Does Email Marketing Still Work in 2020?
The internet revolutionized our everyday life. It latched itself onto modern society, changing almost every way we do things. Every restaurant dinner is an Instagram story. Every celebration is a Facebook post. The internet’s influence infiltrated every industry across the globe. Including the world of marketing.
The marketing industry has always been a fast-changing environment. Its continuous innovation should level with the fast-paced world that we live in, to survive. As people embraced the technological shift of today, marketers gave birth to digital marketing.
Digital marketing encompasses a wide array of branches. There is optimization, social media, blogs, emails, SEM, PBN backlinks, content marketing, and more. The growth and impact of social media would have us believe that it is the strongest marketing platform to use. But, statistics beg to differ.
Email marketing remains to be an effective strategy even today. 93% of American adults aged 24 to 55 still use email and consider it an important part of their working life. Even 91% of business marketers prefer email and labeled it as an important marketing distribution means.
So, how did email marketing keep its relevance amid the rise of popular social media platforms?
What is email marketing?
Email marketing is one of the many segments of digital marketing. Its simplest definition is to advertise or promote products or services to people in the hopes of increasing a business’s profit. But, it is actually more than that.
Email marketing is designed to create and distribute relevant and informative content to potential customers. It is a marketing approach that aims to build a connection and relationship with your target audience.
There may be millions of people on social networking sites but email marketing stood the test of time. According to a business survey, email has a conversion rate of 2.3% while social media only garnered 1%.
What are the advantages of email marketing?
Emails continue their relevance in the field of marketing despite being alongside giant companies like Facebook and Twitter. So why does it work and what are its benefits?
1. Personalized and Targeted Audience
Advertising or promoting your craft on social platforms does not guarantee that your target audience will see it. Social media ads are used for mass advertisements and never for personalized ones.
Emails, however, allow you to communicate and engage with your customers based on their preferences and given demographics. You can segment your email list and personalize its content based on your customer’s interests and needs. Craft emails with valuable and engaging content. This allows you to build your credibility on your target audience.
Personalized emails like a birthday message or a letter addressed to their name gives them the feeling of being valued. This would lead to the formation of trust and relationship.
2. Increases Brand Awareness and Recognition
Millions of people check their email inbox several times a day. May it be on their smartphones or laptops; every “ping” gets their attention. All it takes for your email to be noticed is a magnetic headline with a well-curated content.
Establish headlines or subjects that will catch the attention of your target audience. Give them content that is educational and beneficial for them. Use this opportunity to talk about your brand’s message and why you are different from the rest of them.
Avoid making it sound like a sales pitch. This will make them click for the unsubscribe button fast.
3. Affordable and time-savvy
Email marketing is the go-to of most start-up businesses that want to widen their audience reach. You can reach thousands of different people within an hour. It is free, easy to start and manage. It gives your brand direct access to your target customer
Some social platforms require you to buy your advertisement slot before being promoted. Others might be free but it is hard and time-consuming to gain likes and shares.
4. Increases your website traffic and visitor
The key is to create content that establishes urgency and importance. Like a limited number of slots or discount deals. People never want to miss important things.
Emails allow you to include valuable links on your email that link back to your website. Create engaging campaigns to make your audience want to visit your site. Make clickable links and buttons as visually pleasing as you can. You can also incorporate up-to-date news and trends related to your product.
5. Builds relationship
Emails are a great way to build and maintain relationships especially with your existing customers. They can email you directly and voice out their suggestions, comments, and praises regarding your brand and service. Also, an unsubscribe button can be placed visibly within your email. This gives customers full control. It also creates open and transparent communication between you and your loyal customers.
6. The sky’s the limit
Unlike some social media sites and other advertising platforms, emails do not have a character limit. You do not need to pay additional fees for exceeding the number of required words. This does not mean that you can send out essay-long emails to your customers.
Email marketing allows you to create detailed messages where you can point out important facts about your brand. You can elaborate on your brand’s voice if necessary. You can include pictures and videos to make them appealing.
7. Provides privacy
Many consumers are not too keen on sharing private information on unreliable PPC ads or websites. They are happier to do it in the private quarters of an email reply box. Include in the email on how you are going to use the information they provided.
Also, inform them of how you are going to protect and secure this information. This helps you build an honest and trustworthy image.
8. Automation feature
One thing that sets email marketing apart is its ability to be automated. The automation system helps you create a trigger for when to emails to your target audience. It sets an interval and times your messages for you.
With all the different internet marketing strategies, email marketing managed to stay relevant as a means to convert people into loyal customers.