Develop an E-marketing Plan

This page is part of our Resources section. The aim of this section is to provide useful information to support clients interested in our ecommerce order fulfilment services.

Introduction 

E-marketing means using digital technologies to help sell your goods or services. These technologies are a valuable complement to traditional marketing methods whatever the size of your company or your business model.

The basics of marketing remain the same - creating a strategy to deliver the right messages to the right people. What has changed is the number of options you have. Though businesses will continue to make use of traditional marketing methods, such as advertising, direct mail and PR, e-marketing adds a whole new element to the marketing mix. Many businesses are producing great results with e-marketing and its flexible and cost-effective nature makes it particularly suitable for small businesses.

This guide describes how to develop an e-marketing plan and provides guidance on implementing that plan and monitoring its effectiveness.

The benefits of e-marketing

E-marketing gives businesses of any size access to the mass market at an affordable price and, unlike TV or print advertising, it allows truly personalised marketing. Specific benefits of e-marketing include:

• Global reach - a website can reach anyone in the world who has internet access. This allows you to find new markets and compete globally for only a small investment.
• Lower cost - a properly planned and effectively targeted e-marketing campaign can reach the right customers at a much lower cost than traditional marketing methods.
• Trackable, measurable results - marketing by email or banner advertising makes it easier to establish how effective your campaign has been. You can obtain detailed information about customers' responses to your advertising.
• 24-hour marketing - with a website your customers can find out about your products even if your office is closed.
• Personalisation - if your customer database is linked to your website, then whenever someone visits the site, you can greet them with targeted offers. The more they buy from you, the more you can refine your customer profile and market effectively to them.
• One-to-one marketing - e-marketing lets you reach people who want to know about your products and services instantly. For example, many people take mobile phones and PDAs wherever they go. Combine this with the personalised aspect of e-marketing, and you can create very powerful, targeted campaigns.
• More interesting campaigns - e-marketing lets you create interactive campaigns using music, graphics and videos. You could send your customers a game or a quiz - whatever you think will interest them.
• Better conversion rate - if you have a website, then your customers are only ever a few clicks away from completing a purchase. Unlike other media which require people to get up and make a phone call, post a letter or go to a shop, e-marketing is seamless.

Together, all of these aspects of e-marketing have the potential to add up to more sales.

Stages in developing your e-marketing plan

It is important to recognise that planning for e-marketing does not mean starting from scratch. Any online e-communication must be consistent with the overall marketing goals and current marketing efforts of your business.

The main components of an e-marketing plan will typically include the following stages:

• Identify your target audience - if you identify multiple targets, rank them in order of importance so that you can allocate resources accordingly. Profile each target group and understand their requirements and expectations so that you can pitch your costs and benefits at the correct level.
• Set your objectives - possible objectives could include awareness raising (of your business or disseminating information about your products or services), entering new markets, launching a new product, focusing on sales (building internet sales of a product or increasing the frequency of sales from regular customers), or internal efficiency (decreasing marketing costs, reducing order-taking and fulfilment costs, or improving customer retention rates).
• Decide upon the marketing mix - you should choose a mix of e-marketing activities that will help you achieve your objectives and fit with any existing traditional marketing activities you already have planned. For an outline of the range of e-marketing options, see our guide on how to generate business from your e-marketing plan.
• Agree a budget - careful budgeting allows you to prevent costs spiralling out of control. By identifying the returns you expect to make from your investment in e-marketing activities you can compare these with the costs in order to develop a cost/benefit analysis.
• Action planning - identify the tactics for implementing the selected e-marketing activities. The plan should also cover other non-internet marketing activities that are being undertaken.
• Measure your success - build in feedback mechanisms and regular reviews to enable you to assess the success of your e-marketing activities, particularly as e-commerce is such a dynamic and fast-changing area.

The importance of brand and image

The brand and image of a business are vital to its success. Strong brands can generate customer trust, which is particularly important in e-commerce where there are often concerns over privacy and security.

There are several branding options. You could use an existing brand name, create a new internet brand name or co-brand with another business. Closely linked to these decisions is the choice of domain name for your website.

Using existing brand names

Using an existing brand name can make sense if the brand is well known and has a strong reputation. However, you risk jeopardising your brand's good name if your new venture is not successful.

