5 Reasons Why You Should Have Your Own Email Marketing System

 

Today, we’re going to talk about 5 reasons why you should have your own email marketing system instead of relying on Gmail or Outlook or any other free service out there.

Email marketing is one of the best ways to build and grow your business, but it’s more than just clicking send. While most people know that having an email list can help with sales, they don’t realize how beneficial they can be, both on the front end and on the back end of the sales cycle.

1) Control – It’s easier than it looks

One thing that stands out about email marketing is that you have a lot of control over your email list. As long as you have an effective opt-in process, your readers will be more likely to join up because they are getting value from your content. 

Most people aren’t interested in endless bombardment with emails; they want relevant information when they want it, so as long as you can deliver on that front, there’s not much else to worry about. Also, if someone wants off your list or forgets to uncheck a box at some point (it happens), just remove them yourself. 

You decide who gets what information and when , there are no outside forces controlling what you can do or how many emails you send!

Rule #1: Avoid Spam 

This goes hand-in-hand with how much control you have over your own campaign. If you’re delivering information worth receiving, users will open, read and maybe even click links contained within those emails. 

This can help drive sales directly back to you or indirectly by referring others for additional products and services offered on your site. And as long as every message contains an unsubscribe link (which means nothing without proper notice in advance!) then everything is okay.

Just remember: The CAN-SPAM Act applies even to individuals sending their own newsletters . So make sure every single email addresses customers' needs instead of just begging for a sale; otherwise any business risks alienating their audience.

Rule #2: Send Regularly

Regardless of whether your newsletter goes out weekly, biweekly or monthly, consistency is key! Even though subscribers may see duplicates here and there (just do a better job writing!), most recipients would rather have something than nothing. It also helps keep you active and updated in their inboxes/schedules/calendars which gives more reasons for them to pay attention each time.

Choose one day per week (usually Sunday) to write these articles during scheduled work hours. Make sure everyone knows when that day will occur—this includes other team members so they know what days work best for creating new posts—and stick with it! When everyone knows where things fall into place naturally, working together becomes much easier overall. 

When you post too often, you're seen as a spammer. What kind of reputation does that get you? When you don't post often enough, your audience might forget about you. A good rule to follow: Shoot for 3-4 pieces of content per month and update your mailing list whenever necessary.

Rule #3: Include Link

While people enjoy getting a break from all their digital devices, they still love finding good deals online! Put yourself in your readers’ shoes and imagine why they might enjoy reading your copy vs. chasing down a price elsewhere on the Internet after clicking through multiple websites, which leads me to my next point. 

Engage Your Audience – 80/20 rules, this is where comes into play. When you start building an audience with email marketing as your goal (not just sales), you're more likely to make loyal followers who want to do business with you whether it's directly or indirectly (i.e., telling others about you). 

Plus, when someone clicks through a link in one of your messages, it shows them that you actually have valuable information worth sharing . So don't forget to include links within each email even if it's just one at most so customers can learn more about products or services you offer or get that nice discount they've been waiting for. 

Follow Up – This works especially well for social media users who can easily find new content via email as well as RSS feeds. By sending out newsletters regularly, you'll give potential buyers yet another chance to buy what you're selling because they receive additional reminders over time. There are no set standards here; some companies wait days or weeks before following up while others send four emails during one week alone. 

That decision will depend on what type of product(s) and/or service(s) you provide along with average response times for every client. But always remember: Failing to follow up means no follow-up! 

Rule #4: Don't Sell Until Ready

Unless you know how much supply and demand exists on both ends of your equation (i.e., how many products exist compared to how many buyers want them), there's really no need to talk money right away. Especially before giving away any free information! 

During these first few interactions, you're working hard towards gaining customer trust and confidence which helps earn their business later on down the road. After all, there's nothing wrong with reminding fans/followers that they should be saving money now by purchasing something else later if it helps build relationships now which meaning more visibility later.

 

2) Know exactly who is on your list

The most important reason for having your own email marketing system is that you know exactly who is on your list. Many businesses are discovering that their email lists are far from accurate, and send to people who have never opted in. This means that if a customer is not on your list, you will be violating CAN-SPAM laws when you send them emails promoting your business. 

Having your own system allows you to easily remove any people who are not on your list, meaning that you don’t have to worry about removing them manually as they contact you with questions or concerns. It also ensures that if someone joins a mailing list because of an ad they saw somewhere else (maybe even one of your competitors), they will automatically be removed as soon as they unsubscribe from that other list. 

Additionally, being able to see your current opt-in rate will give you a better idea of how effective your current strategies are. Knowing how many customers join vs. leave through those actions can help with future campaigns—and give you actionable insight into what content resonates most with your audience. 

In short: If you only use an external service provider, it’s impossible to accurately measure true engagement numbers and keep track of what leads actually made it into sales down the line. When you run your own system, you retain full control over these metrics, helping to ensure that all traffic sent to your website converts into profitable customers.

