What is messaging? What is email marketing? How to organize mailing using services

and little tricks

In today's article we'll talk about what it is automatic mailing, why it is needed and how to work with it. I have already promised to tell about this more than once - and now I’ve finally gotten around to it!

Automatic mailing - what is it and why?

So, the first question is: what is automatic mailing? I think it’s already clear from the name that this is a newsletter that occurs automatically. This is usually a series of letters (sometimes there is one letter), which is sent automatically when certain conditions are met.

What conditions exactly? In fact, very different. From subscribing to the newsletter until a certain period has passed after sending the previous letter. Much depends on the service through which the mailing is carried out and on its capabilities.

By the way, today we will consider automatic mailing using the GetResponse service as an example. I think that for most of our readers its capabilities will be quite sufficient.

Why is such a newsletter necessary? The main goal is to make the work of marketers easier. After all, it is much easier to automate your actions to get results than to do everything manually, tracking the fulfillment of a wide variety of conditions by subscribers. But here everything is simple - set it up once and reap the benefits.

The second, but no less important task is to increase conversion and, accordingly, increase the number of sales. After all, mailing automation allows you to give each subscriber exactly what they need and are interested in specifically.

Did you click the first link? Get related information. On the second? This means that you need completely different information. Birthday? Congratulations! Read one letter - receive another. If you have completed your goal on the website, here is a letter for you!

In general, the number of different chains that we can offer to our subscribers, depending on the actions they take, is almost limitless.

Which email works better after execution? certain condition? How much does a longer email chain lead to a larger average check? And so on and so forth - there are, in fact, a lot of opportunities for tests.

What are the conditions for activating a newsletter?

So, what conditions does GetResponse offer us for sending emails? There are only 8 basic conditions. This is sending a letter:

• at a given time;
• on click;
• upon reading;
• upon subscription;
• upon achieving the goal;
• when data changes;
• together with another letter;
• on your birthday.

Moreover, each of these options has additional settings.

Setting up automatic mailing

Let's see which ones, using the example of the first option - sending a letter at a given time. And at the same time, we’ll figure out exactly how automatic mailing is set up.

To begin with, we can choose exactly when the letter will be sent. As you can see, by default we have the option “On day 1”. This means that the email will be sent the next day after the contact enters the autoresponder cycle (that is, after a specific email address is on our list of those who receive automatic mailings).

If you want the letter to be sent on the first day, then enter the value “0” in this field.

The second field allows you to select which newsletter subscribers will receive this automatic series. As an example, I have the same e-mail campaign that our blog subscribers receive. By the way, if you have not yet subscribed to our newsletter, then it is not at all difficult to do so - just use the subscription form on the right.

Let's move on to the next form fields. So, what can you choose here? Firstly, the exact time of sending the letter. The default option is “at the time of subscription”. That is, the letter will be sent at the same time when the person subscribed to your mailing list.

You can also choose the options “delayed at” a certain number of hours after the moment of subscription and “exactly at” a certain time (however, a certain time does not provide minutes, only hours). By the way, when you select the last option, you can also enable time zone tracking. But I am not sure that it works correctly.

The next block allows you to select the days of the week when you need (or not need) to send letters. For example, only on weekends. Or, on the contrary, only on weekdays.

And finally, the final chord is the choice (or creation) of the letter that we will send. And also coming up with a service name for the letter (that is, a name that will only be visible to you). I recommend making it as descriptive as possible, so that you don’t get confused later in a bunch of letters with similar names when trying to view analytics.

As you can see, setting everything up is very simple. For other condition options, the settings look approximately the same—the corresponding items are simply added.

For example, when sending a click-to-click email, select the link that the subscriber should click on...

...and when sending a letter when the data changes - the data that it changes.

On the one hand, it seems that there is little choice. On the other hand, thanks to the ability to fine-tune, you can create very complex and intricate chains that intersect, continue, and transform into one another in different ways. The main thing is don’t get confused and start sending the same emails to the same subscribers!

What does automatic mailing look like from the inside?

So, now you know what automatic mailing is and how it is set up. Let's look at a couple of examples of what a ready-made automatic mailing looks like.

All autoresponders are divided into two types - by time and by action. By time - these are those that are sent after a certain time after subscription. And by action - those whose conditions for sending are some kind of action.

