Before we begin discussing the benefits of bulk emailing, it is important to
separate the concept of bulk emailing from unsolicited bulk emailing, which is also
known as spam. Spam has absolutely no benefits. It is unethical, notoriously low
converting, and can even land you in jail - or leave you with millions of dollars
worth of fines. Don't do it. On the other hand, bulk mailing is an excellent marketing
tool that can be implemented in dozens of different ways - and has a number of different
benefits.
The benefits derived from bulk emailing ultimately depend on how you implement it.
For instance, one of the most used bulk mailing mechanisms is list-building. This
is the practice of creating your own list by sending visitors to an opt-in form,
where they can join your list.
One of the major benefits of this type of bulk emailing is that it allows you to
pre-sell visitors before you attempt to sell them. This means that you get the chance
to let them trust you - to let them see that you will actually steer them in the
right direction before you begin pitching your own products to them and endorsing
other people's products. This will make it considerably easier for your prospects
to buy your products.
Another benefit of bulk mailing to your own list is that it allows you to perform
statistically-relevant tests on a regular basis. For instance, you can test out
different subject lines to determine which ones will pull better. You can also determine
what phrases will induce curiousity - and you can then implement them in your advertisements
elsewhere.
In addition to your own list building efforts, bulk mailing can be employed successfully
through other people's lists, too. This form of bulk emailing is usually called
e-zine advertising, which has become somewhat less popular in recent years, but
is still a powerful marketing tool.
One of the major benefits of bulk emailing through other people's lists is that
it allows you to instantly contact thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds
of thousands of warm prospects with a direct pitch. Additionally, you don't ever
have to warm up these prospects yourself. Someone else has already done the job
for you. This is in contrast to other methods of traffic generation, such as pay
per click advertising, which require you to pitch small advertisements to targeted,
but cold prospects, until some of them decide to check out your product or list
pitch.
Another major benefit of bulk emailing is that it allows you to coordinate massive
launches in a short period of time. Rather than using natural and paid search engine
traffic to induce a buzz, you can simply coordinate bulk emailings to 10 or more
e-zines on the same day. This massive, coordinated promotional attempt will spill
over from e-zines to forums, creating a buzz for your product in less than a day.
Regardless of whether your bulk mailing efforts are concentrated on your list only
or on other lists only, you should be able to derive multiple benefits from your
efforts.
