eDM marketing 2024: best practices and email templates

People might think emails are so 2010. You get loads of emails every day, but most don’t get opened. Some may go straight to the spam section. But if you think emails are a thing of the past, think again. According to a recent research study, email remains one of the most persuasive marketing tools and forms of communication. While other channels like instant messaging are taking hold, emails are still the most far-reaching form of business communion. By 2023, the total number of emails sent and received per day would probably exceed 333 billion.

So if you want to make your marketing plan a success, you don’t want to miss out on arguably the most effective channel known to marketers. In fact, let’s look at how we can make different channels supplement each other.

Looking for an email campaign alternative? Check out our complete walkthrough for WhatsApp Broadcast!

eDM marketing vs email marketing

Before we go any further, did you know eDM marketing and email marketing aren’t two interchangeable terms?

Wait, hold on a minute, aren’t they just emails?

Let’s take a closer look.

The term “email marketing” refers to the commercial email messages you send to your subscribers. It’s used to keep your subscribers involved and deliver important messages. There are many forms of email marketing, like newsletters, promotions, email marketing campaigns, etc.

According to DMA, email is still the key strategic channel, with 91% of surveyed marketers recognizing its importance. This channel alone generates USD42 of returns for every USD1 spent. So email marketing is still an important tool for brand awareness and creating rapport.

On the other hand, eDM stands for “electronic direct mail”. It’s a form of email marketing, but as its name suggests, far more direct. It’s used by companies and brands to build loyalty and increase sales among a large group of potential clients, and the relationships built will hopefully convert into leads and sales.

As the name suggests, eDMs are customized to be “direct”, blasting away to a mass group of users. Still, the messages are personalized depending on the segment and demographic of each user. eDM can also reinforce different campaign messages, such as social media, promotion and CRM, remarketing, and offline events, creating an all-encompassing brand experience through email.

Read more: Why do you need a remarketing campaign, and how to do it right?

Why do you need eDM marketing?

Now that you understand the difference between eDM marketing and email marketing, let’s see why having a good eDM campaign will make your brand stand out from the crowd.

Cost effectiveness

You might spend loads of money on your social media ads or Google Ad campaigns. We aren’t saying those aren’t good, but for eDM campaigns, all you need is a database. If you have a long enough list of potential leads, you can create beautiful segmented campaigns with eDM marketing templates. No boosts, no agencies, nothing – more bang for your buck!

Builds rapport

Like instant messaging marketing, eDM marketing lets you speak to your customers directly all at once. And creating that personal touch and trust is essential. A BCG study found that trust is almost just as important as discounts for millennial shoppers. An Edelman study also found that 62% of consumers are loyal to the brands they trust, and 51% would even advocate them.

As long as your message is relevant and relatable, you can be sure to earn and keep your contacts’ trust.

Personalization

The downside of traditional email marketing is that the emails were just blasted away to everyone. But for eDM marketing, you can highly personalize your email strategy based on your audience and goals. Examples include tweaking the banner, copywriting, particular promos for particular segments and so forth.

Because of that, you can fine-tune your messages and eDM marketing templates in a way that will suit a particular segmentation. This way, your emails will have a much higher chance of being read and deliver the conversion you want.

A good eDM marketing tool should help you customize your message, track the conversions and give you vital information on improving.

This explains why eDM is taking over as the hot trend in the email marketing world. If you want to create integrated, direct and personalized messages and not just blast away, eDM is your go-to tool.

Which eDM format should you pick?

Like everything else in life, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for eDM marketing. If your business is an eCommerce store, the following are generally more effective:

• Offers and new arrivals

• Holiday specials

• Related orders

• “We miss you” remarketing campaigns

• Abandoned cart email

Whereas if your business isn’t eCommerce, you can try the following format.

• Newsletter

• Industry insights and best practices

• Case studies

• Events invitation (including webinars)

No matter which format you use, remember this rule of thumb: test, and test thoroughly. There’s no worse outcome than to spend hours creating eDM templates for different segments, but only to find the campaign coming back as a complete flop. So do your research, do A/B testing if you can, and keep an eye on your data.

Now, how to make sure your eDM works?

We’ve compiled a step-by-step guide on making your eDM marketing effort work.

Step 1: Decide on your eDM tool

To manage a sizable database and launch different messages to different segments, you need to pick the right eDM tool.

A good tool should help you automate your blats, enable email security protocols, give you invaluable metrics, and help you segment your database.

Ensure the tool provides diverse and customizable templates for visually appealing and responsive emails. Efficient list management capabilities, including segmentation and organization, are crucial.