GetRespose allows you to use two options for viewing automatic mailings - all results together (with the ability to select only specific types) or separate mailings by time, separately by action.

Here, for example, is a small automatic mailing of three letters:

As you can see, the first email is sent at the specified time, the second is sent when you click, and the third is sent when you subscribe. By the way, don’t pay attention to the 0 contacts in the first letter. For letters sent at a given time, this column indicates only the number of subscribers to whom the letter is sent today (that is, on the day of viewing).

But here is another sorting option - by type of letters. Here, in the first place are letters sent by time:

As you can see, everything is designed in the form of a calendar. And when you click on a specific day, you can add a letter for that day. And, of course, do not be surprised that there are 33 days in a “month” - after all, in fact, this is not a calendar, but simply a counter of days from the moment the contact entered the answering machine cycle.

This has come to the end of my story about what automatic mailing is. If you have any questions, ask them in the comments, and I will definitely answer them.

Surely you have more than once received so-called “letters of happiness” from Internet operators, providers or electronic stores. In most cases, you immediately disposed of them, set up antispam and disowned them in every possible way. To the question of what a newsletter is, everyone will answer differently, but hardly positively. Thus, the simplest and most accessible method of advertising has turned into an annoying woodpecker that “hits the top of the head” of a potential consumer. A logical question arises: “How to disable the newsletter?”

What do we see?

Try not checking your email for a couple of weeks. It doesn’t matter whether you use the Internet for correspondence or write letters by hand the old fashioned way. Within a week, your real mailbox will begin to swell with all kinds of leaflets, advertising brochures, free newspapers and discount coupons. But if a regular mailbox has a limit, then the virtual analogue can be “cluttered” almost forever. Over a week, more than a hundred letters will accumulate there, and only a couple or three will be truly important and interesting to you. But the rest of the contents of the box answer the question of what a newsletter is. These are letters with the same information sent to a large number of users at the same time. Sometimes they actually contain relevant information. For example, information about a new mobile phone tariff, a sale in the store around the corner, or an upcoming water outage. But, in essence, the newsletter does not give you necessary information, and therefore you can easily do without it. If you suddenly feel the urge to change the tariff, then you will do it yourself, without intrusive prompting from the outside.

Why do they come?

Why do these unnecessary letters keep coming? The principle of a newspaper comes into play here, when you once subscribe, and issues keep coming and going to your address. They usually arrive once a week or a couple of times a month. Now imagine that you subscribe to a hundred newspapers and magazines at once! You can really go crazy from such an abundance of income. In this case, the author of the mailing list has an easier job than the editor of the newspaper, because he only needs to upload one letter into a special program, which itself will send it to a thousand addresses. That's what mailing is. In fact, this is real spam. But receiving mailings is voluntary. So why do letters arrive without your expressed consent?

In fact, you may not remember how you agreed. Perhaps you filled out a form at a lingerie store discount card and put a tick in the appropriate box. Or maybe they once attended an original cuisine seminar and gave their contacts there in the hope of getting a free frying pan. In the simplest case, you may be searching for information on the Internet and want to receive updates from the site. After such consent, a letter will be sent to your email inbox, which you need to respond to, thereby confirming your desire to receive the newsletter. And voila, your mailbox has been added to the list of site subscribers. Fresh materials will flow like a river to all addresses on the list.

Subscription "for candy"

Marketers have long understood that a person is more willing to make contact if you promise him a gift. Let it be a candy, a book or a short video course. You are asked to indicate the address to which the gift will arrive. Here you are in the site database. Now you are protected from spam mailing. The user's interest is obvious, but the author is not left with nothing. It is beneficial for him that there are more subscribers, accordingly, the number of visits increases, and the life of the forum becomes livelier. If a person visits the site once, he can return and at the same time buy something. It seems like everyone wins. But this does not take into account the fact that the newsletter does not always offer what is really interesting to the consumer, but frequent letters can be annoying.

They asked

Questions are especially often asked by people of the older generation, who are accustomed to thinking that a letter should contain important information. It is difficult for them to understand what a newsletter is, and difficulties with the term lead to difficulties with consequences. For example, is it paid? Yes, there are paid options, but don't panic. The money will not be written off if you simply click the "subscribe" button. However, the resource will be incomplete for the user, since some videos or books cannot be viewed until you make a payment. To do this, you will need to send an SMS or transfer money from a card. Think for yourself whether you need such a service.

