What is EDM Marketing? Benefits, Examples & Tools

According to a report named “Email statistic report”, the number of active email users is over 3.9 billion and there are more than 239 billion email sent and received every day globally in 2019. Hence, it can be denied that email has become more and more important in our life both in personal and working life..

It is the reason why email marketing nowadays plays an integral part in business, especially in marketing. However, besides email marketing, other marketing types also include email as the central part and somehow is better than email marketing – It is EDM Marketing.

What Does EDM Stand For?

EDM is Electronic Direct Mail, which runs by sending out emails. EDM is a form of marketing and it can be considered a procedure that people collect the emails of customers and the potential ones to establish a database. After having a database, the emails will be straightforwardly delivered to them to start communicating or offering them special deals.

However, EDM is not just email communication; it is a long-term strategy in which people take advantage of plentiful means of communication to send and receive information and make the message of the campaign stronger. Remarketing advertising, social media, Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns, and Offline advertising are methods that are often used in EDM marketing.

Besides, due to having the same results, an EDM campaign is usually mistaken for an email marketing campaign. They are to establish and enhance customers’ loyalty and convert more sales. In fact, both EDM and email marketing belong to marketing but they are not the same, each type reaches its goal in different ways. So, what are the differences between EDM marketing and email marketing? Let’s move to the second part!

EDM Marketing vs Email Marketing: What’s The Difference?

As mentioned above, both EDM marketing and email marketing exploit emails to achieve the same targets: improve the relationship between your brand and customers (both current and potential), and increase sales. They also regard email as the key point in their marketing strategy.

Therefore, in some contexts, they can be used to replace each other. However, they are not really the same, which is why people often feel confused in distinguishing these two campaigns.

Email marketing

In detail, the email marketing campaign is a strategy that the company exploits just one channel to approach their customers – It is email.

Via email, they introduce the recipient to new products or services, promotions, or any discounted programs. These emails can be personalized to match different groups of recipients. In email marketing campaigns, their goals are to strengthen customer loyalty and generate leads and increase brand awareness.

EDM marketing

Meanwhile, in EDM marketing, people frequently mention the term “email blast”. This term refers to the campaign that plenty of emails with the same content are sent to all people in the email lists without customizing the email’s content and dividing them into separated groups. Its purpose is to establish a database of targets’ addresses and send them messages about the deals through these emails.

However, an EDM marketing campaign is not only about sending email to customers. To have a successful EDM marketing campaign, it is necessary to combine emails with various media channels.

These channels can consist of numerous things ranging from printed materials to social media, text messages to create and maintain your marketing campaigns’ success. People can also exploit multiple media channels and marketing campaigns simultaneously, like PPCC advertising, offline advertising, social media, and remarketing, to rapidly reach their goals.

Therefore, it can be understood that EDM marketing is an upgraded version of email marketing. It is similar but more comprehensive than email marketing in some aspects: Email marketing is the concept that people make use of to create EDM marketing. Then, they develop EDM, apply many marketing channels and strategies to make it greater.

The Benefits of EDM Marketing

As can be seen, EDM marketing is regarded as a better version of email marketing, so what makes it better?

Let’s explore the benefits people can gain from EDM!

Customize emails simply

Compared to sending plenty of emails to customers, it is advisable to send customized to customers. Hence, businesses should focus more on the content of their emails rather than its frequency in the recipients’ inbox. To do this, a “quality over quantity” approach will be one of the best approaches for merchants to adopt.

In an EDM marketing campaign, you can send various types of emails including new arrivals, re-orders, tips and tricks, product launches, case studies, special offers, company newsletters, and so on.

While some types include content that persuades readers to place an order or make a purchase, others provide them with the one they are interested in to strengthen the relationship between your company and customers. Consequently, the very first step is analyze your recipient, match them with your marketing campaign (what is the goal of your marketing strategy this time?). Based on this data, you will find out the suitable types of emails to send to your leads.

More than that, in case you have no idea for creating emails for your campaign, some large brands like Jetblue, Amazon, Shopify, Linkedin, Twitter, etc.

Build and strengthen your relationships with recipients

If a person gives you an email address, it means they are keen on your products and services. So you should start building a strong relationship with them by giving them valuable content without any requirements to get. This will help you create a good impression on your brand.

In addition, when your content is what recipients desire to know or related to their interest, they will be extremely delighted to see your emails in their inboxes. Therefore, your relationship will be close-knit than ever and your products will be their first choice when shopping.

