You've Got Mail

I'm online all day, every day. Well, it seems like it anyway. Between my Blackberry (I now lust after an iPhone when my current contract is up because my husband, children and colleagues lord their apps over me) and computers, it's 24/7. Not everyone is, but nearly. In the home medical equipment industry, email marketing campaigns directed by manufacturers to providers are commonplace. As an HME provider, you know what you like to receive, how often and what you don't like. The same goes for your customers.

Consumers, referral sources, subcontractors, media contacts, contract liaisons and employees — everyone is sending and receiving email. (Meanwhile, teens are texting and social-networking up a storm, and their email usage is declining; hence, enter mobile apps.) In fact, email use by the over-65 audience is the fastest-growing, now up to 45 percent of that age group. They have some catching up to do (they'll never catch up to use by 25- to 55-year-olds), but email continues to be a part of their everyday communications.

What Is Email Marketing?

Email marketing is not just sending email text messages; enewsletters and text emails have been around for awhile. Today, email marketing is visually vibrant and content-rich online communication.

Email marketing service providers (ESPs) have put affordable, easy tools into the hands of small businesses. No longer do you need to know HTML to put out a brand-rich, professional-looking custom communication — whether it be a newsletter, announcement or sales promotion — to target interested audiences. These emails contain information that is relevant, valuable and beneficial to the recipient. And a marketing campaign can now be strategically scheduled and subsequently monitored and measured for ROI (return on investment).

Emails have come a long way from text only. Think about your email behavior. Typically, you view emails on a smartphone or your computer. You might quickly view just a few items: the From line, the Subject line and maybe six words to a sentence from the message. You don't open an image or click on a link unless you know the sender. You make your decision within seconds about whether to open or delete. When you receive a text-based email from someone you don't know, you immediately send it to spam.

Most email accounts and Internet service providers (ISPs) limit the number emails you can send at one time, but ESPs are approved as bulk mailers. When using an ESP, your email list is being sent from you through the ESP's server, which is recognized by ISPs.