?

When selecting a service, you should consider the four factors listed below:

• Price
• Features
• Simplicity
• Support

1. Pricing:

I'll conduct a quick comparison of the top five email marketing providers.

Assume we have a list of 5000 contacts (emails).

And we want to send an infinite amount of emails to those contacts each month.

All businesses will begin with at least $49 per month.

1. MailChimp costs $74.99.
2. CampaignMonitor costs $49 per month.
3. 79$ for GetResponse
4. AWeber costs $49 per month.
5. ConvertKit costs $79 USD.

As you can see, all services start at 49$ for 5000 contacts, and you can go up to 400$ for 75000 contacts, and so on.

2. Features: 

When we compare characteristics, we see that the majority of the services have very identical features.

Yes, some, like GetResponse, offer funnel builders, while others, like AWeber, provide image hosting options.

However, when it comes to the fundamental email marketing capabilities, such as list building and administration, campaign management and monitoring, forms builder, and connectors.

All of these tools have the same tremendous capabilities.

3. Simplicity

 All of these top firms have simple platforms that anyone can learn to use in a single day.

4. Support 

All have great support and response in general.

So, what should you do?

To make things easier for you, if you've just started your online business and don't have a large list, and you only need the essential email marketing tools, go to the price page and select the lowest package, or even the Free plan.

If you believe you want additional features, you may compare each one and the comprehensive characteristics that each one offers, and then choose the one that best suits your needs.

However, if your company is expanding and you are planning large email marketing campaigns, you may go ahead and develop your own Email Marketing system if you cannot pay the recurrent fees of these businesses.

With your system, you may send 100,000 messages to an infinite number of subscribers for for $10.

Creating Your System

Okay, in order to create your email marketing system, you must configure and set up two things:

• The SMTP Server is number one (the sender)
• The Email Marketing software.

 

“I don't have any IT abilities, and I don't want to worry my brain with this stuff!” you may say.

I'm here to take something you believe is difficult and turn it into a piece of cake. YES!

Create an SMTP server with a “Sending Score” of 10/10.

So the first step is to create the sender server, also known as the SMTP server.

We may construct this server utilizing a variety of methods and applications, including:

• Postfix server
• PowerMTA
• Exim
• Sendmail

If you are unfamiliar with these words, don't be concerned.

Alternatively, you may use an SMTP provider such as AWS SES, Mailgun, or Mandrill.

Then, install an email marketing solution such as Mailwizz, Mailster, or another. Then you link both and your system will function as though you are a MailChimp or other service subscriber.

What is the procedure for this?

You must configure an SMTP service such as Amazon SES, which is the cheapest SMTP service in comparison to all other SMTP providers and offers excellent performance sending rates with a great delivery score.

• Postfix server
• PowerMTA
• Exim
• Sendmail

If you are unfamiliar with these words, don't be concerned.

Alternatively, you may use an SMTP provider such as AWS SES, Mailgun, or Mandrill.

Then, install an email marketing solution such as Mailwizz, Mailster, or another. Then you link both and your system will function as though you are a MailChimp or other service subscriber.

What is the procedure for this?

You must configure an SMTP service such as Amazon SES, which is the cheapest SMTP service in comparison to all other SMTP providers and offers excellent performance sending rates with a great delivery score.

3. Creating Email Lists

What exactly is list building?

Okay, now that we've figured out the email marketing system.

Where do I begin?

 

The first step is to develop a business strategy and consider how you will gather leads (emails) and create your email lists.

So List Building is the act of organizing emails into Lists. So you may email them... I believe that is self-evident.

What exactly is a lead magnet?

Using a Lead Magnet is the simplest and most frequent approach to correctly create Email Lists.

Simply said, a lead magnet is anything that is given away for free in return for people's email addresses.

It may be a free booklet, course, software, or anything else. However, it is preferable to be linked to your service and people's interests in order to develop a focused email list.

Also, it is critical to provide a High-Quality Lead Magnet so that people will trust you and want to acquire your premium priced services later when you promote via email.

There are several additional techniques and approaches you may do to develop a Targeted email list.

It is the notion of list building in general. Let us now go over some additional information and different techniques to develop and grow your email lists, as well as go over some practical examples.

 

Newsletter Subscription

 

It is the fundamental strategy for email collection. Almost every website will have a box somewhere on the page asking you whether you want to subscribe to the newsletter and get updates.

So, if you are interested in the content of that website, you will subscribe to get updates.

How do I include subscription forms?

 

It is really simple nowadays because virtually everyone uses WordPress, Blogger, Joomla, or even a pre-made website that has such forms by default.

How do I include subscription forms?

 

It is really simple nowadays because virtually everyone uses WordPress, Blogger, Joomla, or even a pre-made website that has such forms by default.

 

Simply link these forms to your email marketing platforms such as MailChimp, Aweber, or your own application such as mailwizz or Mailster.

 

Optin boxes that pop up or glide in

 

You may employ timed popups on your website to display when someone is reading an article or such.

Best practices and pointers:

 

Sense of humor: To grow your email list, consider putting some personality into your call to actions, such as this one from Optimonk:

Use terms like "Download," "Featured," "Exclusive," and "Access" instead of "Sign Up" and similar phrases to provide value to your call to actions.

