EDM: Is It Still Effective and How to Use MailerLite?

On 10 May 2025, Ivan So, a renowned SEO and EDM consultant in Hong Kong, delivered a talk to students of PolyU SPEED’s Professional Certificate in AI-Driven Digital and Social Media Marketing. He emphasized that Electronic Direct Mail (EDM) remains a crucial part of digital marketing strategy, even if some view it as outdated. Many professionals still start their workday by checking emails, making it a highly effective and direct channel to connect with audiences. The key to successful EDM lies not just in sending emails, but in the strategic approach and value they provide.

Why EDM Persists in the Digital Age

EDM’s strength lies in its ability to reach audiences directly. Unlike fleeting social media posts, emails land in inboxes—spaces people check habitually. Ivan So pointed out that effective EDM strategies avoid hard-sells, instead focusing on nurturing leads and building long-term trust.

Choosing Your Email Marketing Tool

Ivan So evaluated several popular email marketing platforms. Mailchimp remains well-known for its ease of use and extensive template library, but recent changes have made its free offerings more limited. MailerLite emerged as a user-friendly, beginner-oriented platform with a generous free plan—up to 1,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails per month—and strong native integration with Facebook Lead Ads, removing the need for third-party connectors. ActiveCampaign stands out for its advanced automation and CRM features but is best suited for those comfortable with a steeper learning curve and higher costs.

Ivan, a certified partner for both Mailchimp and MailerLite in Hong Kong, now recommends MailerLite as the better option for most users due to its balanced functionality and accessible pricing.

Acquiring Email Addresses: The Right Way

Ivan stressed that building a high-quality email list is essential for EDM success. He advised against buying email lists, which are often outdated and carry a high risk of being marked as spam. Instead, he advocated for ethical and effective list-building tactics.

Website opt-in forms, while often low in conversion (less than 0.1%), attract genuinely interested subscribers. More compelling is the use of lead magnets—valuable offerings in exchange for email addresses. Examples include free webinars or courses (such as his own SEO intro course, which yields around 300 leads monthly), ebooks, white papers, 15-minute consultations, coupons, free samples (especially in beauty products), contest entries, and trial subscriptions. Costs per lead can range from 5–8 HKD initially, increasing to 10–12 HKD as ad competition intensifies. The key metric is subscriber growth outpacing unsubscribes.

Nurturing Leads: Building Trust Before Selling

Jumping straight into sales after capturing an email is rarely effective. Ivan suggested a lead nurturing strategy that builds trust before introducing offers. This process includes:

• Sending an automated welcome email immediately after subscription.
• Following up with an educational email sequence related to the subscriber’s interests—such as SEO content for those who opted in via SEO material.
• Establishing trust over time with consistent value, only introducing promotions after a relationship is built.

For highly targeted audiences, a short but intensive sequence (e.g., 8 emails in 7 days) can be surprisingly effective. Such campaigns can achieve open rates above 50% and click-through rates exceeding 10%.

Optimizing Campaigns with A/B Testing

A/B testing is essential to refine EDM strategies. Ivan shared insights from several controlled tests:

• Emojis in Subject Lines: Contrary to common belief, removing emojis actually improved open rates, especially for older audiences.
• Sender Name (Personal vs. Company): Emails sent from a company name outperformed those from personal names in open rates—32% vs. 27%—as recipients perceived them as more official.
• Sending Time: While open rates remained similar between 7:30 AM and lunchtime, early morning emails enjoyed better click-through rates, albeit with a slight increase in unsubscribes.
• Content Format: Emails containing simple text links yielded 26% higher click-through rates than those with embedded video thumbnails. Many recipients avoided video content due to bandwidth concerns, transit conditions, or email file size triggering spam filters.

Best Practices for Email Design and Delivery

• Keep It Simple: Use plain text or minimally styled emails that resemble personal messages. Avoid image-heavy templates that risk being flagged as promotions.
• Optimize Your Thank You Page: Direct new subscribers to check their inbox and spam folders, and prompt them to whitelist your email address. This small step can drastically improve future email deliverability.
• Include an Unsubscribe Link: This is not only a legal necessity but also ensures list quality. It should be visible but not overly emphasized.