Is the mailing secure? In general, yes, since its author can only transfer your address to another spammer. This is the maximum evil action that can be committed. But this happens very rarely, because there is no point in the authors of newsletters losing a potential client.

And here is a logical question: “How to get only the information that is interesting to you?” Alas, no way. The author acts as the first critic and selects those materials that are interesting to the majority.

Main question

What to do if you're completely fed up with spam mailings? How can I cancel it? To the great joy of many Internet users, any mailing can be disabled, and the algorithm of actions is similar regardless of the device used. Each letter sent to your address contains a special link asking you to remove your address from the subscriber database. If you click it, the information from the author will no longer bother you. Usually such a link is at the very bottom of the letter. But there are also unscrupulous authors who seek to deprive the consumer of his legal opportunity to remain in the dark. But in such cases, the email sites themselves help you. At the very top of the letter there is a button “unsubscribe” or “add to spam”. With one click you can remove yourself from the author’s database or send him to the blacklist.

Write me sms

It happens that you are really waiting for a treasured SMS from your loved one, counting the minutes, and here it is - the beep of the phone. But, alas, there is SMS messaging. At such moments you want to smash your phone against the wall. It’s especially unpleasant when information comes in that is absolutely unnecessary for your life. For example, an advertisement for new sanitary pads that are sold only in a supermarket on the outskirts of the city where you once stopped for water. Unwanted SMS messages are becoming a real problem for many phone users. Messages arrive every day, and their number grows every year. And it is extremely difficult to stop such an SMS attack without outside help. It won't be as easy as with a computer. And the problem is not always solved through the operator. However, you can still unsubscribe. If no one coordinated the mailing with you, then this is a direct violation of the law, and the author may receive a substantial fine. That is, you have the right to write a statement to the Federal Antimonopoly Service indicating a violation of the Law “On Advertising”. But you can do it even simpler, using the weapons of mailing list authors. There is a service called “No SMS”, which allows you to unsubscribe from annoying advertising for free. You will need to fill out a form and submit your application. It’s even easier on a smartphone, because you can install a free antivirus with the function of detecting phishing and malicious messages.

There are parallels

There are some things in common between phone and email newsletters. In both cases, your nerves may suffer from your own forgetfulness or neglect of your means of communication. Most spam ends up in your inbox by choice. And with it comes all kinds of viruses. If it is difficult for you to suddenly change your attitude towards all sorts of new products, interesting offers or trial copies, then you will have to learn over time. By the way, this is how a spam filter and SMS blocker work. For phones, this is a highly specialized application that blocks unknown or advertising mailings. The same filter helps clean email newsletters. All blocked messages are sent to a separate folder, where you can deal with them later: delete or “pardon”, that is, return to the “Inbox” folder.

In general, you need to learn to treat your messengers with care. Use spam filters to send emails to avoid filling your inboxes with spam. Don't forget to unsubscribe from mailings that you no longer need.

For example

IN Lately More and more Internet users are complaining that Yandex newsletters are annoying. Two-thirds of your mailbox ends up filled with all sorts of promotional offers. Regular cleaning doesn't help. What to do? Maybe you should get rid of mailings once and for all? So, go to the post office. On home page on the left side you will see all the information about messages and your correspondence. Find a small picture of a paperclip. This is the designation for emails with attachments. And right above the paper clip there is the inscription “Customize”. Activate. A menu of available services will open on the left side. Among all the sections there will be one with the name “Mail Processing Rules”. In this tab you can work with the addresses from which mailings are sent. If you don’t need them, then feel free to send everything to the blacklist. After this step, all new emails will go straight to the trash, without cluttering your inbox. You can go the same way if you are tired of information from other sites or letters from some people.

There is a second way to unsubscribe from Yandex mailing lists. To do this, go to your mail and open the newsletter message. Now click the "Unsubscribe" tab. This method, of course, is simpler than others, but it involves repeated operations.