EDM marketing strategy also enables users to combine email with multiple channels like SMS messages, printed materials, and media platforms at the same time, which make it become the preferred option for any businessman.

Keep track of your performance easily

One of the most important things when doing business is aware of where you are in your campaign. Perhaps, it is a nightmare in traditional marketing since you don’t have any automation tools to support. But in EDM marketing, it is no longer a problematic step but a breeze.

You are provided with detailed information about each mail sent so that you can keep track of your performance every time you want. With the help of a plethora of useful tools, you can see the specific emails delivered were opened, activities were done after people opened the mail, the time and place they opened your mail as well as their devices.

From that, it will be much easier to update with the latest information of your campaign, analyze and evaluate new things to figure out the best version for your strategy. Particularly when you advertise in other channels like social media, the advantages of EDM becomes clearer. It allows you to track what you have done and then improve to reach the target as soon as possible.

Produce better results

It can be denied that doing marketing in social network platforms like Instagram and Facebook will be cheaper than in traditional channels at first. However, it is not a good option since the money spent on advertising will increase significantly while running advertisements on these social networks. On the other hand, there is nothing to ensure that you will succeed or boost your sales.

But if you have already created an email database which includes a large number of people who are interested in your products, your email obviously will have a more positive impact on their mind. By doing this, you will be involved in a market of your target audience, so the likelihood of conversion is also much higher. And this is exactly what happens in EDM marketing.

Compared to social media, marketing via email is much more effective. It is indicated in a study done by DMA that with every pound spent on email marketing, you will be able to get back £42.42, such a surprising amount.

Therefore, email marketing seems to be a wiser option than Pay-Per-Click (PPC), SEO, and content marketing. Considered as the center of EDM, email marketing is absolutely the most effective way to start and maintain a conversation with your audience. What’s more, EDM combines a traditional email marketing with other media channels to obtain the best result.

Have greater reach

Nowadays, you can find a person who doesn’t possess any accounts on social networks like Facebook or Instagram but it is really not easy to find a person having no email.

The majority of us use social networks mainly for entertainment but email is for work. Furthermore, email addresses are one of the basic pieces of information that people need to fill in to create an account on social networks.

According to Radicati, there are over 3.9 billion email users globally and this number is predicted to increase to around 4.3 billions in 2023.

The study of Forrester Research also found out that while only 2% of your brand’s fans can see your post on Facebook, the rate of people seeing your emails in their inboxes is 90%.

This means that email should be considered the priority when conducting a marketing strategy and it is also one of the most effective ways to market recently.

Examples of EDM Marketing

To create an effective EDM marketing strategy, the most crucial thing that needs to be concentrated on is your goal, or in other words: what you wish your recipients to do? Whether it is boosting sales or strengthening your relationship?

When acknowledging your purpose, selecting suitable types of email will be like a piece of cake. The following are popular types of email that merchant prefer for you to explore

However, don’t forget to build your email database first in your EDM marketing campaign. In case, you still feel it difficult, it is possible to read examples of emails from other big brands in your industry such as BuzzFeed for Media, Uber for transport, Dropbox for software, and more.

EDM Marketing Tools: Why You Should Use Them

It is evident that EDM marketing is a helpful strategy for building customer loyalty and increasing sales. By taking advantage of EDM marketing tools, your campaign will be enhanced dramatically and you will save a huge amount of time and can use them for other necessary tasks.

Equipped with an EDM marketing tool, you will be supported in multiple activities such as making plans for your campaign, keeping track of the results, working with other members in your teams, and automatically running daily missions. More than that, its most powerful feature is the ability to evaluate your performance in your strategy.

Manage your data

Through EDM marketing tools, you are given the ability to monitor your contact lists with ease. It can collect information about subscribers from various sources including your websites. Also, it enables you to separate your data into different groups by such criteria as gender, age, location, income status, the relationship with your company, and more.

Do certain tasks automatically

It is completely possible to make the software complete several activities without human control, which helps you decrease numerous repeated tasks. To do this, what you need to do is building scenarios of if/then, and this system will automatically if the requirements are matched. An example of it is generating an autoresponder to only deliver follow-up messages to people opening the first email.

Let your team work together

One highlight feature of EDM marketing software is the ability to allow all members of the teams to collaborate well. As in MailChimp, users are offered a feature of collaborative editing which allows more than one person to edit at the same time. Also, it displays the number of people who recently worked on the strategy. Additionally, users in Mailchimp can send their teammates test emails to check how it works in practice and receive feedback from other members.