Using MailerLite: A Quick Guide

1. Account Setup: Sign up with a business domain email. Complete your profile to pass MailerLite’s strict verification standards.
2. Subscribers: Upload contacts manually or via CSV. For large lists, you may need to verify the data source.
3. Campaign Types: Regular email blasts, A/B testing campaigns, RSS-triggered emails, auto resend to non-openers, multivariate campaigns.
4. Email Design: Use drag-and-drop tools to build clean, minimal emails. Avoid “View in browser” links. Add personalization tags and customized preheaders. MailerLite includes AI tools for subject line suggestions.
5. Forms: Build pop-up or embedded forms to collect email addresses from your site.
6. Automation: Create sequences triggered by actions like form submissions or link clicks. Use time delays and conditions to tailor each flow.
7. Landing Pages: MailerLite also offers simple tools to create lead magnet or opt-in landing pages.

Conclusion: The Enduring Power of EDM

While EDM may not be trendy, it remains a high-converting, deeply personal marketing tool when used wisely. Ivan So’s approach emphasizes long-term relationship building, continuous value delivery, and tactical optimization through A/B testing. His experience shows that email is not merely a channel for promotions, but a strategic platform for building audience loyalty and driving high-quality conversions.

One of EDM's greatest strengths lies in its ownership and control. Unlike social media platforms that rely on algorithms and changing rules, email marketing gives businesses direct access to their audience, with no intermediary limiting visibility. This control enables consistent communication, deeper personalization, and the ability to build segmented, behavior-based messaging flows.

Furthermore, modern tools like MailerLite allow even small businesses to execute sophisticated email campaigns with ease—combining automation, personalization, testing, and design in one accessible interface. This democratization of email technology means more businesses can now nurture leads and convert them efficiently, without heavy advertising spend.

For marketers aiming to balance trust, scale, and cost-effectiveness, EDM remains not just relevant—but essential. As digital competition grows, those who invest in high-quality, respectful email relationships will continue to see sustainable, long-term marketing success.

中文總結

在2025年5月10日，香港知名SEO與電郵營銷顧問Ivan So應邀在香港理工大學專業進修學院的「AI驅動的數碼及社交媒體營銷專業證書」課程中發表演講。他指出，雖然許多人認為EDM（電子直銷郵件）已過時，但實際上，它依然是數碼營銷策略中不可或缺的一環。每天早上查看電郵仍然是專業人士的習慣，因此電郵成為一個高效且直接觸達目標受眾的渠道。

Ivan認為，成功的EDM關鍵在於「如何發送」和「傳遞什麼價值」，而非僅僅是發送郵件。他分享了目前主流的三個電郵行銷工具，包括Mailchimp、MailerLite和ActiveCampaign，分別具有不同程度的自動化、易用性與定價策略。其中，MailerLite因為提供免費配額、簡單操作與強大的Facebook Lead Ads整合功能，被他認為是現階段最值得推薦的選擇。

在蒐集名單方面，他強烈反對購買電郵清單，並建議以網站表單、Lead Magnet（如免費課程、電子書、樣品、優惠券等）來交換用戶的電郵地址。這些策略不僅能提高名單質素，還能增強用戶對品牌的認同與信任。

他亦強調透過自動化流程進行Lead Nurturing（潛在客戶培育），由歡迎郵件、教育內容到最終推廣產品或服務，這樣可顯著提升開啟率與點擊率。此外，他以自身經驗分享了A/B測試的成效，包括主題行是否使用Emoji、發件人名稱選擇、發送時間及內容形式等，這些微調都會影響郵件表現。

總結而言，EDM或許不是最「潮」的營銷方式，但其高轉化率與長期信任建立優勢，使其在今天的數碼行銷中依然屹立不搖。

關鍵字 (Keywords)

Email Marketing, EDM, Email Funnel, Automation, Ivan So, MailerLite, Lead Magnet, Digital Strategy, A/B Testing, Email Campaigns, 電郵營銷、電子直銷郵件、自動化行銷、電郵行銷工具、名單建設、Lead Nurturing、內容行銷、行銷轉換、香港營銷顧問、AI行銷課程