Most of us receive hundreds of emails every single week. Whether they’re personal or professional, almost no one likes sorting through all of them. And when it comes to the marketing emails you get, you may not even remember registering with half of the companies whose names pop up in your inbox.
If you’re on the other side of the fence as someone who uses email marketing for business, you need to make sure you’re building a good relationship from the beginning and not accidentally spamming their inboxes. That’s what permission-based email marketing is all about.
Permission-based email marketing, also known as opt-in email marketing, is the process of sending commercial emails to users only after obtaining explicit permission or consent from them.
In most cases, customers check a box on the company’s website or follow a link to sign up. This consent allows businesses to create a permission-based list which is a list of contacts that agree to receive marketing and promotional emails.
Think of email marketing like door-to-door sales. A random salesperson turns up at your door – to offer you unsolicited advice and try to get you to sign up for their product or service. Without your permission for them to be there, you’re probably not moving ahead, perhaps not even answering the door.
Permission-based marketing does the opposite. Instead of arriving in your inbox unwanted and unannounced, these emails are like the pizza delivery dude, who is always welcome in your home.
Trust has already been established, which is crucial when you want to reach potential customers. The best email marketing software connects directly to customer relationship management (CRM) tools to help businesses track encounters across all marketing touchpoints and, hopefully, turn leads into buyers.
The key to permission-based email marketing is in the title – permission! But even within this, there are different types of allowances that businesses can take to add individuals to an email marketing list and send out communications.
Email marketing has long been one of the most important marketing channels for online and offline businesses. Inboxes represent a personal space, much more so than showing ads on social media or sending a flier in the mail.
As a consequence, businesses must prioritize getting permission to enter that space. The numerous benefits of email marketing are only amplified when those efforts come with consent.
When customers opt to receive your emails, that means they actually want to hear from you! The chances of them opening the emails, clicking the links, and eventually making a purchase from your business grow much higher than if you blindly sent emails to thousands of people who never signed up to receive them and simply hit “delete.”
Did you know that if you send emails to customers without permission, you could be fined by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) due to the CAN-SPAM Act? And if you’re sending emails to Europe or Canada, those fines could be even higher thanks to GDPR regulations or Canada under Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL).
These legal requirements have been put in place globally to protect consumer information and privacy. But even if you’re only marketing within the US, it’s still best to operate with an opt-in system for all email marketing.
Once your customers join your mailing list, they’re more likely to open your promotions. Email providers pay attention to this and accordingly send your emails to spam (boo) or the inbox (yay). Permission-based marketing thus increases the deliverability of future communications.
Whether you’re getting started with permission-based marketing for the first time or looking to revamp your existing system, creating an effective, efficient opt-in process will prove to be worth the efforts you put in upfront. It’s better for your customers and their information privacy, and it’s better for your marketing team when it comes to categorizing leads and custom.
No matter how your customers sign up, consider implementing a double opt-in system that moves them through a two-stage process before being added to your email marketing list.
For instance, they could enter their email via an opt-in form on your website, which provides initial consent. From there, your marketing team sends an email asking them to click a button to confirm their registration. Once they’ve clicked the button, they’re added to the marketing list.
Double opt-ins filter out inaccurate email addresses and that reduces how much you’re sending and lowers your spam bounceback. The two-step system also confirms that customers are actually giving explicit consent.
Buying a list of names and email addresses, and then sending communications without any type of permission from those people has emerged as one of the worst approaches to online marketing. Unless you want to receive fines for lack of compliance with data privacy laws, and also create friction with potential customers that can cause long term reputational damage for your brand, don’t add anyone to your list who hasn’t given you the okay.
It’s easy to panic when people start unsubscribing from your emails, but it’s not the worst thing. Those customers likely don’t fit your business and possibly aren’t even reading your emails, let alone opening them.
If you’re paying to send emails based on subscriber numbers, those uninterested people are taking up space and costing you money with little chance of a return. Curating a list of interested, engaged people works out much better for deliverability, increases your open and click rates, and, ultimately, encourages purchase.
Not all email marketing needs to be a hard sell. In fact, that’s probably not the best approach. If you plan to send helpful resources or other information, let your base know ahead of time. In your welcome email, share details about what kinds of information they can expect from you, along with frequency of messages.