I have contact

Perhaps one of the simplest action algorithms requires sending out to VK. It is never imposed here, except in cases where your account has been hacked. In all other cases, mailing to VK occurs automatically, since at one time you yourself wrote messages to groups or subscribed to alerts. If the information you receive is no longer relevant, you can unsubscribe. To do this, in the dialog box with the group, find three dots in the upper left corner. The Ban Messages tab will appear. Activate it and enjoy the absence of spam.

What kind of program?

The three most popular mailing programs include GetResponse, a service with very rich functionality. Here you can set up complex email chains, conduct tests, and personalize emails. The service is easy to learn; there is a mailing template and technical support in Russian. True, 100% deliverability is not guaranteed here either. You have a month to try out. One of the downsides is the price. It is indicated in dollars and fluctuates absolutely inexplicably.

The second most popular is " Pechkin-mail.ru" is a domestic service, very easy to learn and with a lot of templates. You can send 500 letters a day, and a database of up to 100 subscribers is stored for free. The prices are very, very affordable.

However, technical support leaves much to be desired, as contact can only be made via email. But the knowledge base is excellent.

Optimal choice

The third most popular, but optimal in terms of parameters, mailing program is MaestroMail. It is much more profitable to pay for the number of letters. So, if you are planning to launch a newsletter from your website, then you can start with this program. They also do not guarantee 100% deliverability, but they do offer a user-friendly interface, prompt response from technical support and expanded service functionality.

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Let's say a person lives in apartment building. All houses have it. And periodically there are advertisements there. A resident leaves the apartment and sees advertising brochures sticking out of all the mailboxes.

What is bulk email?

Bulk sending of letters is one of the areas of marketing.
Any marketing campaign is aimed at attracting customers to you. And sending letters by email is another channel through which clients can come to you.
Electronic mailing may mean:

• sending emails;
• sending SMS messages.

These are email newsletters. Marketers actively use this channel to inform and attract customers.
With the right strategy, a newsletter can attract an audience and interest it, carry it through all stages of the sales funnel and encourage a person to perform the main action for which all efforts are made - buy a product or use a service.

If you overdo it with letters, write to the user too often and intrusively, then there is a risk that you will lose the person from your contact database. He will stop reading similar and uninteresting emails, send them to the spam bin and unsubscribe.

In order not to lose people, to constantly replenish your address book with new addresses, you need to make the newsletter useful and necessary for the user.

Types of email newsletter

• information letters;
• transactional messages;
• commercial letters;
• event letters.

Newsletter

The newsletter is needed to inform the client. Such letters do not force him to buy or place an order, or ask him to take advantage of discounts. They give the recipient food for thought. They talk about something new.

For example, a person can subscribe to the newsletter of some portal. And he will receive a selection of news for the week by email.
The newsletter should help a person solve his problem. She can tell an interesting story, report on your experience, suggest an interesting life hack that a person can immediately use.

Such letters allow you to build trust with your audience. We said that people love it when their problems are solved. And if in your letters a person can find the answer to a question that worries him, that is interesting to him, then in the future he will turn to you.

Letters should be thematic. If you are the owner of an online store of pet products, then your newsletter should be appropriate. Include materials about keeping animals, Interesting Facts about their lives. What if there are articles about installation plastic windows- this is strange to say the least.
These letters work for long-term results. Their task is to increase the interest of the audience and warm it up.

If you want to directly talk about your products and invite people to your site to make purchases, organize a commercial newsletter.

Commercial mailing

Tell the user about your products, discounts or promotions. And invite him to take advantage of such a lucrative offer.
Typically, sales letters are sent periodically. You constantly organize promotions and make discounts, right? Tell the person about this, include descriptions of several products in the letter - give them the opportunity to choose.

Transactional mailing

These are automatically generated letters. They confirm the action that the user performed on your site.
For example, a person placed an order for cat food. Confirm this action by sending him a check in the mail. Once again, indicate the order amount, make a list of the goods that the user bought. Show him that his order is being worked on.

Trigger mailing

These are also letters that are sent automatically. But if a transactional email simply makes it easier to use your site or service, a trigger email is sent depending on the condition.

You can plan entire chains of trigger emails. The person has registered on the site - send it to him. A person buys only cat shampoo from you - inform him about new discounts on these products. The user buys goods from you once a month - thank him for his loyalty and give him a gift discount coupon for your next order.

