Email marketing is one of the oldest forms of online marketing.
Since the 90s, many other forms of digital marketing have evolved; blogging, social media, chatbots, SMS and Facebook ads to name a few. This has led to many marketers having the recurring discussion about whether or not email marketing still has a place in the digital world. “Is email marketing dead?” is a question that often arises.
The simple answer is no.
In 2017 there were approximately 3.7 billion users, rising to 4 billion in 2020, just over half of the world’s population. By 2025, Statista projects there will be around 4.6 billion users. Every day in 2020, there were a staggering 306 billion emails sent and received.
Email is definitely not dead.
An email address is an important commodity. You need an email address to access so much online. Want to use Instagram? You need an email address. Want to bank online? You’ll need an email address. Want to shop online? You’ll need an email address.
So with so many people owning an email address, email marketing is very much alive. Here are 6 reasons why I believe you need to consider email marketing if you are not using it already, or you’ve moved away from this form of marketing.
1. You own the customer data
This is probably the most important reason.
Any data you collect via your email service provider (ESP) such as Mailerlite or ActiveCampaign, can be downloaded locally. It’s your data and if you move ESPs then you can import that data to the new system.
There’s so much valuable insight available to you about the behaviour of your fans. With social media, you cannot download the data. Yes you can see who has liked your Page or followed you but you don’t get access to their email address. You can see who has liked your post but you have no idea who has seen your post and then bought your product without liking or commenting.
Too many businesses are seeing their social media accounts hacked such as the English Stamp Company. They had built up their online following to nearly 30,000 and woke up one morning to find their account stolen and they were being blackmailed.
Each week I hear of accounts being hacked, some owners are lucky enough to get their accounts back but sometimes too much damage has been done. Others don’t get their accounts back at all. And if they weren’t using email marketing or hadn’t taken steps to move their social media followers onto their list, then their primary source of communication with their customers and clients is gone.
Social media plays a big part in marketing but email marketing allows you to communicate with your followers at a much deeper level, so much easier and safely.
2. More people will see your message on email than Facebook
There are always ‘experts’ professing how to ‘beat’ the algorithm on social media.
With email, you don’t have to work out how to get round it. Facebook pages are seeing around a 5% reach right now. So only 5% of your Page fans are seeing your post in their feed. Compare that to email, where it’s likely well over 90% of your emails are being delivered. Even with the average open rate being 20% (pre Apple mail privacy changes), that’s still 4x the amount of people seeing your message.
3. Cost effective way of reaching your audience
Many email marketing providers have free plans. But even the paid plans are excellent value for money.
So it’s ideal when businesses are starting out on, working with a very small marketing budget. They are still able to get their messages to their fans.
Being able to message your followers, gather data about your customers, promote your offers and get more eyes on your content all for free or very low cost is an opportunity not to be missed.
4. A fantastic return on investment
Campaign Monitor has calculated that on average a business can bring in $44 for every $1 spent on email marketing. That’s an incredible 4400% return on investment which means it has to feature highly in your overall marketing strategy.
You could send just one email and get an outstanding response in sales that would easily pay for that one email in terms of not just the ESP cost but also time and outsourcing. One of my clients, a chiropractor, did just that. We sent out one email which garnered 29 bookings.
5. You can get personal with your subscribers
The beauty of email marketing is that you can send personalised messages. I’m not just talking about having a person’s first name in the subject line or in the opening salutation. In addition to adding the first name, there’s so many other ways to personalize that email that will help the subscriber feel like you really understand them.
Even though email marketing is about bulk sending, and subscribers do understand that, if you can personalise their email they will so much more connected to you as a brand.
Personal Touches
For example, a skincare and makeup business may have loyal customers who only ever buy skincare. So when they launch a new skincare range, they could send initial emails just to those ‘VIPs’ allowing them to order before the product is even on the shelves.
Perhaps you’re a stylist and know your clients’ favourite colours. When a new range of dresses is released, you can send emails to your clients with an image of the dress in their favourite colour. By reaching out with emails tailored specifically towards certain colours, you are able to make shopping as easy as possible while also making a major visual impact on our customers’ daily life.
It’s touches like that that help establish relationships. Getting personal isn’t just sending them relevant product information. You could send emails on relevant anniversaries such as when they joined your membership. You could email subscribers a survey about their preferences, their likes and dislikes and save that info to their profile. You can encourage sales by sending only to subscribers who clicked a link but haven’t bought your course, asking for their feedback.
Personalisation is easy to manage using lists, tags, segments and groups which all good email marketing providers will allow you to do.
6. Influence purchasing decisions
59% of people say that marketing emails help them decide what to buy. I know I’ve bought recently purely from emails.
I use a particular brand of eco cleaner and they had just sent me an email to remind me that it was time for restocking because they knew when my last purchase occurred. I bought there and then.
I love this company! They’re always thinking ahead with what might need replacing or replenishing soon before it runs out.
Don’t be afraid to make offers in your emails. People need reminding how you can help them.
In addition to timely reminders, cart abandonment emails have a good success rate. These are automated emails sent when a subscriber adds an email to their online basket but leaves the website before completing the purchase. Cart abandonment emails can increase purchases by 10%.
Email marketing is a tried and true way to promote your brand, build relationships with customers, and drive sales. With so many people using email as their primary communication tool these days, it’s clear that the benefits of this channel are endless. Booking a discovery call will help us get started on planning out how we can best work together.