Also by sending emails using your own system, there is no discrepancy between what an internal team member thinks was sent out versus another user's interpretation of which messages were included in bulk emails. Avoid confusion by creating uniform systems for everyone within your organization to utilize. 

When everyone knows exactly where to find things and has access rights tailored to their needs, things become more streamlined—meaning less room for human error along the way. Overall, having your own email marketing system can make it easier to target a specific audience as well as retain contact information over time. It also reduces problems due to delivery issues (that happen with some external services) that are beyond your control.

While you may be able to save money when you use an external service provider, those savings could be offset by long-term costs associated with maintaining two separate databases if you switch over later on. Additionally, going with an external service means that if that provider goes down or falls behind on delivering reports, then all of a sudden you’re without crucial data about customers who are signing up or unsubscribing from your list—and new people might not hear about how amazing your company is at all! 

When you have your own system, it eliminates these concerns; problems become things you solve internally instead of relying on outside providers for assistance. As well as providing greater insight into customer interests and communication patterns, having your own email marketing system makes it easier to better maintain relationships once they have been established—which can lead to increased sales and customer loyalty as a result!

Additionally setting up a personalized email marketing system helps ensure that staff members within any department (sales) follow compliance procedures which can provide protection from future fines and fees incurred due to non-compliance issues relating directly back to email campaign management compliance systems in place today. 

Overall there are many reasons why having your own email marketing system should be highly considered even though it requires an initial investment before seeing results. Below is a full list of reasons why you should have your own email marketing system:

Additionally setting up a personalized email marketing system helps ensure that staff members within any department (sales) follow compliance procedures which can provide protection from future fines and fees incurred due to non-compliance issues relating directly back to email campaign management compliance systems in place today. 

Overall there are many reasons why having your own email marketing system should be highly considered even though it requires an initial investment before seeing results. Below is a full list of reasons why you should have your own email marketing system:

 

3) Control what goes out to the list

Unlike a service like MailChimp or Constant Contact, GetResponse, where you’re using their system to send email, your own email marketing platform allows you complete control over what gets sent out. Even if you want to send bulk emails or mass emails those emails go directly from your server to subscribers rather than going through an intermediary. 

This gives you complete control over branding and opens up lots of opportunities for segmentation and direct communication with those on your list. And if there’s ever a problem with getting email delivered, it’s no one else’s fault but yours. That's really important because poor deliverability is a reason people think they need an external email provider in the first place!

These are just five reasons why you should have your own email marketing system; hopefully that helps give you some ideas about how to approach things when developing something yourself. Feel free to drop any questions about managing your own mailings in comments below!

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They explain things using simple language without taking up too much space/words and do a good job at clarifying concepts without giving away answers but giving enough context for readers to understand them well enough. Overall, if somebody asked me whether they should read these articles or not after hearing me go on about how wonderful they are now...I'd recommend them wholeheartedly! My favorite post was How One Man Made $11 Million Over 8 Years By Picking Up The Trash . This had a very intriguing title and caught my attention immediately. 

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Maybe editors don't care about titles that mislead readers? Of course, it wouldn't make sense to change such titles since they aren't misleading; just meant to grab your attention. But maybe some restructuring/editing changes could've improved it like a smaller difference between start and middle sections (it seems like most editor's writing skills improve drastically once we get past introductions)...anyway, still glad I read it despite having low expectations after beginning. Besides that...it's hard for me to decide on a second favorite post as every topic seems fascinatingly different from another!

 

4) Measure results accurately

Once you’ve created your email marketing system, it’s time to get to work. It can be tempting to simply rush out and start sending emails but be sure that you measure results accurately. If your budget is tight, you may be tempted to collect emails and send out emails manually (using some sort of software or copy/paste tool). This is not a good idea! You should only invest in auto-responders (or an auto-responder service) if they come with a guaranteed open rate usually over 60%. 

If they don’t have those guarantees, stick with direct mail marketing; it may cost more initially but you'll be able to measure results quickly and get responses from prospects faster. A quick way to gauge their interest? Simply ask them if they want to learn more. Since direct mail allows for multiple offers and options, you can easily change up questions as needed. 

Email marketing offers less room for error so be careful how many different offers and call-to-actions you include in your message; it's best to keep things simple when first starting out until you have a better understanding of how each type of offer impacts response rates overall. If you run out of leads fast, consider creating landing pages to further segment prospects. These are great tools for turning one lead into three! All landing pages will eventually convert new leads into customers - even if the visitor isn't ready just yet. 

The sooner you can win them over though, the better off you'll be long term. Turn visitors into subscribers: Your primary goal with any email marketing campaign should be to turn visitors into subscribers by offering something interesting in exchange for a name and email address. Ideally, you’ll also integrate social media links into your messaging but always make sure that people are subscribed before adding other pieces to your strategy. 