Allow individuals to form their own opinions about the value or benefits they will receive if they subscribe.

Use Timing: Psychologically, if you set the offer for a limited period, you will attract more people to subscribe. You may show a countdown timer to encourage people to receive your offer before it expires.

Incorporate your newsletter into your social media profiles, forum profiles, and email signatures.

 

If you have a following on Twitter, LinkedIn, or a fan base on Facebook, Pinterest, Quora, or any other Social Network or Discussion Forum, try to inject your Newsletter in these areas to gain new subscribers.

 

Host a Giveaway:

 

Giveaways are often regarded as one of the most effective tactics for expanding not just your email list but also your presence on social media, YouTube, and other platforms.

 

To design and administer a Giveaway, you may utilize platforms such as easypromosapp, rafflecopter, shortstack, or gleam.io.

Paid Facebook Lead Ads:

 

You may utilize Facebook Ads to launch a campaign with the goal of collecting leads, and users will be able to sign up straight from Facebook. The email list may then be exported from Facebook to your email marketing solution.

There are many more techniques and tactics for growing email lists that you may utilize, but this was a highlight of the most well-known strategies used by marketers.

Crucial Terminologies

Rates of open and click:

For example, when you conduct an email marketing campaign, you may send a message to 1000 people.

Of course, not everyone will read the message.

As a result, the open rate of this campaign is the proportion of individuals that open the message. I believe the concept is straightforward.

For instance, if 300 individuals opened the message, the open rate is 30%.

The same is true for click rate, which is the proportion of persons who clicked on any of the message's links.

It is critical to track both Open and Click rates and evaluate the findings to determine how successful your efforts are.

What is the best way to monitor?

This feature is often incorporated into all email marketing programs.

So, whether you have your own email marketing system or subscribe to an email marketing service (as previously stated), you will be able to readily monitor these data.

 

You should also be aware that you may do a split test. You divide your campaign into two campaigns and modify the subject line and content, as well as utilize different SMTP servers.

Then you compare the results to discover which campaign fared the best.

Spam and Inbox: Email marketers' worst nightmare!

 

I am constantly bombarded with hundreds of questions:

 

“How can I get to the inbox?”

 

“My emails are being sent to spam. Please assist!”

 

“How can I get through spam filters?”

 

as well as related inquiries

 

When you send an email to anybody, it may be classed as spam and will not arrive in the inbox.

 

As a result, the receiver will not be aware of the message, lowering your open and click rates and causing your email marketing campaigns to fail.

Why are emails classified as spam?

 

We have three major characteristics that may flag your emails as spam.

 

Spammy Keywords: There is a list of keywords and terms that are classified as spam keywords; if your message or subject contains one of these keywords, it will most likely be labelled as spam.

 

DNS records and message authentication (Dkim, rDNS, SPF): SPF (Sender Policy Framework): SPF is an abbreviation for "Sender Policy Framework."

 

An SPF record is a TXT record published to your Domain DNS Zone that allows you to specify which mail servers are permitted to deliver emails from your domain.

 

Messages submitted from servers not included in the SPF record will be tagged as spam or discarded.

You can't, for example, send an email from your own server and configure your sending email as "mail@google.com," since you can't utilize Google's domain. It implies that you are attempting to spam.

 

Similarly, you may setup SPF to prohibit anyone from using your domain to send emails. As a result, configuring SPF is critical when it comes to making your domain trustworthy by other mailing providers.

 

Dkim (DomainKeys Identified Mail): Dkim is an abbreviation for DomainKeys Identified Mail.

 

A Dkim record is a DNS text record that contains a public authentication key. This key will be confirmed using a private key that has been kept secretly on your server.

 

All emails will be signed, which will prevent changes and safeguard your email's authenticity, which is critical for your server to archive good sending ratings.

 

Reverse DNS (rDNS): The reverse DNS is known as a pointer record, and it is used to direct your IP address to your domain; it is the inverse of the standard DNS A record.

 

As a result, when you dial the IP, you will be given the name. It is also an important component in configuring your mail server and improving your sending score and reputation.

The State of Your Email List: It is critical to keep your email lists healthy and clean in order to keep your mailing system healthy. To maintain your email list healthy, remove any inactive or invalid emails that may cause your bounce rate to rise, which may harm your reputation.

Reputation of IP and Domain

When you construct an SMTP server or subscribe to an SMTP service such as Amazon SES and obtain a dedicated IP address.

 

You will be assigned a score for both your IP address and your domain. This score decides whether or not your server sends it to the inbox.

 

As a result, a higher Score indicates a strong reputation, which translates to better delivery to the mailbox.

Email is being bounced.

Bounce rates and bounce handling are important considerations if you want to conduct professional and effective email marketing campaigns.

 

What exactly is a Bounced Email?

 

Simply put, when you send an email to someone and it is not delivered for any reason, it bounces back. As a result, it is referred to as a bounced email.

 

Why Do Emails Fail?

 The primary reason for this is when the target recipient's email address is unavailable or does not exist. If the target email is momentarily unavailable, you will receive a Soft Bounce; if it does not exist at all, you will receive a Hard Bounce.

The most important thing to understand is that your bounce rate will have a big impact on your email marketing system, since greater bounce rates may result in you being blacklisted and having your IP and domain reputation reduced. As a result, your emails will be tagged as spam.