Email Marketing in the UK: Agencies, Laws, and More

Marketing through emails is a powerful and vibrant way to reach out to several people in a single click.

The number of email users worldwide is increasing at a steady pace. The graph below shows the rise in the number of email users from the year 2017.

Source: Statista

It is estimated that more than 34% of people worldwide use email. At present, the number stands at about 2.4 billion people.

The best thing about email marketing is that it lets you connect with your customers at a personal level. Emails can be tailored to the customers' various actions to ensure that every communication is relevant to their interest.

If you still believe that email is not the right option for you, just look at the statistics below.

Email marketing statistics

35% of marketers send their customers 4-5 emails every week.
80% of business professionals opinionated believe that email marketing increases customer retention.
73% of millennials prefer business communication to come through email.
Email marketing through a segmented list can help to achieve a boost of 760% in revenue.
At present, there are 3.9 billion email users worldwide, and the number is expected to hit 4.3 billion by 2023.
In the year 2019, 350 million dollars wereis spent on email marketing.
31% of B2B marketers say emails are the best way to nurture leads.
59% of respondents confirmed that marketing emails influence their purchase decisions.

Why is email marketing important?

Source: Pixabay

The following are the reasons why email marketing is really important.

1. Help you to reach out to a large number of audience

Emails are by far the best means to reach out to a wide network of customers and prospects.

Remember, that your customers can easily access emails via their smartphones. And mails at a regular interval helps to increase the likelihood of them purchasing your services or products.

2. Easy to measure

Email campaigns are measurable using factors like click-through rates, open rates, delivery rates, bounce rates, and unsubscribe rates with ease. These may help you have a better understanding of the effectiveness of your email campaign.

3. Affordability

Needless to say, cost effectiveness remains one of the most attractive features of choosing emails over other marketing techniques.

4. Instant communication

Customers appreciate when they are updated about important sales, deals and exclusive offers. Emails provide an easy channel of communicating these messages to your important customers.

5. Helps in targeted messaging

With email marketing, it is easier for you to target potential customers at different stages of sales funnel. While some are already at the purchase stage, others may be in the consideration stage or research and comparison stage. Segmentation helps you target your customers easily and push them to the next sales funnel stage.

6. Help to boost brand awareness

Sending emails of your products and services is a great way to retain your brand in your readers' memory.

Major laws for email marketing in the UK

Source: lawn

In order to plan an email marketing campaign in the UK, it is important to comply with GDPR & PECR laws.

Some of the important statements of GDPR include:

Collect only the data that is required and relevant for your marketing campaign.
A breach in user data should be informed to your customers within 72 hours.
Any request to access the user data should be accepted and provided free of charge.
Get explicit consent from your subscribers before sending marketing emails.
When you collect information from your customers, explain to them the purpose of doing so.

Email marketing platforms like Enginemailer will help you to comply with all requirements of GDPR, PECR, and other anti-spam laws. It is essential that your email marketing platform has tools that are built in the right way to automatically manage the unsubscribe requests.

Features to look for in an email marketing platform

Here are some of the top features to look for when choosing a platform that matched your campaign requirements:

1. Automation

The performance of automated email campaigns is several-fold when compared to an ordinary one. Here, emails are sent to a specific recipient based on a particular action.

This helps in improving the relevancy and saves time as well. Autoresponder tools can be implemented in two different ways:

An email is triggered based on a specific date, such as a birthday, wedding anniversary, etc. When this is coupled with the personalisation, desired results are achieved.
Email is sent after a specific event occurs after the user performs a specific action. Say, for example, checking the price of a specific product or adding an item in the cart but not purchasing it.

2. Personalisation

This is a very important aspect that you should look into while considering an email marketing platform in the UK. Personalisation is a great way to leverage detailed information you know about your customers to position your brand and message in a way that resonates with them.

Generally, personalisation is achieved in two different ways:

Pulling the data from a particular field in the mailing list. This method is called the “data merge approach”. It works best to add a personal feel to the campaign.
The same email will be displayed differently based on set criteria if statements are usually used to make condition based settings.

3. Reports and analytics

A good marketing software will provide you with a dashboard where you could see detailed analytics of your marketing campaigns. These include queries like:

How long did your subscribers stay on the email for reading the content?
Did your readers delete, forward or print your emails?
What all sections/links or buttons of the email did they click?
Which demographics (based on location, gender, etc) had a higher engagement rate?
What devices did subscribers use to read your email?

4. Dedicated IP Address

Your chosen platform should be able to provide you with a dedicated IP address. This can help you improve the deliverability and reduce the chances of your mails ending up as spams.

5. Email volume

While choosing an email marketing platform, one of the important things to consider is the volume of emails you wish to send to your customers. While some platforms are free to send emails up to a certain limit, you will have to pay if you wish to send beyond a specified number.

Make sure that you choose the mail platform that can handle your workload with ease.

6. ESP Integration

It is vital that your emails integrate with the major email service providers (ESP). These include Gmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL, Hotmail, etc. While choosing a platform, make sure that you choose one that could integrate seamlessly with all major ESP's and ensure maximum deliverability.

7. Excellent customer support

At times even the experienced digital marketers run into trouble. If you are in such a situation, you need to talk to your email support team for troubleshooting.The greater the support, the quicker the problem will be solved.

8. Rich template selection

Good templates can help captivate the readers. Depending on the purpose of the email, marketers use a wide variety of templates. A good email marketing platform should have a wide range of ready to use template selection.

9. Plugin support

Email is just one aspect of marketing technologies used to tap in your potential clients. A good email marketing platform can integrate easily with other marketing technologies such as CRM solutions.

This will help you to micro target your audiences and run campaigns based on their unique preferences

How to choose an email marketing organisation in the UK?

Source: dictionary.com

Here are some important tips to consider while choosing an email marketing firm in the UK.

1. Decide on the scope of services

Every business is different and the services it requires differ too. You can consider your current business model and the challenges you face to decide the type of services you need.

These could include automation tools you need, how many emails you need to send on a monthly basis, the types of emails you need to send, the level of segmentation you need, the type of reporting and analytics that you may require, etc.

The UK has no shortage of email marketing service providers. When choosing one, ensure that you have clearly listed down the scope of services that you need.

2. Select the features that are important to you

Different service providers have different features. The features that are required for your company is dependent on the marketing strategy and business goals. Here are some of the features that are most commonly sought:

Multiple client management
Private labelling feature
Drag-and-drop email builder
Wide range of templates
Custom HTML coded emails and templates
Automation/Autoresponders
Real time analytics/reporting, etc.

3. Deliverability

An essential metric to consider when an email marketing service for your organisation. Deliverability means the number of emails that successfully landed in the inbox. To calculate the deliverability rate, take the number of emails delivered and divide it by the send number.

Choosing a good email service provider will ensure that you get an optimal deliverability rate.

4. Infrastructure and security

Security is one of the essential elements to keep in mind while choosing an email service platform. Using a non-secure platform might tarnish the reputation of your company. Remember that your clients perceive your emails as an extension of your business. Ensure that the infrastructure and security are compliant with the marketing laws in the United Kingdom.

5. Support

Round the clock support is important to ensure that you can minimise technical issues that may arise during your email marketing journey. Your email service provider should be no further than a quick message or support ticket away.

Bottom Line

If your company struggles to connect with your customers while staying within the relevant UK legislations, choosing an email marketing organisation that has presence in the country can completely redefine your marketing experience.

Choose one that matches your business goals and strategies. Do keep in mind that in the UK, the laws regarding email marketing are considerably stringent. Ensure that your email marketing software is perfectly aligned with these laws.

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