EMAIL MARKETING STILL WORKS!

Contrary to what many think, email marketing is actually growing and showing no signs of stopping. Email marketing is still one of the most effective strategies you can employ to introduce your company to new prospects and keep the ones you have. Unlike with social media and PPC marketing where you’re displaying your ad to broad sections of your target audience in hopes that they click, email marketing is permission-based and very targeted.

Why customers “opt in”

Whether they opt into a newsletter or sign up for some promo codes, your customers are willingly giving you their email as a way to say “Hey, I’d like some more information.” A study done by Marketing Sherpa found that 91% of consumers like to receive promotional emails from companies and brands they support. People are attached to platforms and services that provide them with the information they deem valuable. In their quest to stay informed, the average person checks their personal email 3 times per day!

Marketing is all about metrics

Email marketing is one of the easiest strategies to accurately track, giving you detailed information like open rates, inbox placement, and unsubscribe rates. These metrics give you a full overview of what’s working—and what’s not—so you can rectify problems and optimize emails for engagement.

You’re building long-term relationships

Email doesn’t have to be exclusively linked to selling. It can be one of the most effective ways to build brand loyalty, demonstrate value and get your customers coming back for more.

Where social media fails, email marketing prevails

Social media is hot while people love you, but what about when you fall off their radar? Email helps you get right back in the mix with your customers by giving them a gentle nudge. Turning your cold customers back into lukewarm customers when they were once hot is the perfect place to focus your email marketing efforts.

Timing is everything

By providing prospects and customers with valuable information on a regular (but not overwhelming) basis, you greatly increase the chances of earning their business when the time is right. You can do email marketing for a fraction of the cost of many traditional marketing campaigns like direct mail and telemarketing campaigns. One of the big benefits of marketing email campaigns is your ability to make simple tweaks and re-send to unopened readers.

Harness the full power of the inbox

Remember that e-mail is merely the first click (literally) in a consumer’s decision journey. The e-mail is part of a series of interactions with a brand, so dropping the user onto a generic home page is a huge no-no. Customized landing pages—which send the user directly to the item or offer featured in the e-mail—can increase conversion rates by more than 25 percent.

Where do you go from here?

Now that you understand the reasons why email marketing is here to stay, it’s time to kick your campaign into gear.

• Build your database
• Ask your customers when they sign up to tell you what interests them
• Develop a year-long plan
• Use good content writing
• Streamline your process
• Test the waters with different angles to see what works