Create reports and analytics

With its help, you will be able to track your EDM marketing campaigns and see its insight simply. It provides you with the metrics of email open rates, bounce rate, click-through rates, and the number of unsubscribers. Depending on these figures and information, you will have a reliable source to evaluate your campaign’s effectiveness and improve it in the future.

How to Build Your Own EDM Marketing Campaign

In general, there are often 7 steps for you to set up an EDM marketing campaign, which are:

Select a provider for email service

Choosing a suitable email service provider (ESP) for you is the very first thing you need to do. If you have already, just move to step 2. It is advisable to choose an email marketing software with such functionalities as autoresponders, automated workflows, segmentation, and reports and analytics rather than a simple spreadsheet. You can take advantage of the free trial policy to see which one is for you. However, no matter what platform you select, make sure that it allows you to divide your lists and send email automatically as what you set.

Establish your contact lists

In fact, a contact list plays a crucial role in the success of an EDM marketing campaign. So, after having an ESP, you need to collect the data of your leads from all the sources like website, fanpage, or CRM system into just one list for easier management. It will help you identify the suitable content for each file of contact. If you are a fresher, the following strategy will be a helpful reference for you:

• Produce a program to attract lead: there are many ways to attract your leads like a free trial program, discount code, funny quiz, these will catch their attention and if they are interested in your product, they will be willing to take part in it.
• Produce your target numerous ways to register: you can create a form for capturing leads, add it in your content and if they want to have more information, they can easily sign up by filling the form.
• Create a page only for capturing leads: another way to acquire more leads is building a page for a sole goal and you can promote this page in your social media accounts, advertisements, etc.
• Exploit your offline source: Your brick and mortar store and any physical presence are also a wonderful means to obtain more emails to develop your contact lists.

Put them into different groups

When you have a database for your contact, it’s time to put them into suitable groups to create effective plans for each type of lead. You can segment your contact lists according to these four categories of segmentation:

• Demographic: This category answers the question “WHO”. It divides contacts based on such criteria as age, gender, ethnicity, income, and so on.
• Psychologic: Answering the question “WHY”, this type focuses on the character and interests of customers like their habits, goals. Actually, it is pretty hard to segment but the result is worthwhile.
• Geographical: As the name suggests, Geographical segmentation tries to clarify “WHERE” the customers live so it uses country, regions, city, province, and postal code to classify.
• Behavioral: The last type is the answer of the query “HOW”, its criteria are habits of spending money, browsing on the internet, allegiances to the brands, etc. Behavioral segmentation is regarded as the most useful type but it is impossible to segment by just one source; you need to have some complementary data, which is available on your website, to support you.

Generate your own email campaign

Once you have completed segmenting your contact lists, you can start building your own email marketing campaign. Each type of campaign will require different types of emails and you can consider the most common and effective types of emails mentioned above to find out the right for you. More than that, the following are some advice for you:

• Communicate with your audience by simple language
• Exploit images to make your content more eye-catching
• Give an interesting name for the title which is the most crucial element since people see it first and often decide to open or not based on it
• Show the consistency in the design, time of sending, and tone of voice in your emails
• Display the unsubscribe button or link at the bottom of your emails (Otherwise, you can violate Anti-spam laws and receive punishments).

Build your autoresponders

Autoresponders is a helpful way to maintain the interaction between you and your customers without human control. By setting triggers for a specific action or time released, you can send your recipient relevant email automatically. These autoresponders can be about birthday greetings, shipping confirmation, product recommendations, abandoned cart reminders, and more.

Keep track of your performance

Via reports and analytics, you will be able to keep track of your progress with many metrics including the rate of opening, click-to-open, clickthrough, list growth, email sharing, and unsubscribing. It will help you know where you are in your campaign and improve the situation to gain better results.

Create additional marketing campaigns

As mentioned above, an EDM marketing campaign includes email marketing and other complementary marketing ones such as social media and offline campaigns.

Conclusion

In short, EDM marketing is a useful method to build the relationship between you and your customers, maintain their loyalty as well as increase sales conversion. It can be considered an upgraded version of email marketing by the combination of email marketing strategies and other marketing campaigns. With the center are emails, EDM marketing has all the good points of email marketing and even gains the advantage of other strategies to support.