5 Ways to Use Microsoft Outlook for Better Email Marketing Management

Are you seeking to enhance your email marketing strategies and increase efficiency? Microsoft Outlook may not be the first email platform you have in mind, but it can be an excellent tool for marketers working on a Microsoft ecosystem.

Whether you have a small company or a medium-sized one, you can save time building campaigns here. The email templates and scheduling options make Outlook the perfect tool to streamline your marketing efforts. You can also organize communications here. With the email tools structure and features, from forming subscriber lists to automating follow-ups, you can use Outlook to the best of its potential!

Wanna take a look at more of the advantages of using Outlook for your email marketing management tasks? Here are the 5 ways you can use Microsoft Outlook to better create and manage your campaigns!

Is Outlook Good for Email Marketing?

Are you using Microsoft tools a lot in your everyday marketing tasks? If you are wondering how you can use Outlook beyond simple email communication, you can send bulk emails and newsletters too. Although Outlook may be used for email marketing like other free email services, like Gmail, it does come with limitations, such as access to analytics.

You will also not see the number of people clicking your links or reading your email. You will also not find people who have unsubscribed. In marketing, data is vital, and with these numbers, you can improve your strategies and more!

In addition, you will not be able to check your bounce rates and spam complaints, either. Although you can send bulk emails, some of them may be marked as spam.

Do not let these limitations stop you from working on your marketing emails now and then. You can also work on sending one-off announcements or try sending them in small groups from time to time. It also runs well with the rest of the Microsoft 365 suite, so if you are planning to use it, the clean and reliable interface helps launch your campaigns easily and quickly!

Can You Use Outlook as a CRM?

Don’t let Outlook’s limitations prevent you from using it as part of your CRM setup! As it is part of the Microsoft 365 suite, it works well with Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Salesforce. It also integrates seamlessly with HubSpot!

How does this work? Dynamics 265 and HubSpot let you see email and meeting history and notes when integrated with your Outlook. This also helps you streamline your work and save you time from switching from one app to another.

Although not a direct CRM platform, you can use some of its features to let it act as a simple CRM tool. Once you’ve set up the categories, flags, notes, and folders, you now have potential leads or contact customers!

You can try to group the contacts first with your current clients and then create another one for follow-ups. Within each folder, use subfolders to store drafts, sent items, feedback, and analytics. This way, everything related to one campaign is in a single place.

This is a perfect fit for small business owners, but once your customer base grows, you may need to level up your tools that offer vast and even more complex marketing strategies!

1. Create Email Templates for Consistency and Speed

Just like other aspects in marketing, we hate forming and writing the same or similar emails all the time. And the best way to do it is by creating email marketing templates for Outlook. It is one of the simplest tricks for people working on marketing emails in Outlook.

These templates already have professionally designed formats that you can use as many times as you want. You only need a few clicks to customize it for your brand or create a more uniform approach to boost your productivity and let you work on more important aspects in marketing.

Using Microsoft Outlook email marketing templates will not let you work on every email detail from scratch. You can compose professional emails while being consistent with your brand’s tone and format quickly. Plus, you can communicate frequently with customers, send newsletters, and launch promotions and offers fast!

Here are just some benefits of using email templates:

• Time-saving: You can compose once and reuse the templates multiple times while making small customizations.
• Consistency: You can continue to maintain a professional and branded message.
• Improved efficiency: You can also focus more on strategy and upcoming marketing content rather than manual email composition.

Are you just getting started with your email marketing campaigns? This guide will level up your skills from scratch. This guide is perfect for single-owner businesses or new business owners.

2. Utilize Rules and Filters for Inbox Automation

Like Gmail, you also create categories to tag emails in your Microsoft Outlook. Some of the recommended labels that you can use as a marketing professional are Leads, Newsletters, or Product Launch. Besides tagging your email, you can also color-code your categories in Outlook.

In addition to categorizing, you can also create a rule for specific email subjects and email addresses. This way, you can automatically sort these incoming emails into their specific folders and even assign categories quickly. All these rules and filter strategies prevent you from manually sorting your emails!

Another common struggle with all email platforms is the overflowing of inboxes. This happens when you run email campaigns on a monthly or weekly basis. Through the rules and categories, you can easily categorize the incoming messages and group them by priority. Delete the unnecessary emails and have more space for possible marketing leads!

