Outbound and Inbound Emails: Difference In Writing

Outbound and inbound email marketing are the two major types of email marketing currently utilized by marketers, business owners, and entrepreneurs from different industries. But while some people know the difference between the two, it is not always clear how that difference is reflected in practice while writing the emails. Hence, here’s everything you need to know about outbound and inbound emails and how to write the two.

What Is Outbound Email Marketing?

Outbound email marketing involves sending emails to prospects who haven’t chosen to communicate with you. In other words, you are pretty much cold pitching or emailing potential customers. Other types of outbound marketing include TV ads, billboards, telemarketing, and more.

Clark Kay, an expert from the custom writing reviews site Writing Judge, says, “Outbound marketing tends to get a bad rep because it is unsolicited and can be both annoying and disruptive. It finds its audience even if the audience didn’t seek it out in the first place. However, there are ways to make outbound email marketing campaigns successful.”

What Is Inbound Email Marketing?

On the other hand, there’s inbound email marketing which involves sending emails to leads that have already expressed their interest in you or your products and services. Such emails can include newsletters, discount codes and special offers, sales notifications, and informational content among others.

Linda Carter, an expert from the writing services reviews site Best Writers Online, explains, “Inbound marketing heavily relies on high-quality, valuable content tailored to the different preferences of specific target audience segments. It is meant to keep your customers coming back for more and staying loyal to your brand.”

How Are the Two Connected?

Some marketers and business owners choose to exclude outbound marketing from their email marketing strategy simply because they believe that it is good for nothing. The reality is that using inbound and outbound email marketing together is more effective. Moreover, the line between the two gets quite blurry once you get into the details of how they work.

To be able to send inbound emails, you need to have a database of customers who have expressed their wish to receive such emails. However, to create a list like that, you will likely have to use a combination of outbound and inbound marketing, including sending outbound emails. This is precisely why you need to realize the importance of both types of emails for the success of your overall email marketing strategy.

How Should You Write Different Emails?

So, how exactly should you write these two types of emails? While they may have somewhat different purposes, there are still some elements that are the same for both outbound and inbound emails, including:

• Capturing Attention: It is particularly crucial for you to capture the recipient’s attention when sending outbound emails, but even inbound emails can be ignored if they aren’t written properly. To capture attention and make the person open your email, work on your subject line and your “From” line. Then, to make the person keep reading your email, ensure that your email itself is formatted well, includes visuals, and doesn’t have any unnecessary content that could be skipped.
• Building Trust: Outbound emails look like they were sent from strangers, so you need to make sure that your recipient trusts you. Inbound emails, while not being unsolicited, still need to use tactics to build trust in your audience. To build trust, try to make your email sound personal (but not too invasive). The more you know about the recipient, the easier it will be to personalize your emails.
• Being Respectful: In both outbound and inbound emails, you need to show that you respect your audience. This includes being polite and professional even if you use humor to lighten up the atmosphere. In addition to that, you should show respect in more subtle ways. For instance, keeping your emails concise will show that you value your audience’s time.
• Providing Value: Outbound emails and inbound emails alike should always provide some kind of value to your recipients. Both need to be informative and resourceful as well as relevant to the recipient’s needs. Outbound emails need to have a reason for the recipient to respond to them in some way (e.g. become a subscriber, download your e-book, check out your website). Inbound emails need to serve the purpose they are intended to serve depending on their type (e.g. transactional emails with essential information, notifying emails about sales, newsletters with new product launches, and so on).

Conclusion

To sum up, both outbound and inbound emails are necessary for the success of your email marketing campaigns. How you utilize them is what will make the difference in the bigger picture. Use the tips in this article to help you better understand the differences and similarities between the two and start writing better outbound and inbound emails.