According to the Radicati Group, 196 billion emails are sent daily around the world, and 109 billion of these are business emails. If you think email marketing is a thing of the past, think again. The worldwide use of emails is predicted to rise again in the next few years. Even alongside the rise of social media and mobile marketing, email marketing still deserves its place as one of the most effective marketing strategies.
Emails are one of the most personal ways of communicating with potential customers; people open their inboxes and see messages from friends next to your company’s email. Consumers have also grown tired of the constant stream of information on the Internet. Email offers people something more specific and recognizable; it brings order to all the chaos.
The Benefits of Email Marketing
Some marketing trends come and go, but email marketing remains one of the most powerful and cost-effective strategies for the modern marketer. This is because:
- It’s inexpensive. You don’t need to invest in new technology, and you can still reach a wide audience for little or no cost.
- It’s shareable. Emails are an efficient ways to deliver useful, shareable content to customers, meaning you can reach an even wider audience, increase backlinks to your website, and drive more traffic.
- It’s versatile. You can personalize emails to include recipients’ names and more. You can also tailor each email to a particular audience segment to ensure your messages are even more relevant.
- It’s mobile. People now check their emails throughout the day on mobile devices. This means your messages can reach potential customers when they’re in their home, office, or on the road.
- It’s popular. Email marketing is well suited to e-coupon offers and sales promotions, so it’s perfect for reaching the growing number of online bargain hunters.
- It’s measurable. Accessible analytics tools make email campaigns easy to measure. Find out your open rates, which links were clicked, the number of unsubscribes, and more. With this data, you can discover what’s working and make any necessary adjustments to future campaigns.
10 Quick Email Marketing Tips
If you want more people to open your emails and respond to your calls-to-action, here are some tips to keep in mind:
- Make a positive first impression. To build a stronger relationship with potential customers, get your tone right from the outset. Use an autoresponder tool to send a welcome message to subscribers, and create a series of relevant follow-up emails.
- Show what you sell. Use emails to show best-selling and new product lines, or products being used.
- Know the objective of each email and include a clear call-to-action. Repeat the call-to-action mid-content and at the end, so people have multiple opportunities to take action.
- Research how to create more powerful subject lines, and then monitor which headlines perform best.
- Collect emails at every opportunity. Your website and social media channels are obvious channels for collecting email addresses, but if you have a physical store, encourage sign-ups here too.
- Offer exclusive content to encourage subscriptions.
- Personalize your emails. Divide your contacts into separate groups, depending on demographics and customer behavior, and deliver targeted, personalized content.
- Be concise. The first paragraph of your email is crucial for capturing the attention of your audience. Keep sentences short, use bullet points, and highlight the main benefits of your product or service early on.
- Use your analytics tools to discover which emails are getting more opens, and when they are being opened.
- Make every email shareable. Ask people to forward emails to friends and colleagues. Include sign-up links and social sharing buttons in every email.
Email Marketing Tools
Here are four of the most popular email marketing tools to help you get the most out of your email campaigns:
- Benchmark. This tool makes designing professional-looking emails very easy, with over 400 responsive design templates to choose from. It features autoresponder and analytics tools, and a mobile app for email management.
- GetResponse. The cost of using this tool depends on the size of your contact list, but there are plans to suit every budget. Its design editor is simple to use and features more than 500 templates. It also includes list-building tools and much more besides.
- Mail Chimp. With an easy-to-use dashboard, simple email creation tools and segmenting tools, this is a favorite with many small business, especially as it’s free to use if you have a smaller contact list.
- VerticalResponse. With simple creation tools and seamless social media integration, this tool makes it easy to create, send, and track emails that look good on every device.
The Future of Email Marketing
Email marketing has evolved into one of the most powerful marketing channels, especially with the rapid growth of the mobile sector. However, as consumers become more demanding and expect more value from businesses, delivering effective emails is becoming more challenging. What can you do today to make sure your email marketing campaigns continue to be effective in the future?
- Be more personal. As marketing tools become cheaper and more accessible, businesses will need to deliver more customized emails. Using analytics tools, start collecting data about your audience today, so you can send more relevant, personalized emails in the future.
- Ask your audience directly. There’s a limit to tracking customer behavior, and trends are unpredictable, so ask your audience what kind of content they want, and try to exceed their expectations.
- Focus on quality, not quantity. It’s easy to send out automated emails every other day, but this can just annoy subscribers and you’ll end up in their email spam folders. People want quality solutions, not constant interruptions, so make sure every email has a clear goal, contains quality content, and addresses the real needs of your audience.
- Consider hiring a professional content writer. More businesses are hiring third-party professionals who have more time to create effective email content.
The Bottom Line
Email marketing is still one of the most cost-effective ways to deliver benefit-driven content to the right people at the right time. When it’s done right, it can result in better leads, increased sales, and more loyal customers.
This quick guide to email marketing will hopefully help you see the importance of email marketing, and improve the effectiveness of all your future email campaigns. Remember that behind every email address is a person, so focus on creating engaging content that resonates with every reader and you’ll reap the rewards of email marketing for years to come.
