Exclusive | Email marketing the emerging choice: Experian's Naveen Bachwani

Email marketing is one of the fastest catching trend among e-commerce companies in particular. The growth of ecommerce has rapidly gained ground in an India with a fast growing internet population. Experian a company focused on email marketing launched its services in India in 2010 and has emerged as one of the most trusted service provider. Email marketing refers to the use of the email channel to communicate your message customized to an individual’s requirements. 

 

Experian CheetahMail is the world’s largest permission based email marketing solution and is the most trusted service provider of email marketing for top enterprises worldwide. It has been rated as a leader amongst email marketing providers by Forrester, a leading global research firm. In India many large brands including Flipkart, MakeMyTrip, Lemon Tree Hotels, etc are using CheetahMail for their email marketing initiatives. 

 

Speaking to Adgully about the reasons behind growth, Naveen Bachwani, Head - Marketing Services at Experian India says, “we are addressing the requirements of  an internet savvy consumer base who look at the internet at various stages of their buying cycle including gathering information about the product/service they are planning to buy; seeking peer advice and recommendations for their purchase; finding places where they can buy – these could be online and offline; comparing products and services from different brands and to get good deals on their purchase.” Email cuts across these stages and can be effectively deployed to engage with customers through their entire life cycle. The digital medium and email offers marketers the ability to customize their communication; get direct feedback from the consumers regarding their products & services and design promotion offers to suit the varying needs of each individual consumer in the target group, he adds. 

 

Email marketing has also effectively evolved as a reliable measure of evaluating each campaign and thus derive the RoI of a campaign quite easily. The ability to engage with each member of the TG, and the ease of measuring the effectiveness of the campaign, makes email marketing very attractive for marketers.

 

Since its launch in November 2010, Experian CheetahMail has received a very encouraging response in India. Says Bachwani, “globally, Experian has a number of exciting products and services in the marketing services arena, and we plan to introduce them in India, in the months to come. These may include video based email, dynamic content embedded in emails, data quality validation tools, etc. In fact, we’re already working with select clients in some of these areas”. 

 

Today, ensuring that your emails, both, reach and are read by your customers is a complex issue that’s high on every marketer’s agenda. The key challenge that most marketers face is to ensure that emails safely negotiate filters; emails are relevant to and appreciated by consumers; and the emails are placed in inboxes in the formats & at the times that are most likely to drive engagement, transactions and healthy returns on marketing investment. Adds Bachwani, “Experian CheetahMail works with its clients, and with ISPs, to ensure that emails sent through our network are high on deliverability. In fact, all across the globe, that’s CheetahMail’s USP”. 

 

Despite the emergence of social media tools and other forms of communication, email remains the predominant way to engage with people online. With more time being spent on social networks, as well as the proliferation of smart phones and tablets, companies are challenged more than ever with marketing the right product at the right time across all channels and devices. As a means of structured communication, email continues to grow in usage and effectiveness, driving more revenue and engagement for the brands that use it effectively. The lines are blurring and as such, email will continue to evolve and leverage the synergies it has today with mobile, social and Web to send more relevant and dynamic messaging based on customer behavior and stated preferences. 

 

The reasons says Bachwani for email marketing to become a preferred choice are many says Bachwani, “cost of production is negligible, as compared to more traditional media. Cost of delivery is minimal, as compared to digital media like mobile (SMS). Cost of reporting and analytics is nil if its built into the email platform. As a marketer, once you’ve identified the target audience and the message that you need to send out, email remains one of the most cost effective ways to engage with customers, compared to most other media.”