Email marketing has been around for years and no other marketing channel has been able to surpass its effectiveness so far.
What can explain such a great success?
As of 2019, more than half of the world’s population uses email and the number is still expected to increase year over year. In the United States, 92% of adults use email and 61% of these email users check their emails every day. In addition, more and more people check their email on mobile devices outside of normal business hours, making it easy to contact them at a convenient time. another interesting fact is that 85% of generation z choose email as their preferred means of communication.
In addition to the impressive data on email usage, email marketing has other benefits to offer:
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profitability. Email marketing is one of the most affordable ways to reach a targeted audience and generate a high return on investment.
automation. It is possible to automate the email marketing process using specific triggers and workflows.
Clear analytics. Data on open, click-through and conversion rates is readily available and provides a very clear picture of email marketing performance and results.
tempting action. Although not everyone realizes it, email users are trained to do something with an email: reply, forward, click, subscribe or even follow the purchase link .
personalization. even mass emails allow for a lot of personalization thanks to targeting, which is often not possible when using other advertising channels.
In general, there are many good reasons to use email to reach potential customers and retain existing customers, turning them into active promoters of your brand. sending mass emails is the most effective way to do it.
types of mass emails you can send
Bulk emails allow you to send the same message to hundreds or even thousands of users at the same time. There are many cases where this is necessary: for example, to reach potential customers, make an announcement, send an email invitation, or nurture relationships with existing customers. sending all these emails one by one is a long and overwhelming experience and immediately incurs the associated costs.
Here are five basic types of emails that businesses send out in bulk:
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newsletters
promotional emails
procurement emails
withholding emails
newsletters
Newsletters provide general information about what’s new in your company and your industry. they provide information and guides that can be equally helpful to all who have chosen to subscribe. the newsletters do not contain sales pitches and aim to offer value to subscribers, thus building trust and brand awareness.
promotional emails
Promotional emails feature deals and special offers and contain enticing calls to action. Sales pitches are occasionally sent to subscribers or existing customers who are likely to be interested in a specific product.
procurement emails
Acquisition emails are sent to prospects in the middle of the sales funnel to convert them into leads and therefore customers. These emails may contain samples, case studies, invitations to webinars, etc. that will help potential customers better understand a product or service.
withholding emails
It’s important to nurture customer relationships after closing a deal. increases customer loyalty and enables effective referral campaigns to be set up. Retention emails can re-engage customers, help them get the best value from your product or service, solicit feedback or recommendations, upsell customers to more expensive plans, or offer add-ons.
All of these emails have a huge impact on sales and brand awareness. therefore, it is important not to skip them even if the number of your customers is so large that you cannot communicate with them in personal messages.
send mass email in gmail
Before we provide a detailed guide on how to send bulk emails on gmail, let’s stress that gmail was not created for email marketing and has a number of disadvantages compared to professional email marketing services.
these are the disadvantages of using gmail to send mass emails:
Having considered the downsides of sending bulk emails in gmail, you may have come to the logical conclusion: you can use gmail to send bulk emails individually, but you probably shouldn’t.
so is there any reason to send mass emails in gmail? obviously it might be a good idea to send a mass email on gmail if:
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You only have a limited number of leads who already communicate with your sales reps via gmail. In this case, it’s similar to using templates to send messages to your gmail contacts, but it speeds up the whole process.
You don’t do email marketing in the full sense of the word. For example, you only create a mass email to congratulate all your contacts for Christmas or Easter, inform about important changes in the company or distribute a security alert.
how to send mass emails in gmail
These are the steps you need to follow to create and send bulk emails in gmail:
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create a tag
add contacts to the list
send a mass message
create a tag
go to google “contacts” and choose the option “create a label” to create an email list in gmail that includes the recipients you want to send mass emails to. Give the label a name that it will easily recognize.
add contacts to the list
If the users you want to send mass messages to are not in your contact list, start by creating new contacts. click a large “create contact” button and fill in the fields with the necessary information such as name, email, company, job title, phone and notes.
then, from the list of contacts, choose those you want to add to the group and click the “manage tags” icon. choose the label you have created and it will be automatically added to all the selected contacts.
send a mass message
There are two variants to send a mass message to the list you have created with the help of a tag.
variant 1:
start with google contacts. select the required tag and check some or all of the contacts in the list. then click on a “send email” icon (an envelope). When you do this, a new browser window will appear that looks exactly like the gmail “new message” box. this is where you create your mass message and send it to all previously marked recipients.
variant 2:
use your gmail inbox. click “compose” to create a new message. in the “to” field type the name of the tag you want to send to. all tagged emails will appear automatically. be sure to use bcc to protect recipients’ privacy (explained later). therefore, create and send your message as usual.
why use cco when sending mass emails in gmail?
If you add a lot of emails in the normal “to” field, everyone on the list will be able to see other emails and possibly reply to the entire list of email addresses. this violates the privacy of users. bcc or ‘blind copy’ solves this problem by hiding other addresses from each individual email recipient.
To use this feature, simply click bcc in the top right corner of your message box and add the email list in the bcc field. Note that recipients will see that you have added their email using bcc, so they may suspect that the email was sent to other emails as well. they still won’t be able to see other emails you’ve added. more than that, not all recipients will know those details about using gmail.
using google groups to send a mass email
When gmail says that you can send messages to a group, it means to create a group with the help of a tag, as we showed above. google groups are different from gmail contact groups and can only be created from groups.google.com. Creating a google group and sending mass messages to it can be an alternative way to send mass emails in gmail. The obvious benefit is the built-in unsubscribe method, which reduces the chances of a mass message being marked as spam.