Here’s how you can make rules work for you:

• You can automatically move emails from specific senders to dedicated folders.
• You can flag emails with urgent keywords for immediate attention.
• You can send promotional content or newsletters directly to a marketing folder
• You can route irrelevant emails to the junk or trash folder

Here’s how you set rules in your Outlook app.

Step 1: Go to the Mail tab in Outlook.

Step 2: Click Rules.

Step 3: Select Add New Rule.

If you’d like to learn more about maximizing Outlook’s productivity tools, check out this helpful post on Outlook email efficiency.

3. Schedule Email Sends for Perfect Timing

If you are solely working on email marketing, you know how important timing is. Another feature about Outlook that you will surely love is its ability to schedule your emails. This allows you to communicate with your audience at the time they will likely respond to you. With this Outlook feature, you become less reliant on manual sends.

Do you know how to schedule emails on Outlook already? If not, here’s a step-by-step process on how to do so.

• You can draft your email as usual.
• Then, you click the Options tab.
• Next, select Delay Delivery.
• You need to check the “Do not deliver before” box.
• Finally, choose your desired date and time.

Why is it important to use the scheduling feature on Outlook for your email marketing endeavors? You can ensure your emails arrive when your audience is active. This will also save you more time to work on future content for your marketing needs. With this, you can also help maintain a consistent sending schedule.

Besides freeing up your schedule, when is it best to use it? If your audience or customers are from different time zones, you can group them and schedule the emails according to their activity time. This is perfect for email campaigns that need to be launched on specific holidays. It also reduces the risk of sending emails too early or too late.

If you are using CRM tools that can integrate with Outlook, the scheduling feature also functions as a reminder as the calendar syncs up your campaign timelines. For even better outreach timing, combine this method with email insights provided by dedicated email marketing tools, especially those that offer open and click tracking features. If you are still using free email service providers, scheduling can be a vital asset.

4. Integrate Task Management to Stay on Track

Email campaigns are more than just sending emails. You also need to follow up, track progress, and manage team collaboration. You can use Outlook’s management tools to your advantage, turning it into a productivity powerhouse. Here are some key email management features in Outlook:

• Flagging emails: You can mark messages for follow-up and set deadlines.
• Creating tasks from emails: You can convert an email into a task item with due dates.
• Using folders: You can organize emails by campaign phase, like TO-DO, In Progress, and Completed.
• Shared calendars: You can coordinate your marketing team’s schedules efficiently.

There is also the @Mentions function that helps you assign tasks to members in an email. Plus, when you tag members, they can also filter the inbox and find the emails they were mentioned. This feature is helpful for team collaboration, follow-ups, and tracking campaign action items.

Want to keep vendor emails? Outlook’s folders also support project management. You can group emails by vendors and clients. If you also group your marketing teams into different folders, you can also avoid mixing them up and keep your emails organized.

5. Leverage Search Tools to Track and Retrieve Information

One of the challenges of email marketing is the on-time back-and-forth communications. Sometimes, you may have to go the extra mile and track old messages to check campaign performance or just check feedback made by a client. Outlook search tools help you find messages quickly without going through hundreds of folders and emails one by one.

Do you know how to search in Outlook? Here are some of the ways to make it easier for you to locate all the emails you need.

• You can use keywords, sender names, or subject lines to locate specific emails
• You can create Search Folders, like “Unread Newsletters” or “Last Month’s Clients.”
• You can also filter by date, attachment size, or categories.

Search Folders are handy for recurring tasks. You can group emails based on your preferred criteria. It could be by specific sender, campaign, or even by keyword, like Newsletters. If you are looking for a product launch campaign, you can create a Search Folder that has all the emails that contain your product name or the name of the campaign. This prevents you from doing manual searches.

For easier options, you can also link emails to relevant contacts. You can track customer preferences and interaction history by customizing fields for more precise information tracking. This offers a complete customer view, and you can also personalize it.

When you sync CRMs with Outlook, you also gain additional features. You can automatically log calls and meetings and track customer journeys. If you want extra protection for sensitive information while sending an email, be sure to look into email encryption when you have Microsoft 365.

Yes, Outlook has an email encryption feature called the Microsoft Purview Message Encryption. If you use the Microsoft 365 Family or Personal, you can have this encryption feature for free. When using this, your email containing sensitive data is safe.