Without subscribers who open and read each email in a series, there’s no reason to send future messages since all of your efforts will go unseen. Create relevant content for every stage of customer development: No matter what stage someone is at when visiting your site or signing up for your list, there’s probably still room to gather additional information about them as well as point them toward additional offerings that may peak their interest later on down the road. For example, if someone is interested in joining your auto-responder course but doesn’t want to enter their credit card information right away, allow them to sign up for a free trial and then encourage them via email follow-up at a later date. Focus on value throughout everything you do: Always focus on delivering value through everything you create whether it’s an automated sequence or customer survey - because without returning readers, subscribers won't last forever. 

So while collecting names is important early on, continuing to deliver useful tips, tricks and advice keeps everyone engaged... which means fewer unsubscribes (and ultimately fewer bounces!). Keep notes along the way: Don’t forget about keeping notes along the way either! Every list has its own personality when approached differently. When sending out your emails, you may want to add an open-ended question (what would you like to see more of?) or share a piece of feedback that you’ve recently received. 

Listen carefully and note how your subscribers respond. Not sure where to begin with email marketing? Get started with a template! If your hosting company includes basic templates, be sure to make them part of your strategy but if they don’t, it’s easy enough to find templates online. Be sure that any template you use is mobile-friendly as well; studies show that 62% of mobile emails open on smartphones as opposed to only 9% on desktop computers. If your template is already mobile-friendly, you can test it out on your phone; and if you're having trouble viewing it, think about changing providers. 

Of course, when it comes to email marketing strategies that are as unique as your business and brand, don't be afraid to play around with a few ideas - and definitely don't feel constrained to following any specific template! Remember: test a few ideas and never stop tweaking based on results (even if they aren't exactly positive!). There are plenty of ways to get creative with auto-responder sequences: You can customize everything from subject lines to content placement but remember that only roughly 1 in 3 subscribers will open or click anything below subject line.

 

5) Save time by setting up automation rules

Imagine you have to send an email each time a customer places an order, asking them to rate their experience. By using automation rules in your email marketing software, you can automate that task so you don’t have to worry about keeping track of which customers have received requests and which haven’t. Saving even just a few minutes per day on repetitive tasks like these adds up to major productivity gains over time. It also frees up your staff for other work as they won’t need to be responsible for sending emails that could easily be automated which lets them focus on more important things. 

Here are some specific examples of how you can automate:

1. Automatically follow up with new leads (depending on what stage they are at) by adding a series of follow-up messages to your drip campaign after someone has visited your website.
2. Automatically invite past visitors back into your sales funnel based on specific conditions such as time elapsed since last visit or pages viewed during previous visit
3. Create sequences or campaigns around specific products that trigger when someone interacts with those products in certain ways, such as searching for them or adding them to their cart. In our Shopify store we use product page goal funnels for many campaigns based around our products. - Update customer information by using form submissions on landing pages and thank you pages
4. Let customers opt into marketing emails through newsletter signup forms
5. Send triggered emails based on how frequently people open your emails (to engage them) or how often they click links inside your email (to get more engagement).
6. Optimize your ads and deals by sending email notifications if a customer clicks an ad but doesn’t buy anything
7. Respond automatically to negative reviews on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter by using If This Then That recipes for example, if someone posts a negative review on Facebook, IFTTT will send a message back asking for more information about what happened so I can try to address it and fix things. - Track how well your emails perform over time by creating business rules (aka if X then Y) based on click activity
8. Create templates that include segments of different email types and auto-fill them with data pulled from your store and apps when sending out marketing emails. For example, you could create an email template with placeholders for a product image, product title, price etc., then fill in those details when you actually send an email out based on some trigger (such as someone making a purchase). In Shopify, we've created highly customized email templates that allow us to use dynamic content such as live link tracking numbers
9. Finally and most importantly automate your email sequences based on people’s activity within your app or store. If a customer adds multiple products to their cart but doesn’t check out, they might need a reminder before they abandon their cart to try again later. Or maybe they added items to their wishlist so they can come back later when they have more money saved up for shopping online. Create triggered emails to respond appropriately in each of these cases, saving you time and giving customers better service than if you had simply sent them a single email sequence at some point in the future.
10. Smart Sequences do just that: take specific actions automatically depending on how someone interacts with your shop during an order (such as signing up for marketing emails if they click links inside emails). The result is highly personal experiences that are geared towards helping them take action when it matters most. - A smart sequence can be set to only trigger at a certain time, or after a certain number of days, or based on certain interactions from customers and their activity in your store. 
    
11. In Google Analytics we set business rules to identify email open rate and add contacts to our custom list if it's greater than 90%. If you're interested, here's a video tutorial showing how we did it . If you prefer Excel sheet trickery over coding, create a macro in Excel to auto-filter your contact list so it shows only new contacts since last time you checked!

 

Conclusion

Email marketing can be incredibly powerful and profitable if you know what you’re doing. Don’t take a risk and avoid dealing with angry customers, overused templates, or repetitive design. If you don’t have your own email marketing system, it’s time to get one. The only way to make sure that your email campaigns are successful is to plan them carefully, execute them tactfully, and track them honestly. Just a few well-placed emails could help double your revenue in less than two months. It’s up to you if you want to take advantage of it...and if that means you need to create an email marketing system from scratch then do it!