What Is a Full-Service Email Marketing Agency?
The keyword in that question is the term “full-service.’’ When most people think of e-commerce email marketing, the two things that come to mind are email copy and design.
However, there are many more moving parts in email marketing, and it's the job of a full-service email marketing agency to combine all those parts to form a wholistic approach that maximizes the potential of what is easily the most profitable marketing channel for most e-comm brands (email marketing, of course).
Let’s go ahead and outline the parts of email marketing that an agency must handle before it can qualify as a “full-service” email marketing agency.
Email Marketing Strategy
If you run an e-commerce brand or work for one, then you probably don’t need me to tell you just how important email marketing is for e-commerce. Here at RPM, our clients get about 40% of their total revenue from email marketing alone.
That said, such numbers can be achieved only when you have the right email marketing specialist steering the ship. This underscores the need to specifically work with marketers who have the technical know-how and loads of firsthand experience in email marketing. Given how crucial email marketing strategy is, a good full-service email marketing agency is guaranteed to provide you with such a specialist.
2. Email Marketing Platform Management
There are a thousand email marketing platforms out there, and while using these platforms can be a little tricky for most, a full-service email marketing agency always has team members who have in-depth understanding of these platforms and can use them to get the best out of your email list.
Klaviyo (my personal favorite), Mailchimp (wouldn’t recommend), ActiveCampaign, And Omnisend are among the most popular email marketing platforms out there. Each platform has its strengths and weaknesses, but they all provide basic optimization features like automation, A/B testing, and audience segmentation. A full-service email marketing agency will utilize these features to send the right message to the right audience at the right time.
3. Email Marketing Content: Copy and Design
This is probably the part that sounds most familiar to you. At its core, email copywriting is all about using words that captivate, engage, and drive your email subscribers to not just take action, but to take it right now.
It involves crafting subject lines that intrigue, preview lines that tease, body copy that resonates, and calls to action that make buying your product (again and again) seem like the logical next step to subscribers.
Email design, on the other hand, entails incorporating eye-catching images, captivating layouts, and seamless user experiences. When done right, design plays a pivotal role in grabbing attention and sparking engagement.
Simple Email Design
Thankfully, email marketing content is the most common service email marketing agencies offer, so a full-service email marketing agency definitely has your back covered here.
4. Email Deliverability
Email deliverability simply refers to the likelihood that your emails will land in the inbox of your subscribers as opposed to their spam folder.
Source: My Gmail Inbox
Creating the very best email in the world means absolutely nothing if that email ends up in the spam folder of your subscribers. You might think that could never happen to your business but trust me, not only can it happen, it will happen if you don’t adopt email deliverability best practices.
To ensure optimal deliverability, various factors come into play. It starts with building a positive sender reputation by sending only relevant emails to relevant segments of your subscriber list and maintaining a low spam complaint rate.
Proper email authentications (such as SPF and DKIM) help establish trust with internet service providers (ISPs) and demonstrates that your emails are legitimate and not spam.
Compliance with anti-spam regulations (like the CAN-SPAM Act) is essential to avoid being flagged as a spammer. Regular list hygiene - that is, periodically removing inactive or unengaged subscribers - also contributes to better email deliverability.
While maintaining optimal deliverability can feel like a cumbersome and complicated process for most, a full-service email marketing agency has specialists that carry out this exact function
5. Email List Growth
Email marketing is one place where size definitely matters. Crafting the best email possible is always essential, but still, an average email sent to a list of 100,000 subscribers is likely to outperform a great email sent to a list of 10,000 subs.
That’s why a full-service email marketing agency will prioritize implementing lead generation tactics, optimizing signup forms, and providing valuable incentives to help you attract quality subscribers who are genuinely interested in your offer.
List growth is just the beginning though. Nurturing your existing subscribers is even more important. Such an agency will use email marketing to create a customer journey that fully engages each of your subscribers and extract the maximum lifetime value (LTV) from them.
6. Coordinating Omnichannel Campaigns
The true magic of marketing lies in the synergy of multiple marketing channels. The inbox is not the only touchpoint you have with customers. Ideally, they should also see you when they’re scrolling through social media (organic posts and paid ads) as well as when they’re on Google (SEO).
Seeing the same marketing campaign across all your marketing channels greatly increases the chances of getting the desired response out of your customers. While a full-service email marketing agency might not know enough about your other marketing channels to handle them for you, they’ll know enough to effectively liaise with the staff handling those channels.
This kind of seamless collaboration between members of your marketing team will create unified, compelling omnichannel campaigns. This is how you leave a lasting impression on your customers and maximize customer retention.
7. Monthly Performance Reports
No form of marketing is ever complete without insights to guide future actions. Any decent full-service email marketing agency will compile the relevant data from your email marketing platform to provide monthly reports that summarize the results of your email marketing activities.
These insights help you navigate potential challenges as they arise, double down on what’s working, and take all necessary measures to ensure your e-commerce brand continues to flourish.
8. Being Your Ear on the Ground
The world of email marketing - and marketing in general - is constantly changing, and keeping up with the latest email marketing trends is a full-time job you probably don’t want.
It’s different for email marketing agencies though. Since email marketing is their bread and butter, they not only keep up with the latest news but even partner with the email marketing platforms that shape the email marketing industry.
Here at RPM, for example, we’re partnered with platforms like Klaviyo, Omnisend, ActiveCampaign, Privy, etc. This ensures we usually get news of relevant changes before it gets announced to the general public, and can quickly make needed adjustments for our clients.
That’s all for now! If you’re interested in having a full-service email marketing agency take a look at your current email marketing strategy, simply touch the big orange button below.
