Is email marketing still relevant?
Are you using email marketing to engage with your prospects, past or existing clients?
According to a report by The Radicati Group, Inc., a technology market research firm, the use of email around the world continues to grow at a steady pace.
From about 2.6 billion worldwide email users, the market research firm projects that the number of email users worldwide will balloon to close to 3 billion.
There is no doubt that search and social media remain the top two online activities that consumers engage in.
Does that mean that your business should focus more of its online marketing efforts on SEO, PPC, and social media?
An effective online marketing strategy integrates different platforms to boost a company’s online presence and profitability. One such platform that companies should not ignore is email marketing.
Pew Research, on the other hand, reports that 92 percent of adults who go online use email, with 60 percent of these using email on an average day.
A survey conducted in the US by MarketingSherpa shows that 91 percent of consumers prefer to receive promotional content through email while only 17 percent say they prefer social media for receiving promotional content.
Email Marketing Tools
When it comes to choosing an email marketing tool, there are a number of options available. In fact, a lot of options.
The best way to determine which tool is suitable for your business, it comes down to
- Size of your email list
- Use of your email list
- Purpose of your email list
For starters, say if you have a small list below 1,000, the best known email marketing tool in the marketing is MailChimp which offers free account up to limited email list.
Aweber, constant contact or Mad Mimi are also great options.
If you’re looking for marketing automation, ActiveCampaign is our go-to tool. Drip or GetResponse are alternatives.
If you’re a blogger, ConvertKit is designed for bloggers.
For more high-end marketing solutions, say if you have a large email database, InfusionSoft, OntraPort, or even Marketo or Pardot would be options for you.
7 Benefits of Email Marketing
If these statistics are not enough to convince you to invest in email marketing, consider these benefits:
Benefit 1: Reach
Although social media sites boast of millions or even billions of active users, these numbers fail in comparison to the sheer number of worldwide email accounts which has been steadily growing. In fact, tech experts are projecting that this figure will grow close to 5 billion in a couple of years.
Furthermore, creating an email account is essential for many online activities. Before you can sign up for a social media network, you will need to provide your email information. The same thing applies to online stores.
Pew Research reported that 92 percent of email users aged 50-64 send or receive emails in an average day, while only 44 percent use social media.
Benefit 2: Message delivery
When you share a picture or blog post on Facebook, only 2 percent of your fans will see those posts. In contrast, an email is delivered to 90 percent of the intended recipients.
But apart from that, your recipients are also expecting to hear from you. That is the explicit message they sent to your company when they signed up for your list.
Benefit 3: Conversions
At the end of the day, whatever platform you intend to use for online marketing, conversion is the established barometer for success. Whether you are trying to boost your sales, increase leads or memberships, or achieve any business goal, email marketing should be a key component of your strategy.
The key reason why emails have a high amount of conversion is because the people on your email list are expecting to hear from you. That is why emails have a click-through rate of 3 percent. Compare that to a tweet which has less than 1 percent click-through rate.
Benefit 4: ROI
In terms of return on investment, email marketing is practically peerless. On average, a campaign using email will provide your business with an ROI of 3,800 percent. That means for every dollar you spend on your campaign, you will get $38 in return.
How is this even possible? There are two key reasons why only email marketing can provide such a high ROI. First, you can personalise your email — something that is not possible on social media. This allows companies to communicate directly with their customers.
Second, email allows companies to send messages that are relevant to recipients. Through the use of email marketing tools as well as analytics, businesses are able to craft messages that resonate with their consumers.
MarketingSherpa reported on the significance of personalised vs non-personalised marketing emails, where those non-personalised accounted for a 0.04 to 0.23 percent conversion rate, while those personalised accounted for 0.7 percent conversions, which is an increase of 208 percent.
Benefit 5: High degree of control
Algorithm changes in social media have left companies captive to these platforms and essentially helpless when it comes to the amount of posts that are seen by followers. In an article by Mail Munch, it is noted that even on a Facebook page with 2000 followers, only 2-5 people will see each published post.
In contrast, Mail Munch reports an average email open rate of 21.73 percent. This is because email is an open platform. This essentially means that there are third parties that control the platform and undermine the goals of the businesses that use it for marketing.
Benefit 6: Professionalism
For many consumers, social media is considered as a personal medium. Hence, if you make a pitch using this platform, you are not likely to get the results you are after.
Email, on the other hand, gives your message a sense of professionalism. As such, it does not come as a surprise that majority of consumers prefer receiving promotional content through emails.
Benefit 7: Longevity
Finally, keep in mind that different platforms have come and gone, and yet email still remains. And if you are planning to make a sizeable investment toward a platform, longevity matters. After all, who wants to waste all the time, money and effort they invested?
Conclusion
Social media comes and goes in waves, so following trends and getting on the newest social media may not always prove most effective. Email has remained the steady constant over the decades.
It is information-dense, can be personalised, and often results in greater click-through rates. The power of email remains relevant and should not be underestimated.
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