Gone are the days of sending emails one at a time or importing a spreadsheet into your email provider to complete a mail merge in batches of 500. Nowadays, email marketing software makes it quick and easy to send messages to thousands of people at once, whether that’s all from a single list or based on segmented groups arranged by interests.
To be included in the email marketing category, platforms must:
* Below are the top five leading email marketing software solutions from G2’s Spring 2024 Grid Report. Some reviews may be edited for clarity.
Constant Contact helps small to medium businesses simplify and grow their digital marketing. With tools to build landing pages, send communications to customers via email and text, and sync with other business tools, Constant Contact empowers teams to create a more engaged connection with their audience.
“The platform excels in list management, allowing users to segment their audience effectively. Automation features enable the setup of triggered campaigns, while robust analytics provide insights into campaign performance. Constant Contact integrates with third-party tools and is compliant with email marketing regulations.”
- Constant Contact Review, Blake M.
“I do not like the limited design capabilities. I usually just end up designing my own template, saving it as a JPEG image and inserting it into the email template. I also don't like that there is no location tracking for email recipients.”
- Constant Contact Review, Suzanne M.
As one of the leading email marketing platforms, Intuit Mailchimp provides list management, templated emails, and automated integrations that allow businesses to send engaging content to their customers all over the world. With new AI features, Mailchimp customers can implement marketing solutions across a range of channels using shared data from other parts of their marketing ecosystem.
“Whenever I have needed fresh suggestions for updating emails, I have turned to the templates that MailChimp has, which I have found to be quite updated and diversified with respect to modern themes, so there will always be new ideas for customizing the personalization templates.”
- Intuit Mailchimp Review, Angelica B.
“As your email distribution list grows, so does the cost of your email list, and the payment tiers may be too much for some companies. In addition, MailChimp's designs do not provide all the features of MailChimp That is, you may have to pay more to get certain tools and features.”
- Intuit Mailchimp Review, Raul B.
Moosend is an email automation software that helps teams manage their email lists, send templated, professional communications, and grow an audience from a single all-in-one platform. Automation features allow teams to make repetitive tasks simpler, while also providing tracking and data collection for greater insights into customer behavior.
“The analytics dashboard offers invaluable insights into the performance of campaigns. I particularly value the comprehensive reports on open rates, click-through rates, and subscriber behavior. This data has proven pivotal in refining my strategies and enhancing overall engagement.”
- Moosend Review, Saeed A.
“I don't seem to be able to find out if it is possible to set a default for the font and text size of my emails. I need to change it for every email that I write, which is a bit of a time waste. It took a while to work out how to use the email creation software and all the relevant layouts, items and settings.”
- Moosend Review, Rachael W.
Systeme.io is an all-in-one marketing platform that lets businesses build sales funnels, send automated emails to their customers, run affiliate programs, and automate repetitive tasks that take up unnecessary time. Ideal for small to medium businesses, the software helps companies scale their online operations.
“I love the fact that Systeme.io offers so many features on one platform. I've been using it daily for almost two years and haven't had any issues. I created funnels, email automation and a blog, which I can't do anywhere else. The features are super easy to use and the customer support is awesome.”
- Systeme.io Review, Edwin K.
“The learning curve seems a bit steep, especially to fully use Systeme.io to the fullest. It feels a bit overwhelming for a beginner who has little expertise in this domain.”
- Systeme.io Review, Althea F.
MailerLite makes your email communications faster and scalable. With responsive newsletters and efficient landing pages, the drag and drop editor and AI assistant simplifies creating content for your customers. MailerLite also connects with tools like WooCommerce and Shopify, syncing data to allow greater performance reporting for e-commerce businesses.
“It is very easy to use. It's cheap when you're just starting up your business, so you don't have to worry about additional monthly costs up to 1,000 contacts.”
- MailerLite Review, Anna F.
“A key API endpoint is non-functional and we only discovered it through trying to retrieve data from it. This is a bigger issue than with most providers because native CRM integrations are non-existent. There are limited integrations with Salesforce/HubSpot/other CRM tools.”
- MailerLite Review, Nathaniel S.
Sending frequent emails to your customers increases sales and builds long-term connections with the people who support your business. But if they haven’t given you permission to slide into their DMs, think twice before hitting the “send” button. Earn their enthusiastic consent so they always trust your emails and give them plenty of reasons to click through.
Need support for your email marketing efforts? Find outsourced email marketing services to help you send better communications and connect with your customers more frequently.
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