Creating a new brand

If you want to create a new e-commerce brand then a good name is extremely important. Some factors to consider when selecting a new brand name are that it should:

• suggest something about the product
• be short and memorable
• be easy to spell
• translate well into other languages
• have an available domain name

Co-branding

Co-branding occurs when two businesses put their brand name on the same product. This practice is quite common on the internet and has proved to be a good way to build brand recognition.

Domain names

Whatever e-commerce brand name you choose, it is essential that the domain name is available to support this. A strong domain name can help customers to find your site. For more information on choosing a domain name, see our guide to website hosting options.

If the domain name you'd like has already been taken you could offer to buy the domain name from the registered user. If this is not possible and the registration appears to be an infringement of your trade mark then you should seek legal advice. Read about domain name dispute resolution on the Nominet website - Opens in a new window or find out about domain name dispute resolution policies on the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) website - Opens in a new window.

It is now possible for businesses based in the European Union to register for .eu domain names. Find out about .eu domain names on the EURid website - Opens in a new window.

For more information, see our guide on designing a successful brand.

Building relationships with your customers

A website provides an ongoing point of contact with your customers and can be a useful way of collecting information about them for e-marketing purposes and for building successful relationships with them.

Provide engaging content

Make the information that you provide about you and your business as engaging as possible. Think about what you can add to your website that will benefit your customers, eg online discounts to the products or services that you provide or perhaps a blog about your business that they can contribute to. Increasing the interest and value of your website will improve your brand and encourage visitors to come back. See our guide Web 2.0: a guide for business.

Answering common queries

Answering the common queries customers ask on your website - perhaps in the form of FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) - demonstrates you're ready to help. It may also save you time and money by reducing the number of basic phone queries.

Provide an email facility for queries and customer feedback - but ensure someone checks them regularly. Respond to queries promptly and let people know their comments are appreciated. This process can be automated. Provide full contact details, particularly phone numbers, for people in need of an immediate answer or they may look elsewhere.

Asking visitors to register

Many businesses ask first-time visitors to their site to register. This can be useful for gathering statistics and email addresses for direct mailings.

But asking people to register straight away may put them off. Most people will not sign up unless there is an incentive for doing so, such as an e-newsletter, special offer or access to further information that is not available to non-subscribers. Make sure they've got far enough into your site to want to find out more and tell them how they can benefit by registering. Ask for the minimum details possible.

If you intend to collect personal data, there are a number of legal requirements. See the page in this guide on the legal considerations in e-marketing.

Customer relationship management

Many businesses invest in a customer relationship management (CRM) system to improve their customer services. The CRM system brings information like customer data, sales patterns, marketing data and future trends together with the aim of identifying new sales opportunities, delivering improved customer service, or offering personalised services and deals.

In addition to improving sales and profitability, the CRM system is very effective in handling customer complaints and can have a tremendous effect on your reputation. For more information on types of solutions and key implementation issues, see our guide on how to manage your customer database.

Getting the technology right

There are several elements that you could include in your e-marketing mix including email, online advertising (such as banner adverts and sponsored links), SMS messaging or setting up a website. The technology you will require to deliver your e-marketing messages will depend on which elements you decide to employ.

If you are planning to use email as part of your e-marketing plan, make sure the technology you choose is right not only for the message but for your customers. When deciding what technology to use you should consider:

• Computer set-up and performance - this can vary widely. For example, some computers don't have soundcards, making music or video files pointless.
• Firewalls - these often limit the size of file that can be received.
• Compatibility - different programs will display emails differently. Be careful in your use of images since these will increase download times and may be blocked by email filters. Create plain text versions as well as HTML versions to ensure cross-platform compatibility.

The solution is to profile your customers and understand what the best format for them is. Some may like e-mails with whistles and bells, others might just like a plain text email. See our guide on email marketing.

If you decide to establish a web presence there are several options you can consider:

• e-commerce website
• online advertising - including pay per click, sponsored links and banner adverts
• brochureware website

To establish even the simplest of websites you will need fast internet access and a server to host your website, or an internet service provider to host the site for you. If you want your website to have an e-commerce facility you will also need an e-commerce software package. You are also likely to require the expertise of a website designer if you don't have the expertise in-house. See our guide on how to create an online shop.