These are the steps you need to follow to create a google group and send them a mass message:
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create a google group
invite members
send a mass message
create a google group
use a red “create” button to create your group. name it and set basic group options.
invite members
click on your group and choose “members”, then “invite members” from the menu. therefore, you will be able to insert the email addresses of all the people you would like to add to the group and create a personalized invitation message that will be sent along with the “join the group” link.
Members can also choose to participate themselves by embedding their group on an external web page (copy and paste the provided html iframe into the web page’s html source).
send a mass message
When you want to send a message to your google group, just create a “new message” in gmail and send it to the group’s email address. this email address is coined at the group creation stage and looks something like nameofthegroup@googlegroups.com. if you don’t remember, just go to your groups list and view the “about” page of the group you want to post to.
Please note that if someone posts or replies to the google group, a message will be sent to all group members to take a look.
how to send personalized mass emails in gmail
To send personalized mass emails in gmail, it is necessary to install particular extensions or plugins that will allow the combination of emails with google docs and the spreadsheet. In the spreadsheet, create a list of all contacts and attributes such as name, title, company, etc.
so you insert a macro eg {{first_name}} into your emails, and the corresponding value will be extracted from the file you have created. for this purpose, each value should be placed in a separate column, like so:
Merge tools vary in the features they offer. for example, another mail merger provides statistics on email campaigns and allows you to send a mass email to up to 100 users per day. Contact Monkey, an alternative tool, allows customization, email tracking, email scheduling, and integration with Salesforce. Gmail Mail Merge has customization, scheduling, open email tracking, and supports email aliases so a secretary or virtual assistant can send mass emails on behalf of a manager. meanwhile, more advanced users can create their own mail merge tool using google sheets and gmail by following this google tutorial.
While the merge tools allow you to expand the functionality of gmail, they still lack many useful features that only dedicated email marketing platforms can provide.
the best way to send a mass email
The best way to run an email marketing campaign is by using proper software designed specifically for this purpose, such as prospecting.
Using anyleads, you can easily import your gmail contacts or even connect gmail as sender with one click. In this way, you will be able to target and expand your gmail audience by enjoying advanced features with a direct impact on the effectiveness and conversion of mass emails:
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Email Verification – Our email verification tool enables quick detection of all duplicate and invalid emails so you can keep your email clean. contact list.
Personalization: Adding personalization to your email blasts is as easy as choosing a relevant macro from the extensive list of options. In addition, there is a tool to help you enrich your database with the information you are missing.
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unlimited contacts and custom attributes: You can import an unlimited number of contacts and create your own attributes if you you need to customize. you are free to export this data from the system at any time.
email automation: Create your own sending scenario using the intuitive drag and drop editor. among other things, it allows certain follow-up messages to be sent after the cold email has been opened, not just sent. this can have a dramatic effect on the success of email marketing.
templates: Use ready-made templates for cold messages and follow-ups with high effectiveness and conversion potential.
best time to send: the system will analyze your campaigns and tell you the best time to send more mass emails.
Statistics: Get clear statistics on opens, clicks, responses and conversions to measure and increase the effectiveness of email marketing.
scoring and segmentation: get a deep understanding of the interests and engagement of your audience based on their actions.
sentiment detection: anyleads will analyze your leads’ responses so you can act quickly on any positive responses or call requests.
To discover any advantages and evaluate the benefits of professional email marketing, start a free trial.
7 best tips for mass emailing
Before you consider sending mass emails to your target audience, consider the best practices that will help you achieve better results with each and every campaign.
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customize
create a compelling subject line
do not exaggerate with the media
encourage action
optimize for mobile
test before sending
take care of your reputation
customize the right way
The vast majority of marketers agree that personalizing email blasts increases open and click rates. therefore, please do your best to include customization. at the same time, be careful to include an alternative that will be inserted when you don’t have the corresponding information, so potential customers don’t get an ugly “hello, {{name}}!”
create a compelling subject line
Pay due attention to the subject line of your email. if you insert a coupon or an invitation, it is better to report it directly. in other cases, try to intrigue your readers into wanting to open an email. avoid exclamation marks and all caps; email services consider it a sign of spam.
do not overdo the media
Lots of images and videos slow down the loading of an email and can cause display problems. Additionally, many subscribers set their systems to not display images. So that users don’t receive an email with just a blank space, use a sending platform that also creates text-only versions of your emails. Instead of sending attachments in emails, upload them to your website and send a link. such a solution ensures better loading and tracking of actions.
encourage action
Know what you want to accomplish with each email blast. Even if you choose not to offer a sales pitch right away, it’s important to empower your audience to take action: subscribe to social media, share their experience, read the ideas you just wrote, etc.
optimize for mobile
Now, when so many users check their inbox on mobile devices, it’s critical to work with responsive templates and optimize email blasts for a mobile view. remember that display problems harm not only your message but also your brand.
test before sending
To avoid any problems, it is necessary to check the spelling and test a mass email before sending it. a good practice is to send a test email to your own email address. Viewing an email as a recipient often provides a lot of information about the layout and language of your message.
take care of your reputation
Before sending an email campaign, make sure your ip or domain is not blacklisted and remove it from the block if it is. check if your email list is valid and if you have duplicates. Also, periodically clean up subscribers who no longer open or click on your emails. all this is very important to maintain the reputation of a good sender.
Our general advice is to use email blasts to build relationships with your audience. this is a long process that cannot be reduced to a single email campaign. Sending mass emails on Gmail can help you nurture these relationships only if you use it once or twice a year to send holiday invitations or wishes. using gmail for email marketing is an inappropriate and ineffective way to build customer relationships.
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