Digital marketing strategies have improved and have evolved through the years, but a question still keeps on popping up:
“Is email marketing still important?”
To answer that question, it is. Developing a solid email marketing strategy will help you reach and connect with your target audience in a more personalized way. It will also help you increase your sales at a very affordable cost. You can use a simple software like Clang Email Marketing or you can do it manually.
Among other things, email marketing also has gone through a change. There are now tools that can give you and your business the capability to reach customers more accessible.
Here are 9 reasons why Email Marketing is still essential in today’s market:
1. It’s easier to stay in contact with your audience.
Emails are capable of keeping your customers informed. On the other hand, your customers are capable of checking their email anytime. Receiving updates from your business would give them an idea that you are thinking about them. This is why Email Marketing is still essential.
The emails that you can send can be as simple as saying: “Hello, you’re on our mind. Check out this offer!” or “Here’s an update of what you’ve missed here in recent weeks.”
Those who have willingly provided you with their email address are already committed to the fact that they are going to receive those notes. With that said, they will more likely enjoy those emails (as long what you send is worth reading and has value) and will boost engagement with your customers.
2. Contact your customers in real-time.
Campaign monitor found out that the open rates for emails shot up to 100% since 2011 on mobile devices. This information is essential when it comes to planning your marketing strategy.
With that said, almost everyone has access to mobile devices. There isn’t anybody in the world who hasn’t heard of Apple and Samsung. They use it not only for emails but also for other types of media to gather information. Aside from that, well-created emails produce higher conversion rates on mobile than any other platform.
3. People engage in emails.
For over 40 years, email has been a necessary form of communication. As the years progress, sending and receiving emails has become one of the fastest choices for communication.
In some fashion, we have been groomed to do something on an email once we receive once. Whether it is to reply, forward a message, or check out an embedded email. It can also be used to buy something or to sign up.
With this information, you can say that you can use email to make people visit your website. Not only that, but you can also let them know to pick up the phone and give you a call, or you can include any call to action.
4. Email Marketing is easy to track
The reason why Email Marketing is easy to track is because of the vast array of tools you can use to do it correctly. You can track delivery rates, click-through rates, and bounce rates. Not only that, but you can also see if someone unsubscribes from receiving emails from you.
Doing this will give you a clearer understanding of how your email campaigns are working. If it’s working, if you need to tweak something, or if you need to get rid of it altogether. The data you compile should not be ignored. These metrics are essential because, if done correctly, this can be a big chunk of your internet marketing campaign.
There are a lot of research and surveys that give the correct numbers to aim for, but it all depends on the industry and the audience you target. If your customers expect daily emails, you better give what they request. However, if you’re sending too many emails, you might see that your unsubscribe rate may increase.
It’s about providing valuable content. That’s what Email Marketing is all about.
5. It’s inexpensive
Yes, you can reach many consumers fast for less than half a dollar per message. The cost per conversion is so low that’s why Email Marketing is the go-to destination of start-ups.
Send Grid, an Email Marketing service, costs $0.0006 per message using their Platinum Marketing Email level. You can also send up to 12,000 emails a month for free using Mail Chimp. They also offer a larger monthly plan for developing businesses with up to 600,000 subscribers.
With everything that’s said, while it can give a significant ROI, it is still wise to get someone, an expert, to have these done for you. For a 15,000 email database, a company should spend about 152 hours per year managing an email campaign, according to Shout It Out Designs. This would include everything: writing, drafting, scheduling, and sending emails. In addition to that, there’s also database maintenance. Which is basically adding and deleting members and updating their information.
6. You can process targeted messaging.
Lead nurturing, one of the things that Email Marketing takes care of. The idea of lead nurturing is for you to understand that your customers are currently in a buying cycle. They might be in the consideration stage, while others might be at the research and compare stage. Developing a buyer persona will help you determine what kind of content you need to create for each step.
Proper segmentation of these customers by grouping them into appropriate email marketing lists will help your business target these customers more efficiently. Customers need the correct information to make them progress to the next step of the buying cycle; seeing the right content will guide them to move forward. It’s all about moving your prospects down the sales funnel efficiently.
7. Increase brand awareness
Social media isn’t the only place to promote and increase a company’s brand awareness. Having a customer’s email address only means that they are interested in your business. The reason why Email Marketing is still essential these days is that it can give you the ability to increase that interest level by ensuring that you’ll be on top of their minds.
But, this doesn’t mean that you need to send three to five daily emails. That’s a great way to make a customer unsubscribe. Instead, you can try sending emails to your prospects, letting them know how active you are in your community. Many companies are always trying to sell their products via email marketing. They disregard brand awareness, which is what you want to avoid. You want to make sure that you’re promoting brand awareness and adding personality to your brand by sending valuable emails.
8. It’s always timely
Speaking of selling…
If done correctly, selling your products through Email Marketing can be very beneficial. It’s essential to use the customer data that you have. You can send customers a special birthday offer or tell them that their favorite menu item is half price off. Doing this is much more effective than sending them the whole menu.
Promote holiday specials and annual sales. You can also include seasonal offers in this marketing strategy. You need to keep in mind that you need to create a sense of urgency to any offer that you’d make – people tend to purchase more when they know that a deal is ending soon.
9. Everybody uses email
A survey HubSpot made states that 91% of consumers use email. That number alone should be enough to convince you to utilize this tool. Email gives an incredible opportunity to reach new prospects. Not only that, you can provide them with information about discounts and specials in real-time. You can also advertise new products. They can share them easily with people who might be interested in what you’re offering.
A great email strategy encourages customers to share offers as much as possible. Apart from that, email plays a huge role in the B2B world as it is the most used form of communication for 73% of businesses.
If you want to start growing your business today, speak with digital marketing experts online at Expandant.
