Why Email Still Matters
Email has long been thought of as one of the holdovers from the early days of the internet and online marketing. After all, with things like social media, streaming video, and other similar tools out there, email has reached the point where it almost seems quaint by comparison. But the reality is that email still matters, and harnessing it for your company is something no business should ignore.
For Marketers especially, email has evolved in such ways, and continues evolve beyond the capabilities of direct mail, telemarketing and other direct response channels. Emails can be less expensive and more potent for any of your marketing campaigns.
Benefits of Email
In fact, just taking a quick look at some of the basics behind email will help you understand more about why it’s still something you need to pay attention to. Here are some of the main benefits.
- It’s More Effective For Mobile – Most internet users today are actually accessing the web through their mobile devices. And about 52% of cellphone users open their emails from their phones. Since smartphones let them open emails that scale for their screen size and allow for free content unlike some text based charges, email makes a lot of sense. Marketers must now take this trend into account when creating their campaigns to ensure email messages are responsive for all mobile devices from Blackberrys and iPhones to Androids and Windows tablets.
- It’s Flexible – Email has no limits on space for content, and modern email browsers allow you to send pictures, links, and more. In short, your email will directly connect with users in the right way. You can craft them however you want, but there are best practices that should be implemented to ensure the messages reach the inbox and obtain an appropriate response for the marketer.
- It’s Informative – Many consumers actually seek out email marketing like newsletters if the subject is something they’re interested in and the content is compelling. When you go beyond just creating an ad copy and actually provide them with info and resources they’ll use, it can make a big difference eon their willingness to sign up for your service.
- Coupons Deliver Strong Responses – Did you know that about 27% of online shoppers use emails to get discounts? And that 65% of consumers said that email coupons are important to hem when shopping online? That’s why the number of mobile coupons used through email is expected to double over five years. In short, emailing coupons can give you some big benefits.
- Costs—In comparison to most other marketing channels, email marketing is inexpensive. As the size of your customer list grows, these expenses will increase proportionately, but there are many ways to maintain these expenses. Email marketing, when managed properly through the right team and email service provider, offers you an ability to test your concepts to small segments quickly before rolling out a marketing campaign to larger segments. In just 4 to 24 hours, you can know if your marketing campaign works. It could take up to 6 weeks in other channels such as direct mail.
- Features—As email marketing evolves as a marketing channel, the email service providers continue to offer an increasing amount of features to enhance and improve your marketing campaigns:
- A/B splits of subject lines
- A/B splits of creatives
- Link placement
- Short emails
- Long emails
- Suppression lists
- Segmentation’s
- Graphical enhancements
- And many, many more.
Harness the Power
The key is to take a look at what kind of email marketing efforts will work best for you and then craft your campaign accordingly. Every business has a clear set of goals and different steps that can help them reach those goals, whether they are seeking to reach consumers or business prospects.
The key to success with any marketing campaign is making sure that you don’t overlook how important email is and that you make it work for you. Email isn’t dead – in fact, it’s more viable than ever before.
Most importantly, in the 21st Century, there are few consumers and business prospects that cannot be reached through email marketing, and if your marketing is strong, you will get their attention.