Using a Bulk Email Strategy: The Advantages and Disadvantages of Email Marketing for Vape Shops

Bulk emails tend to pop into our minds as ‘spam’. But that’s not all they are.

Sure, there are some marketing email campaigns that you can’t even understand why a company would go through the work of producing them that ultimately make you think; “Does mass email marketing work?”

The point is:

There is a way to do things just for the sake of doing them, and then there are ways of doing them right.

The advantages of using email marketing pop out right in front of any person running a digital marketing campaign; they are low budget and don’t have much of an entry barrier regardless of how big or small your vape shop is.

However:

The disadvantages of email marketing when it is done wrong can be grave. Irreparable damage to your vape shop brand sort of gravity.

So, before you dismiss or decide to go with a bulk email strategy, it’s best to understand the pros and cons of email marketing.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

What Exactly Is Bulk Email Marketing?

Keys to a Successful Bulk Email Campaign [Mass Email Marketing Tips]

Pros and Cons of Email Marketing

Disadvantages of Using Email Marketing

Conclusion

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What Exactly Is Bulk Email Marketing?

A bulk email campaign intends to reach a large audience of potential customers all at once. Email marketing campaigns come in the form of newsletters, discounts, invitations, reminders, etc. and they should all bring valuable information that the consumer appreciates.

Bulk emails tend to be synonymous with spam emails, but they shouldn’t. They only will be if the information contained in your messages does not add value to your existing or potential customers.

Aside from the fact that bulk emails intend to draft a single copy for a large group of people, bulk emails can still be personalized for niches of customers within your target audience. This allows your marketing efforts to remain a bulk email campaign without sacrificing the quality of the message itself.

For instance:

If you are sending a bulk marketing message that lets people know about a local discount, you want to make sure that the people who receive the message live in that location, and not people who live outside that location that won’t be able to benefit from the discount. This way the message remains a bulk email but is targeted to the fraction of your target market that may benefit from it.

Otherwise, you’ll run the risk of landing in the spam folder without the hope of ever leaving it.

Keys to a Successful Bulk Email Campaign [Mass Email Marketing Tips]

Make your emails relevant to a large number of people. Think about your demographics and target audience and make a list of the pain points they wish to address by purchasing vaping products from your store. Then think about how your store can specifically address those pain points and how you do it better than the competition.

Once that information is clear to you, you can concentrate on coming up with marketing strategies that target your market effectively, which will then lead you to draft bulk emails that communicate them well to the people who are interested in them.

After you’ve defined who your target market is, you can begin to split it up into more defined categories. For instance, if your target market is people who vape every day, then a sub-niche of that market could be people who only vape disposable products. That way you’ll know exactly who to send emails to when you come out with a seasonal discount on disposables.

Some bulk email strategies are based on a pool of people taken from third-party services. This happens mostly when the business is still young and hasn’t been able to collect enough information from its customers.

But the go-to strategy for most email marketing specialists is to ask the customer to join a weekly newsletter. This is way more effective because you can ensure that the people receiving your emails want to receive them. But to do this you’ll require your client to sign up for it first. The question is; how can you manage this?

Unsurprisingly:

You’ll need an incentive. Experience has shown us that most people sign up for newsletters because of two main reasons; either they feel in tune with the messaging of your brand, or because they are motivated by the promise of exclusive treats (discounts, events, product launches, etc.). So try to bear this in mind when planning out your outreach strategy.

Pros and Cons of Email Marketing

The benefits of email marketing are fairly self-explanatory but we’ve decided to list them out below for clarity. 

1. Low Cost - High Returns

Email marketing campaigns require some degree of maintenance depending on the size of the campaign. Checking on results, drafting new emails, creating graphics that go with them, and CTAs that will drive action from the receivers all take a lot of time and money.

However, bulk emails can be as simple as a newsletter with a well-crafted piece of content on a template you can reutilize every time. This makes the entry barrier for a good marketing campaign very low and also makes it incredibly profitable.

Because marketing emails usually include a CTA within the content, you can also expect the customer to react instantly to it and potentially make a purchase right away.

2. Reach a Motivated Audience

As we discussed before, most marketing emails are directed at people who signed up to receive them. This means you are most likely doing outreach to a motivated audience who is ready to get an email that will motivate them to make a purchase. The only missing piece is for you to find out what it is that will motivate the final purchase.

3. Keep Existing Customers & Gain New Ones

Having a direct line of communication with your target market allows you to keep your existing customers entertained and motivate those who have not yet made a purchase.

4. Straightforward & Low Maintenance

As briefly mentioned, email marketing campaigns can be as low maintenance or as high maintenance as you wish them to be. But regardless of which route you decide to take, every email marketing campaign is usually pretty straightforward; you are reaching out to a customer or potential customer with an intention and you are giving them all the tools they need to act on that intention.

5. Measurable

Using email marketing software you can measure the success and effectiveness of your email marketing campaign. Specialized software will tell you how many conversions you are receiving from your emails, your click-through rate, and how your entire campaign continues to grow or shrink. This type of information is extremely valuable because it allows you to modify whatever you’re doing wrong and ascertains whatever you are doing right.

6. Immediate Call to Action

Emails allow you to customize them as much as you want to for as long as you have the resources to do so. Luckily, it’s pretty simple to include a call to action. This can be a button that triggers a sign-up to an event you are promoting or perhaps a purchase of a product discount you are announcing. 

With emails, customers do not need to go anywhere else to make a conversion. They just need to click on the Call to Action (CTA) button you have provided and keep going with their day.

Disadvantages of Using Email Marketing

Unfortunately, not everything is sunflowers and roses when it comes to email marketing. However, every disadvantage associated with bulk email marketing has an advantage as well; there is always something you can do to mitigate them.

1. Over-Generalization of the Message

Personalizing messages or excluding people, not from the target location or who aren’t interested in the product you are trying to push will help you make your emails more attractive. If your emails do not have at least a tiny bit of customization, the recipient will likely interpret them as spam.

An easy way to do this is to make sure that each email goes out with a greeting that uses the name of each specific recipient. This way the message feels personal and more valuable.

2. Falling Into the Spam Folder

Email Service Providers (ESPs) place spam filters so their users do not constantly receive dangerous emails or messages that add no value to their lives. Gaining authority with recipients and ESPs alike will make it easier for you to leap over that obstacle and ensure that your email reaches its target. An email marketing software may help you identify which emails are being classified as spam emails and why.

Conclusion

Bulk email marketing campaigns are a tool you can use to reach a large number of your target audience. This includes potential and existing customers. The keys to running a successful email marketing campaign revolve around convenience and ensuring that the message within your emails adds value to the recipient. These tips will either optimize the advantages of using email marketing or if done incorrectly, they could decrease your chances of running a successful campaign.