7 Steps to Effectively Integrate EDM into Your Online Store Activities

Electronic Direct Mail, often known as EDM marketing, is primarily concerned with one thing: and no, it is not emailing. It's all about relationships. Create personal and communicative connections with your e-commerce and e-business clientele.

Contact can be made by anybody and on any platform. All companies may broadcast their thoughts into the ever-expanding echo chamber that is today's internet scene. But, as an internet company owner, you should want and need to send targeted, specific, differentiated, and appealing messaging straight to your target market!

EDM marketing is about building a database of potential clients, entry-level clients, most loyal clients, etc. This database is your key to successfully marketing your online business—to build relationships, secure conversions, and develop the kind of brand loyalty that makes customers only have eyes (and ears) for you!

Let's go over the seven stages for incorporating EDM into your online business activity.

Step 1: Choose Your EDM Marketing Platform

ESPs (Email Service Providers) take first place in this category. They provide customized and efficient EDM solutions. If you're presently keeping your contacts in an excel spreadsheet, that's fantastic, but switching to an ESP will give you more.

With features like list segmentation, autoresponders, automated workflows, and analytics, your simple contact list will be transformed into a dynamic and successful marketing platform.

Most e-commerce systems work with ESPs or offer APIs that you may utilize. MailChimp is supported by Shopify, Shoplazza, Wix, etc. You can even design a landing page within the email.

Step 2: Consolidate Your List

Contact and lead lists are required for EDM marketing efforts to be successful. If you have an active e-commerce site, you most likely already have a list of consumers and leads, and here is where you start. Your selected ESP will let you integrate every contact you have and use this to develop your database.

You’ll need a lead magnet if you’re new to the game. Things like 30-day trials, 25%-discount codes, and interactive quizzes are excellent places to start. Another good tip is to provide potential clients with multiple ways to sign up. Lead capture forms, embedded content forms, and floating action buttons are all effective options.

Step 3: Segmentation

When your list is large and full of delicious contacts, it's time to start segmenting. The key to efficient internet marketing for your e-commerce firm is to target certain demographics—the more personalized the messaging, the more successful the campaign.

The following are a good starting point for segmentation:

• Demographic
• Psychographic
• Geographical
• Behavioral

Step 4: Campaign Creation

Your list is compiled and segmented, and now you’re ready to send tailor-made marketing gems to every contact. Remember that tailor-made is critical here. Each group has different needs and responds to messages differently.

Remember the following:

• Speak their language;
• Include eye-catching visuals;
• Write enticing subject line copy;
• Stay true to your brand message;
• Follow anti-spam regulations.

Step 5: Activate Autoresponders

Autoresponders are emails sent to contacts in response to a range of triggers. Triggers might be specified activities, such as opting in, responding to an email, or setting precise timeframes.

Common and effective autoresponder emails include:

• Birthday greetings;
• Bills, invoices, receipts;
• Behavior-based content emails;
• Abandoned cart reminders.

Step 6: Tracking

Even the most effective EDM campaigns are useless unless they’re tracked. You have to use tracking to understand what works, what doesn’t, and what modifications must be made.

The essential tracking metrics for an EDM campaign include:

• The open email rate;
• Clickthrough rate (CTR);
• Click-to-open rate;
• List growth rate;
• Email sharing rate;
• Unsubscribe rate.

Step 7: Integrated Campaigns

Your EDM efforts should include all of your other marketing activities to develop a unified brand message. Social media postings, SMS marketing, online push notifications, and other offline activities, for example, should be coordinated and linked with your EDM campaign.

(Contributed by Aneeca Younas & Hermes Fang)