Microsoft Outlook Email Marketing: Pros, Cons, and Additional Tools

Still unsure whether to use Outlook for email marketing? Well, Outlook is indeed not a full email marketing platform, but it can still help you out for small campaigns. Plus, with the CRM integrations, it takes your email marketing strategies to the next level. Here are the pros and cons to help you decide:

Pros:

• You are familiar with the interface and integration with Microsoft tools.
• Don’t have the extra budget for CRMs? This is great for small businesses and startups on a budget.
• It also offers simple scheduling and template features.
• It is useful for contact-based personalization through Mail Merge.

Cons:

• It lacks advanced reporting, like knowing the open rate, click-through rate, and more!
• There is a risk of spam issues when sending bulk emails, but you can work around it by sending small batches of emails at a time.

If you manage a larger list or complex campaigns, you should consider using platforms like Mailchimp or HubSpot. Another recommendation is Constant Contact, too. These platforms offer tracking features and other tools that Outlook lacks for better email campaign monitoring.

Want to stay in Microsoft’s ecosystem? You can integrate Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys with Outlook to allow you to monitor analytics in real-time and see customer journeys. Plus, you can design campaigns easily through its drag-and-drop email builders. This is the perfect option if you love working in a Microsoft ecosystem but are not yet ready to hop onto other marketing platforms.

Why Microsoft Outlook is a Smart Choice for Email Marketing

Although Microsoft Outlook has its own challengers, the power of flexibility and familiarity make it a smarter choice. If your company already uses Outlook on a daily basis, using it for email marketing simply means you are maximizing what you already have!

It is useful for businesses or small internal marketing teams in need of managing campaigns on a limited budget. The built-in tools for folders and scheduling support complex workflows, too. Plus, the enterprise-grade security features from Microsoft ensure your data is protected, offering more clients and customers an ease of mind and trust.

Real-World Use Case: A Small Business Marketing Campaign

Still can’t imagine using Microsoft Outlook in your business? How about running a clothing brand and you are in need to launch an email campaign for back to school or for Valentine’s Day. Here is an example of how to use Outlook for these campaigns effectively while using its features.

Step 1: Start by setting up folders for each campaign. You can divide it by contact lists, promotions, and even design drafts made by your team

Step 2: Next, use categories by product preference and then label them according to customers.

Step 3: Also create a list for returning customers and for new leads.

Step 4: Start designing your email template. Ensure to add your brand and the seasonal offers.

Step 5: Next, it is time to schedule your emails. As mentioned above, ensure to send your promotions in batches to avoid getting your email campaigns marked as spam. Schedule them to go out over the course of a week.

Step 6: You can now track replies and questions with the flag feature. Next, convert them into tasks so you can respond to them fast without going through the emails and folders one by one.

Congratulations! You have now created your email campaigns. Strategizing your email campaign is not easy, but through these steps, you now have a clear path on what to do next.

Is Outlook Enough for Email Marketing?

With the right approach, Outlook becomes a versatile tool for email marketing. It is ideal for businesses starting out with their marketing efforts with a smaller batch of clients and customers. When you use email marketing templates for Outlook, you can make emails quickly and maintain your brand’s theme despite the holidays and other marketing efforts.

Additionally, you can set automation rules and configure email sending. These are the most vital aspects in email marketing to run your email campaigns effectively wherever you are in the world!

While CRMs are still superior, Microsoft Outlook is the best place to start your email marketing efforts. You can also pair it with other CRMs to further enhance Outlook’s email marketing potential. You also get to stay in Microsoft’s ecosystem.

There are also other communication channels, like social media marketing or even lesser-used platforms, like Yahoo UK email, if your audience is present there.

In the end, whether you choose Outlook or not, ensure to base your decision on your marketing strategies with your goals and scaling capabilities. But if you want to use Outlook, it is still capable of helping you with your email marketing needs. It still remains a hidden treasure for marketing teams.

About Author: Abby Tan is a content writer with a knack for turning ideas into engaging, SEO-friendly stories. With years of experience in blogging and Pinterest strategy, she writes about travel, skincare, food, and the latest in tech with equal passion and creativity. Abby is currently part of the writing team at Softvire, a leading IT distributor, where she helps bring digital content to life.