How to use Email Marketing in Your Online Business Part I

If you know how to use email marketing in your online business then you have a very powerful marketing tool at your disposal. There are many ways in which emails can be used, both to promote or sell a product, and to provide information to prospective customers.

Without going too far into the subject of email lists, it is important to most types of online businesses to build up a list of names and email addresses of people who have demonstrated an interest in your product. In fact, if you have more than one product to offer, you can have a separate list for each. The way that you build this list is another subject, though the most frequently used methods involve directing prospects to a page on your web site called a squeeze page that is designed purely for that purpose.

You will not be able to use email campaigns effectively unless you have an autoresponder. That is a program that sends emails to database lists of email addresses on certain triggers. The trigger can be a purchase, when the autoresponder will send a receipt for the payment, a thank you letter and, if the product is electronically deliverable such as an ebook, will also deliver the product. The trigger can also be a request for information, in which case the autoresponder can send either the requested information or a note that the matter is in hand and a reply will be forthcoming within 24 hours.

Autoresponders can also handle database management, adding details to an email list or moving addresses from 'prospect' to 'customers' after a purchase. Their most important use, however, is in sending mass emailings to a whole list, or subsections of a list, on predetermined dates. An ecourse, for example, can be programmed to be sent every second day for the duration of the course.