Email marketing is perhaps one of the cornerstones of the modern marketing landscape. As one of the most effective forms of direct marketing, email marketing is a fast and relatively cheap method that has allowed a lot of marketers to react rapidly to consumer behavior in a way that was never possible before.
While some may regard this tactic as an outdated marketing approach, there are still some reasons why email marketing is still relevant in 2017. In fact, even with the presence of newer marketing approaches such as content and social media, three-quarters of companies agree that email offers “excellent” to “good” ROI.
In this blog post, we will discuss the seven compelling reasons why email marketing still works – and why you should definitely use this tactic in your business today.
- Many People Still Use Email
Perhaps the top and the simplest reason why email marketing is here to stay are that almost everyone still checks their email. Statistics says email use worldwide will top 3 billion users by 2020. Many people have made it a morning habit to check their email before they go off to work, allowing them to create a picture in their mind of the important tasks they should do for the rest of the day.
That said, email still remains an effective communication medium these days despite the popularity of chat apps. It is a more formal way to reach out to people who already have shown interest in your product or business. Do you think that when Amazon ships a product, they send a tweet to their customers? Definitely not – they send an email.
- Easy to Keep Your Customers Updated
While social media is effective when it comes to interacting with people who are truly interested in your brand, its algorithm has changed drastically in the past which makes it harder for your subscribers to see your latest post, thus limiting your reach. In fact, a study shows that only 2% of your Facebook fans see your post, while a whopping 90% of email gets delivered to the intended recipient’s inbox.
As stated above, email is an effective way to let people know about updates in your company they might not otherwise see or hear. For example, you can send them an email if you will be having a sale, coupons or other opportunities.
- Develop a More Effective Message
One of the key advantages of email marketing is that it allows you to develop unique messages to your customers. Using their preferences – which can be identified by analyzing the data that includes the types of emails and links they click on – you can segment your customers into different groups, allowing you to craft messages that are tailored to their specific wants and needs.
- It Drives Conversion
Driving conversions is one of the most important tasks of marketers. Regardless of whether it’s convincing a visitor to sign up a membership form or purchase product to your online store, it is an ultimate goal of most marketers to turn a potential customer into a paying customer.
Email marketing is a powerful channel to drive up your conversion rate these days. In fact, it has a higher click-through rate –around 3% – than a simple tweet, which is only around 0.5%. This means that you are 6x more likely to get someone to click through your website than you are on Twitter. If you want to nurture your leads and drive more conversions, then email marketing is definitely the way to go.
- It Boosts Your Revenue
Having a strong email list allows you to generate revenue by simply sending a promotional email to your subscribers. Although many of them might not purchase right away, a certain percentage of them will buy, and you’ll get a surge in your bottom line.
This is also possible through social media, but as stated above, their stricter news feed algorithm have limited the presence of promotional content, so you won’t get as good results. As long as you build a strong rapport with your email list, they will be happy to get those promotions. In fact, 6% of consumers would like to receive promotional emails from companies they do business with at least monthly, and 15% would like to get them daily.
- It is Cost-Effective
If you are running your business with very limited resources, then email marketing is definitely for you. You can send coupons, sales advertisements, and other promotional information about your business to your customer through email in a very timely manner which can even be scheduled in advance. You can track which type of email goes to which customer, so the risk of losing information and sending the wrong message is avoided.
- Email Will Always Be an Effective Medium
A lot of social media platforms have come and gone by in the online world. MySpace, for instance, was once the largest social networking site in the world between 2005 and 2008 and even managed to surpass Google as the most-visited site in the United States. Eventually, those users have switched to other social networks, leaving MySpace to gather dust in the corner, and is now the 1,500th most popular website in the United States.
Email, on the contrary, has a long history of stability. Since the first promotional campaign was sent in 1978, the use of email as a marketing tool has grown consistently. From a simple medium to a tool that can be used to convey messages to the targeted audience, an email will always be one of the most powerful tools that one can use to improve business today.
These are the reason why email marketing is still alive and kicking despite the rise of other digital platforms. With an effective email marketing strategy, you will be able to reach your target market efficiently, resulting in improved number of leads and better sales.
To know how Joe Dalton can help your business develop an email marketing strategy tailor made for your business, call us at +353 (0)1 5349 454 or take the next step