There are a number of techniques you can use to help potential customers find your site, eg search engine optimisation (SEO). The vast majority of those using search engines will not go beyond the first page of results. If you are expecting your website to generate significant commercial returns, it is important to ensure that your website performs well with search engines. SEO techniques include identifying the keywords and phrases that customers use to search for your products and services, inserting the keywords into the right places in your website when it is being built, submitting your site to search engines and directories once it is built, and trying to obtain links back to your website from other sites that perform well. See our guides on how to generate business from your e-marketing plan and search engine optimisation.

Data privacy

Technology gives you the opportunity to collect lots of information on your customers. This doesn't mean you should use it carelessly though. It is very important to ensure that any data you collect about your customers is handled carefully, and in line with the principles of the Data Protection Act. You must also keep it up to date and not needlessly reveal information about customers.

See information on the Data Protection Act on the Information Commissioner's Office website - Opens in a new window.

Implementing e-marketing

There are three stages to implementing an e-marketing campaign.

Evaluate the marketing options

• Email - great for building relationships and keeping your customers up to date with offers, and is less intrusive than telephone marketing. However, growing concerns about spam mean you need to make sure you adhere to government regulations. For more information, see the page in this guide on legal considerations in e-marketing.
• SMS (short messaging service) - almost everyone has a mobile phone, so marketing via text messaging is a viable option. However, the personal relationships people have with their phones means marketing needs to be carefully considered.
• Websites - a hugely flexible option to meet any marketing need. However, with so many other websites, you need a strategy for getting yours noticed and used.

Plan the rollout phase

• Look at training implications, especially of building and running a website and think about the costs involved.
• Decide which staff will require training and allow time for them to adjust to the new system.
• Do you need to review your customer contacts database? Before beginning a new marketing campaign it can be a good time to reorganise your data.
• If you're building a website, how are you going to promote it? Will you submit it to search engines? Which directories should you promote it in? Are you using blogs and online PR? Is it worth paying an agency to boost your rating? It might be wise to start with a soft launch - perhaps just to existing customers to see how the website beds down before you begin to give it stronger marketing support.

Implement e-marketing

• Roll out any necessary training.
• Encourage staff involvement and feedback. This will help to smooth implementation, as staff buy-in can make or break a technology project.
• Consider setting up a cross-departmental taskforce to manage the implementation process - it will help with staff buy-in and ensure that implementation works business-wide.
• Continually review your practices against e-marketing regulations.

Monitoring the effectiveness of your e-marketing campaign

Unless you can find out why people visit your website, you won't know which marketing campaigns have been successful or where to invest more money.

Tracking and site analysis tools

A number of suppliers sell tracking tools that can tell you where visitors come from, what they do while on your site and where they go when they leave.

If you search the internet you might come across a free trial - but bear in mind that you'll need a large amount of data for the results to be significant.

You - or whoever has access to the server hosting your website - will also be able to access a log file - a recorded history of all requests for pages on your site. It includes details of the page requested, the time and source of the request.

The problem with monitoring a log file is that it grows so quickly that you need software to glean anything useful from it. A website analysis tool is a piece of software that you can use to measure the usage patterns of your site. It does this using statistics such as the total number of visitors, the number of new and returning visitors, which search engines they are finding the site through, and which parts of the site they are making particular use of.

Some website analysis tools, such as Analog, are available free from the web. Other popular packages include Wusage and WebTrends. Google Analytics is a free of charge tool that provides an extremely detailed view of how visitors have found your site and what they do when they get there. You can also use webmaster tools provided by the various search engines to gain a better understanding of how search engines have ranked your website.

User surveys and usability testing

The only other way of checking how visitors reach you and whether you're providing what they want is to ask them.

Ideally, you need to know how they found the site, whether it is their first visit and why they're visiting. Pop-up surveys (new pages containing surveys that open in separate windows) are a good way of gathering this type of information - but users may simply ignore them, particularly if you ask too many questions.

Usability testing is another way to collect valuable feedback from users. This involves getting a group of customers and non-customers together to review your website and to provide feedback on how easy it is to use and how effective it is in promoting your business or selling your products. This can be done informally by yourself or you can use a specialist agency to do this for you.

