Why Email Marketing should be part of your Strategy
There has been a lot of discussion in recent years about the future of email marketing and email in general. Is email ‘dead’? Has it been overtaken by social media platforms? 2014 marked the 18th anniversary of Hotmail, the world’s first free web-based email system. Since then, it has been acquired by Microsoft, gained 350 million users, and has been joined by scores of free email platforms; the total number of email accounts, free and paid, stood at 3.3 billion in 2012. This shows little sign of slowing down – technology market research company The Radicati Group predicts this to grow at a rate of 6% a year until 2016, when the figure will be in excess of 4.3 billion. What is particularly interesting in their report from a business point of view is that most of the world’s email traffic comes from the corporate world – in 2012 the number of business emails sent per day totalled 89 billion, and is expected to increase at an average annual rate of 13% up to 2016, rising to 143 billion a day. Despite the prevalence of social media in the past five years, there are still 3x as many email accounts than Twitter and Facebook accounts combined, with 92% of online adults using email, 61% on a daily basis. So, clearly, email is far from dead, and is still an effective a way as ever for people to communicate and receive updates. It’s also an effective tool to utilise for sales and marketing.
Email might be as strong a platform as ever, but the way people are viewing emails definitely is changing, with more ways to view emails than ever. The sheer number of mobile devices on the market – including iPhones, iPads, Kindles and Galaxy Tablets – means that more and more people are viewing emails on the go rather than from a desktop. Campaign Monitor have undertaken a detailed study on mobile email trends, looking at data from over 6 million email marketing campaigns. The majority, 61%, are opened on iPhones, with iPads (26%) and Androids (12%) trailing behind. This rapid shift towards mobile viewing not only demonstrates why email marketing is a great tool to reach potential customers, but it also highlights the importance of using responsive design to make sure your emails render perfectly across all devices. Again, although social media marketing is incredibly useful, people very rarely choose to have opt-in updates sent to them through Facebook – the Nielson Norman Group found that 90% of people in their study chose email newsletters rather than Facebook ones.
Email marketing is one of the only marketing channels where consumers are actually opting in to receiving updates, and this can allow for much higher conversion rates as a company is only targeting people who already have an interest in their brand. The Social Habit studied the email habits of 3000 people, specifically related to how they react to marketing emails. 61% said they opened emails they received from companies, with 70% of these in hope of finding a discount or promotion of some sort, 53% to learn about new products, and 41% to receive company updates. When planning your email marketing campaign, these are the sorts of areas you want to look at promoting.
Like all forms of digital marketing, from pay-per-click to Facebook advertising, email marketing is incredibly easy to track, and you can see where you’re going wrong. You can track open, click-through and conversion rates, and spot ways in which your campaign can be improved. These stats are more than just numbers and percentages – they are insights into your customers’ behaviours and interests. You can use your email marketing campaign to monitor which information your customers are most responsive to, and target your marketing strategy accordingly. Changes can be made much quicker and easier than traditional forms of marketing like print or broadcasting, which require a bit more effort to alter. But perhaps the most appealing advantage of email marketing is a return on investment (ROI). The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) found that email marketing typically returns £40 for every £1 spent, and has highest conversion rate at 66%.
We’re not suggesting that you should discount social media from your marketing plan – far from it. Social media can be an invaluable tool to market your business, products or services. But it should never replace email marketing, only work alongside it. In terms of opens, click through rates and return on investment, email marketing beats social media marketing hands down. Email marketing can also be used to send out updates about your business in the form of a newsletter, rather than any product-specific details. Newsletters can be a great way to grow or maintain your relationships with customers, and keep you fresh in their minds.
We’d love to get you started in email marketing, so tell us you’ve read this and we’ll give you 25% off the setup cost.