As a rule, such letters are personalized. Their goal is to retain a person and sell him a product. Therefore, such letters are personalized. User profile data is used and the letter is made personal. The person is addressed by name; if possible, the text includes personal information addressee.

Another type of classification of mailing types is by direction:

• By target audience;
• by region;
• massive.

Mailing to a target audience involves selecting people who will be interested in a specific letter. If you want to inform the buyer of your online store about new promotion, first select recipients who will be interested in your offer. For example, a person orders only cat food from you. You probably shouldn't tell him about discounts on dog leashes. Such a letter will cause nothing but irritation to a person.

Regional mailing - sending letters in accordance with the subscriber's geography. The address database is collected and segmented by geographic parameters.
Bulk mailing Email- This . Sometimes people buy databases of email addresses and just start sending letters to them. This is a dubious method of attracting customers. Such emails usually end up straight into the spam folder.

How to send emails

For email marketing to work, you need to work on every email campaign.

• Collect an address database.
  Do not use ready-made, purchased address databases. You should only send your emails to people who agree to receive them. Most effective method- send a letter to the subscriber’s email with a unique code with which he can confirm his consent to receive your letters.
• Think about news feeds.
  You cannot send letters thoughtlessly. Every message should have some purpose. Tell us about new products and services. Make a selection the best materials, published on your website to interest a person.
• Create a mailing schedule.
  Find a time that is convenient for your subscribers. For example, some people check their email more often during their lunch break - at 12 noon Moscow time. But suddenly you have people with Far East, where is a completely different time zone?
• Check your emails.
  No one is immune from typos and mistakes. Always check your email before sending. Send yourself a test letter, see if everything is written correctly, laid out and displayed correctly.
• Add the ability to unsubscribe.
  A person must have the opportunity to remove his address from the database. His activities, interests may change, or the cat may run away. And your letters may become redundant. Leave an unsubscribe link in your email. You can ask the person to leave a review, describing the reason why he no longer wants to receive your letters.
• Monitor the safety of your address database.
  The list of addresses should not be shared with anyone. And the newsletter should only be received by people who have subscribed to it.

How to organize mailing using services

There are services that help you send emails. You can set up automatic collection of data from your website into mailing lists, and segment the lists according to many parameters.

You can customize the template. If you don’t know how to type out letters directly, you can use the block constructor.

Be responsible with your email campaigns. This is a powerful tool that can be used in marketing. The newsletter will help you build trust among your audience, talk about your business and attract customers. But, as in any business, it is important to understand whether what you are doing is effective.

Set up UTM tags, see how many people open emails, how many people click on links. Is what you are doing even necessary?

In essence, this tool is a mailing of various
material on behalf of the community in the user’s personal messages.

This instrument can well be called an echo that
were so popular in the 2010s. Also by its structure, this tool
very close to .

This tool can be used in absolutely any field, because... he is very
flexible and versatile.

How to start using this tool?

We will take the simple route so that you can start using it already in
soon.

1. First you need to install (application) “Newsletters”
messages" to your page (group).

This is done through community management.

1.1. Go to "Management".

1.2. After you go to “Management”, you are taken to “Settings”
pages (communities). Next, you need to go to the “Applications” section.

1.3. In the window that appears, select “Go to directory.”

1.4. After you have gone to the “Application Catalog”, you need to find
“Message mailings” and click the “Add” button.

1.6. After you add the widget, you will be notified that the widget was successful
installed.

1.7. After you have gone to the installed widget, go to
"Settings".

1.8. In the window that appears, you are asked to create your first “List”, where
will gather users who want to subscribe to your newsletter.
Click the “Create” button.

1.9. In the pop-up window you need to assign a name and write a description for your
first list.

Also, you need to check the box “Collect subscribers in this
list" and click the "Save" button.

2.1. After you have created your first list, you will be presented with a window with
lists.

In this window you will need to write the text in the “Message” section that
You want to send to your subscribers.

Afterwards, click on the “Test” button to send a test message yourself
to yourself.

2.3. After you have received a test message and you are satisfied with it,
then you can proceed to mass mailing, for this you need to select
“Maillist”, check the box indicating that you have checked the test message and
select the time of sending – “Send now” or specify the time.