With more and more competition for your customer’s attention, support, and hard-earned dollars, companies need cost-effective and proven marketing strategies to help them grow. Connecting with your audience is as crucial as ever, and Electronic Direct Mail (EDM) marketing is a great place to start.

This marketing technique doesn’t cost much, it’s ethical rather than spammy, and it gives companies a chance to make real connections and engage with customers. Let’s jump in and learn more about EDMs, and how to do them well.

What is EDM marketing?

Electronic Direct Mail (EDM) marketing is a strategy used to engage with existing customers and potential customers alike. An EDM campaign can have many goals, such as building brand awareness, improving customer loyalty or converting new leads.

As a highly personalised and targeted marketing campaign, an EDM is extremely effective because if you use the right software, you can essentially perform a mass-marketing campaign where several customer types or groups receive different information. It feels less spammy, because the messages are more personalised.

For example, you might send existing customers a discount code for their next purchase as a thank-you for their loyalty. At the same time, a new website visitor (a new lead) might receive a different email to build trust in your brand. A long-term, very regular customer might get an email asking them to share their experience on social media and offer them a reward for doing so.

By using lead capture and email marketing software, you can automate much of the process, making EDM an extremely cost-effective way to connect with customers and build brand awareness. Another major benefit is the fact that your email subscriber list should all have consented to receive emails from you, another aspect that makes it feel less like spam.

Is EDM marketing the same as email marketing?

Yes and no. They are obviously similar in the sense that they use an email list, and you communicate your message to customers via email. But EDM marketing is essentially email marketing on steroids.

With basic email marketing, you follow three steps.

1. Build your subscriber list.
2. Send marketing emails.
3. Measure email performance.

However, when we consider EDM marketing, the process is more targeted. While all businesses do it slightly differently, EDM marketing may look more like this:

1. Build your subscriber list
2. Break your list into groups/segments
3. Send tailored emails to each customer group
4. Use autoresponders to manage responses
5. Follow up with secondary emails for customers who have read but not responded
6. Serve remarketing ads, online ads or even local print ads
7. Measure campaign performance

An EDM marketing campaign may also include social media campaigns, Google Ads campaigns and other forms of marketing. Ideally, it’s about exposing customers to your business as much as possible, but in a very targeted way, rather than just bombarding them with ads and emails everywhere they turn.

Tips for crafting effective EDMs

Now that you know what Electronic Direct Mail marketing is, let’s take a look at some tips for ensuring your campaigns hit the mark.

Choose your software

In theory, you don’t need a lot in order to start an email campaign. Really, you just need an email provider, which most businesses already have. You can even get by using a simple free service such as MailChimp, but these systems often only give you basic features.

If you use a CRM already, you can access a range of built-in EDM features. Alternatively, look for some email marketing software. It’s not necessarily expensive, but there will be a cost – most platforms have tiered subscriptions to suit your business size. The reason to invest in software is the features such as subscriber list segmentation, automated workflows, autoresponders and even all your performance reporting.

Build your subscriber list

Naturally, if you don’t have a subscriber list, you’ll find it very difficult to send marketing emails. There are countless ways to build a subscriber list, and you can check out our email marketing tips article for more information. Many companies use lead magnets, such as free trials, discount codes, free whitepaper downloads, and more. You may also like to use lead capture forms and software (also usually built into your CRM).

Create your customer groups

Segmenting your customers is the next step, and it’s important because it allows you to tailor messages to different groups. You can choose any way you like to segment your customers, such as:

• Location-based
• Behavioural, such as browsing habits
• Demographics, such as age, gender, income etc.
• Psychographic, such as your customer’s interests and hobbies

These are just a few examples, and you can go as deep as you want into customer segmentation. The more segmented, the more targeted your messages can be. However, it’s also more time-consuming, and you’ll need to write more versions of your marketing emails.

Craft your emails

Now comes the time to write your emails. Naturally, the exact process will differ depending on the software or systems you use. But essentially, it’s a matter of writing a different email for each customer group. Remember that some campaigns will also include multiple follow-up emails, so you’ll need to create them, too.

Your emails can literally be about anything you want them to be. Just ensure they are relevant to your customers, offer value, and don’t come across as too overbearing. EDM marketing can be great for introducing new products or services, advertising sales, letting customers know their favourite products are back in stock, or even just offering a discount code to customers who haven’t purchased for a while. The sky is the limit.

Using autoresponders

If your subscriber list is big, you’ll want to set up autoresponders. In simple terms, autoresponders send an email based on certain triggers. For example, a customer’s birthday or if they visit your site without making a purchase. They can also be time-based, for example, asking for feedback a month after a purchase.

Just like the emails you send, autoresponders can say whatever you like, as long as they are relevant to the trigger. Some basic ones include order confirmations, payment receipts, and abandoned shopping cart reminders.

Use other marketing campaigns

EDM marketing is just one way to connect with customers. But there are so many others out there, too. Running other marketing campaigns alongside EDM is a great way to build brand awareness. For example, while your customers receive your emails, you can also make sure they see you on social media, receive social media ads, and remarketing ads. You can even use traditional campaigns such as print or radio, especially if you’re a local business. These forms of marketing, while still targeted, are more indirect, so customers don’t feel like you’re hounding them with spam. They simply see your branding pop up more and more during their online activities, reinforcing your brand credibility.

Track your performance

It’s crucial to track the performance of your EDM marketing because this allows you to refine the process in the future. Most email marketing software, and of course, CRMs, include plenty of analytics. Again, every company has different goals. But you could choose to measure how many people open the email, how many clicks you generate, how many people subscribe or unsubscribe – the list is endless. Just always make sure your reporting aligns with what you’re trying to achieve. If results don’t go your way immediately, refine your message and campaign accordingly.

For expert advice and a comprehensive suite of digital marketing services to help your business grow, contact the team at RealClicks today.