Advantages of Email Marketing:

Email marketing can be used for many different purposes.

  • Promotion - you can use emails to promote a special offer or a new product or service to a list of existing or potential customers. The main aim of a promotional email is to get the reader to take some type of action, such as, book a room, buy a gift card or reserve an If your readers have specifically subscribed to your mailing list to receive special offers and promotions then that’s fine, but if they have subscribed to a list to be kept up-to-date on news and events then if you are constantly bombarding them with promotional emails you stand the risk of alienating them and forcing them to unsubscribe.
  • Retention — these are emails aimed at building a relationship between you and your These generally take the form of newsletters where you are providing your readers with information and stories that they may find interesting. A newsletter can of course also include promotional messages or advertisements but these should not be their main aim. Your customers can forget about you very quickly so keeping in contact with them on a regular basis is a good way to keep them aware of you and your business.
  • Communication — these types of emails are generally short emails designed to communicate some important information to your readers. For example, an invitation to an event in your hotel, a traveler tip for your area, or details of a news article about your hotel. Email marketing allows you to reach millions of customers with a click of a button. Like any marketing medium, it has its advantages and disadvantages. Use it correctly, and you'll make more money, but use it incorrectly and you could lose your business. Weigh these pros and cons before you start an email campaign.
  • Other Benefits of Using Email marketing - There are many good reasons to use e-mail marketing because even with the growth of social media, e-mail marketing can still be very effective
    • Cost — Communicating via email has many of the advantages of traditional direct mail but with much lower costs.
    • Speed — if you need to, you can get a message out to your entire list very fast.
    • Easy to create — with the many email tools out here, such as MailChimp and Constant Contact, it has become extremely easy to send out professional-looking emails and track their performance through reports. Most of these tools provide standard templates and layouts for all different types of emails, such as newsletters, invitations, special offers, and many more.
    • Personalized — the more information you collect, the more messages can be tailored and personalized.
    • Tracking — you can track how well your email campaign is doing, such as, how many emails were opened, what links did they click, and so With this information you can then adjust your next campaign and improve performance.

Disadvantages of Email Marketing:

Businesses use email marketing as an affordable and often effective advertising tool. However, before employing this technique we should make ourselves aware of the disadvantages and misconceptions that exist. For example, though many people believe email marketing is free, starting any marketing campaign from scratch (even an electronic one) will cost your company money. Several factors can hinder your effectiveness, and, in some cases, email marketing can even work against your business.

1. Spam

People's inboxes get inundated with emails, both solicited and unsolicited. To cut down on the number of unwanted emails, many servers have filters in place to lessen the number of spam emails a person receives. ("Spam" is a common term for bulk distributed ) People can further adjust their email filters to their own tastes. Our email marketing could well land in a spam folder and never get viewed. In some cases, you could find yourself or your business in serious legal trouble. The CAN-SPAM Act sets forth strict guidelines that companies must meet in order to use email marketing. Violations of the act can cost up to $16,000, and numerous people may be charged. Even when you take pains to ensure your email marketing conforms to the rules, you may still be accused and have to prove your campaigns are legitimate.

2. Engagement 

Email marketing requires constant tweaking to keep your subscribers A person will often sign up to receive email solely as part of a promotion. For example, if a user provides his email address, he may receive a discount on a product. A user might also unintentionally sign up, such as if subscribing was the default choice on a web page. In such cases, your email marketing may be perceived as a nuisance. Even in the case that someone deliberately signed up to receive your marketing emails, like an industry newsletter, you still must work to maintain a level of engagement to keep your reader from unsubscribing.

3. Appearance 

You may have worked to create your email marketing to look exactly the way you envisioned. Unfortunately, due to the varying servers and computer settings, your design may not come through the way you hoped, which can diminish the impact of your message. Text may be moved from one line to the next on a person's screen. The email setting on another person's computer may only allow text, blocking images from coming through. If the main focus of your marketing was a logo, it could be lost. If you want to avoid a misconstrued or possibly messy appearance, you'll need to make sure the code used translates to the most basic processing This may entail consulting with a technical specialist or marketing firm.

4. Costs

Sending a quick email to someone may not cost you much more than Internet access, but the costs of launching an email marketing campaign add up. Even basic self-managed monthly plans with fewer than 10,000 subscribers can cost $70, according to one marketing software Hiring a company to design and manage an email marketing campaign includes templates and consultations and can get pricey. A start-up package can cost several thousand dollars initially plus a thousand or more per month for continuing management.