Additionally, consider integrating an email forwarding service to streamline the management of your eDM responses. This automated approach allows you to effortlessly redirect customer inquiries to the appropriate department or team member so every email is handled promptly and professionally. A more efficient and organized approach, such as utilizing SMTP servers can ensure the success of your email marketing efforts.

Explore more: 10 Best Email Marketing Services for Businesses

Step 2: Segment your database

Gone are the days when you could blast a single message to everyone. Instead, the success of your campaign depends on whether you can narrow down your contacts to the smallest segment possible and categorize them accordingly. The essence of this is to make sure you can connect with the right people at the right time.  

It can be difficult to get the perfect list for a future mass email campaign. You can waste a lot of time even at the stage of selecting the right email addresses. But thanks to modern automation tools, you can solve this problem in a few clicks. Using an email extractor, you'll get your personalized target email list, which you can easily segment based on your desired metrics. You don't need to manually select the right contacts — just set the search parameters and the tool will do everything for you. Once you've collected and segmented your list, you'll be ready to proceed to the next step. To ensure the accuracy of your email addresses, consider using a bulk email verifier tool as well.

Step 3: Plan your campaigns

What campaigns are you running? Do you have a special promo coming soon, or do you want to reconnect with people who visited your page?

Before you start creating your eDM marketing templates, think about what you want to achieve first. From there, you can add in the details, like CTA, visuals and content.

Step 4: Set the basics

Now you have a basic idea of your eDM, let’s personalize the different touchpoints. Think about how frequent you’d want to post, what kind of subject lines to use, and what tone of voice to adapt. Do you want to include visuals too? Is your email too wordy? The point is to make your email thoroughly pleasant, leaving no touch points behind.

Last but not least, making unsubscribing easy will induce a sense of trust. You may lose a subscriber, but at least they’ll perceive you as a genuine brand.

Step 5: make everything human

A good storyteller refrains from recycling a message too many times. Instead, they’re able to tell stories from all sorts of angles and keep their audience’s attention.

The same goes for eDM marketers. Make your copy human, and always be creative with your emails. Never stick with your templates and simply replace words. Tell a brand story.

Here’re 25 great eDM marketing ideas, plus a few templates for your inspiration. Or you can also make good use of some WhatsApp marketing software if you are looking for more than just eDM.

Blasted off! Now what?

Hooray! You’re now the next eDM guru…wait, not quite. There’s still one thing missing.

Like everything in marketing, everything is about measuring data and success. So eDMs are no different. To make the most of your eDM marketing, you need to collect valuable data. Also, keep an eye on long-term subscriber activities, engagement trends, email list health and growth.

Since customers expect messages to be personal and relevant (no spam!), you can ramp up your sales and loyalty if you’re diligent in segmenting your audience. But don’t forget to monitor each segment’s health. Are users unsubscribing? Are the segments growing? Do they respond well to the emails? Getting the right information can help you plan your next steps. You can use email search tools and verify them. This will help you find a more targeted audience, as well as clear your contact list of non-existent emails.

Need more guidance on how to do marketing for your e-commerce business? See how other brands are using automation for success.

What if we told you there’s an ever better way? The best supplement to your eDM campaign

Remember right at the start, we mentioned eDM should be integrated with other channels? So if you” wanna be the very best, like no one ever was”, here’s the tip for you: centralize your messaging. Since instant messaging and chatbots are up and coming, why not centralize them with your eDM effort?

SleekFlow can help you build the centralized automation you’re looking for for most of the popular instant messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, WeChat, Line, Facebook Messenger and Instagram. (Yes. This is new!)

For example, every time you send a confirmation email after a conversion, you can send them an eDM, then an instant message straight after. By doing that, you’re creating an integrated messaging experience that doesn’t stop at one touchpoint. Once your customer base is large enough, you can tailor-make your campaign lists and tweak your automated eDMs and instant messages. That fills the gap. In case your marketing message falls into the spam folder in the email, the WhatsApp message can still be read!

“There are 5.35 million active WhatsApp users in Hong Kong every month, which accounts for 83% of all active social platforms users.”－Digital 2021: Hong Kong

What’s even more is the all-in-one dashboard you can view on SleekFlow. Don’t forget to watch the analytics for insights such as response time and new leads for this month. Gotta catch ’em all with SleekFlow today!

“To seize each online business opportunity, you must first seamlessly bridge your social media and online stores, and you must never miss any customer’s inquiry.”

－SleekHack

Apart from eDMs, do you want to add a social message platform button to your website? With an omnichannel live chat widget, your customers will be able to reach out to your brand through their preferred messaging channel. This way, you can get more quality leads and continue the conversation even after they leave the website!

Speak with SleekFlow experts today.