Legal considerations in e-marketing

You need to be aware that there are a number of regulations that relate specifically to e-marketing. You need to keep abreast of developments in this area to ensure that you are complying with the various rules.

Email and SMS marketing - regulations

There are rules covering marketing e-mails and SMS messages to individuals.

The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations introduce an opt-in consent procedure for commercial emails - which means you can only target people who have agreed to be contacted.

To save having to contact all your existing customers to get consent, the rules apply only to new customers. You can continue marketing to your current customers provided they can opt-out of future messages and the messages cover similar products and services.

You must also clearly mark your emails with your contact details and include a valid return email address.

For more information, see our guide on e-commerce and the law.

Your website

All websites should carry your company's registered address and company (or charity) registration number.

Using cookies

Cookies are small pieces of software that websites store on users' computers. They have a very wide variety of uses, but an important one is to track the movements of visitors to websites, counting clicks, establishing how people arrived at the site and how they navigate around it. In short, cookies can be a very useful marketing tool.

Under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, businesses have to inform their customers that they use cookies, and provide an opt-out facility for those who do not wish to accept them. In practice this will mean providing the user with a 'privacy' or 'cookies' statement that explains how they are being used and how they can be switched off.

The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) has set up a specialist team to develop a practical approach to the rules on cookies.

Here's how I developed and implemented an e-marketing plan

Operating directly out of London's Covent Garden Market, Fruit For The Office provides daily fresh fruit deliveries and gifts to offices, households, schools, shops, hotels and restaurants. Founder Daniel Ox describes how his e-marketing plan played an important role in turning the market-stall based company into a thriving nationwide delivery business.

What I did

Get the branding right

"Four years ago, our family business of fruit stalls in prime London locations was suffering from changing consumer shopping habits and the rise of the supermarkets. However, I had noticed that more and more companies were sending staff out to purchase quantities of fruit for general consumption in the office. I did some market research and financial forecasts to quantify the market potential and refine the target audience and became convinced that we could re-focus the business on this area, offering quality produce and an efficient delivery service direct to the customer's premises.

"I realised that e-marketing was going to play a key role, simply because of the huge growth in internet commerce. I also felt that there was no point in jumping hastily on the bandwagon. I wanted to start with a great brand around which the marketing could be built and which would immediately inspire customer confidence. Branding was particularly important because we were the first company to specifically target fruit for offices and because the product itself is quite hard to differentiate from what future competitors could offer.

"Utilising my research and comparisons with other successful food brands, I worked on the brand image with a trusted design company to formulate a company name and logo, an overall design blueprint and key marketing messages."

Put the online infrastructure in place

"E-marketing has to start with a good website. We already had a static one-page site to publicise the fruit stalls, but it wasn't up to the mark. Working with our design agency, we started again from scratch, planning in meticulous detail, testing pages for usability and search engine optimisation and ensuring we would be able to easily add content in future.

"Data capture and building customer relationships are essential. We encourage visitors to sign up for our regular email newsletters, by including special offers, details of food festivals and other information that's of interest to our target market. We're careful to abide by Data Protection laws when collecting customer details and always gain opt-in rather than automatically adding someone to our list.

"The website also includes a blog with feedback facilities, which reflects the brand personality and includes fun and informative fruit-related features plus company news such as our regular charity fund-raising efforts. We invested a lot of money in the website and a launch campaign, but it paid for itself within weeks of going live."

Monitor, review and update

"I use the Google Analytics tool every day to help monitor our e-marketing. It gives crucial information about how people are using the website and responding to our marketing messages, so that we can refine and develop them and segment the e-marketing further to reach specific customer groups. I also use the tool to analyse the performance of our competitors. In addition, we conduct an annual e-mail survey to gain customer feedback, the results of which are fed back to all staff.

"We're constantly reviewing and updating our e-marketing plan to keep us ahead of the competition. For example, we're about to implement a huge data capture exercise using a bought-in database and offering fruit-related prizes as incentives to register with us. This should provide a major expansion of our own database for future e-marketing campaigns."

What I'd do differently

Build in more landing pages

"The website has proved a highly successful e-marketing tool from day one. However I wish we'd originally built in more "landing pages" - the pages that potential customers are directed to when they type a particular keyword into a search engine."