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If you look at your spam folder right now, what will you see? Probably a combination of any of the following:
Spammers harvest email addresses from dubious sources and indiscriminately send advertisements that people never signed up for. Under the CAN-SPAM Act, this is illegal. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), “each separate email in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act is subject to penalties of up to $43,280.”
The European Union’s (EU) GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) also requires explicit consent for certain forms of data processing.
Electronic direct mail (EDM) marketing is a digital marketing strategy that targets large groups of people in order to find leads, build relationships with potential customers, and boost sales.
EDM marketing is, in fact, a form of email blasting, but what it definitely should not be is spamming.
In this guide, we will discuss what EDM marketing is, how it’s different from email marketing, and the steps to follow when running an EDM campaign.
EDM marketing involves strategic and continuous database building and refining, with the intention of sending personalized communications tailored to the different segments of your contact database.
Although EDM is primarily email marketing, it also uses other marketing platforms to communicate and reinforce the EDM campaign’s message, including:
Since EDM marketing involves other digital marketing techniques to maximize results, it’s safe to say that it’s more than email marketing or e-blasting. In fact, email marketing is just one component of it.
This type of marketing campaign can be defined by a few specific characteristics.
The “see if it sticks” technique that email blast campaigns of yore propagated no longer works.
Aside from spam being illegal, email recipients are now more discerning. They know they have the power to choose what they see in their inbox. Between their peace of mind and a company that puts its needs above theirs, there is no doubt that they’ll choose themselves.
As with other forms of direct marketing, EDMs must be created with a specific demographic in mind. This entails efficiently segmenting your subscriber database, so you can create offers that align with the needs of your intended recipients.
Mobile usage is continually on the rise. In fact, recent data from eMarketer shows that in 2019, “the average U.S. adult will spend more time engaging with their mobile devices than watching TV.” Of the total time spent on mobile, 70% will be on smartphones.
That is reason enough to keep in mind that your EDMs must be optimized for mobile and that your content renders beautifully across devices.
As we’ve briefly mentioned, EDM marketing is, at its core, email marketing but works beyond the email marketing sphere to reinforce campaign messaging. Both have the same objective, which is to elevate the value of the organization by building and strengthening relationships with subscribers.
Organizations use them to:
Another characteristic that email marketing and EDM marketing share is measurability.
Even if your email or EDM campaigns don’t achieve the results you expect, you have reports and analytics data that tell you exactly what worked and what didn’t. Vital audience insights and intelligence will help you improve future campaigns.
EDM marketing involves other marketing channels. If you think email marketing alone isn’t enough to get you the results you need, then run an EDM campaign. You can retarget subscribers who clicked on an email link via Facebook Custom Audiences and Google AdWords Remarketing, for example.
One important marketing 101 reminder: Your results will depend on the quality of your lists, so make sure your database is updated, clean, and properly segmented.
To get started with EDM marketing, follow the steps below.
When working with small lists, simple tools like Excel may work, but once you’ve established a bigger database, email marketing software will be a huge benefit. These solutions come with workflow automation features such as autoresponders (more information on autoresponders below).
If you’re just starting out, Mailchimp and Sendinblue offer “free forever” plans with limited features, while VerticalResponse, ActiveCampaign, and Constant Contact let you try their software for free for 60 days, 14 days, and 30 days respectively.
The success of your campaigns hinges on the quality of your names list, so make sure you’re getting your data from legitimate sources and that you’re consistently cleaning your database.
If you’ve been in business for a while, you can consolidate your contacts from sources such as:
If you’re starting from scratch, try some of these email list building strategies:
Next comes list segmentation.
To send your subscribers targeted emails, you need to classify them accordingly. If you’re running a flash sale in a store in New York, for example, sending coupon codes to subscribers in California and Nevada is probably not a good idea.
Your segmentation criteria will depend on your objectives, but you can use attributes such as:
Now you’re ready to create your campaign and start an email message. With email marketing platforms, you usually would have to navigate to a “create campaign” page to start the process. From there, you can add your recipients or choose them from a list, and then design your content.
Some important things to remember when creating your campaign message:
Autoresponders automate email sending. They are essentially computer programs that perform an action in response to a trigger.
Triggers can be:
Common autoresponder uses include:
Tracking how your campaigns fare against marketing objectives is the first step towards improving engagement and boosting conversions. Some of the metrics and marketing KPIs (key performance indicators) you should be tracking for each EDM campaign include:
Depending on your objectives, complement your email marketing campaign with other marketing strategies, such as PPC, remarketing/retargeting, social media, SMS, or even offline advertising.
Email marketing software applications are a vital tool in the modern marketer’s arsenal.
These applications allow you to plan your campaigns, monitor results, collaborate with team members, and automate everyday tasks that would potentially eat most of your time if you did them manually.
Above all, email tools have powerful marketing analytics features that measure the effectiveness of your campaigns.
Email is still one of the most powerful forms of marketing. With EDM marketing, you get the most out of your campaigns by complementing traditional email marketing initiatives with other marketing approaches.
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