With the growth of social networking, the novelty of email has worn off, and many have come to see it as an old-fashioned form of communication. The more fashionable venues like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Tumblr, allow users more interaction, with the ability to share their thoughts, pictures and videos. In the current online marketplace many businesses put an emphasis on social media when creating their marketing plans, but fail to even consider email marketing as an option. Which leads us to the question – is email marketing dead?
While it may not be as sexy as some of the emerging social networking sites, studies are showing again and again that email marketing is certainly not dead. In fact, email marketing is a still a powerful lead nurturing tool. It continues to be the most direct line of communication to customers, and is shown to have a high conversion to sales rate.
It’s measurable
With the right software, your business can track who is opening the email and which links are being clicked on.
It’s immediate
Think about it – how many times a day to you check your Twitter or Facebook account? Now, compare that to how many times you check your email. With smart phones becoming more popular, email has the capability of reaching many people instantly.
It’s preferred
Email has been around for a while, so it is familiar and people are comfortable using it. According to a recent report by Exact Target, a whopping 77% of consumers prefer to receive marketing by email over every other method of online communication, including text messaging.
It keeps people interested
Frequent communication via email means that you are always at the front of your customers’ minds.
That being said, consumer expectations are definitely changing, so the way in which your business uses email marketing needs to evolve to meet those expectations. The reason why a lot of businesses are failing to see a ROI for email marketing is quite simple – they are doing it wrong. Their emails are cluttered with too much information and eye-catching graphics. They are sent from do-not-reply addresses, giving recipients the message that the line of communication is one-way. The content of marketing emails often has very little value for the customers, causing them to add the emails to their junk folder, or delete them without even opening. The reality is that social media is more popular than ever, and email marketing needs to deliver a more personalized message to capture the reader’s attention.
Businesses who choose to incorporate a strategically designed and executed email marketing campaign will be able to build a strong relationship with customers, and dramatically increase sales.
Keep it simple
People are going to be receiving your emails at home, at work and on the go. With the increased use of smart phones, many users will be unable to see fancy graphics, and may become bogged down with too much text.
Personalize
Make sure you are sending the right content to right people. Find out what they are interested in, and gear your content towards those topics. Send your emails out from an address that can be replied to if customers have any comments or questions.
Provide value
People are looking for content that adds value to their lives. Don’t send out an email just for the sake of sending out an email. Offer exciting and interesting content that keeps your customers opening emails again and again.
Integrate social media
Include social media in your email marketing plan so that recipients have the ability to “friend” or “like” your business and share your email content with their friends and family.
Email marketing is not dead, but it is evolving. As consumers become more engaged with social networking, their expectations are changing to include a need for personalization and valuable content. Businesses who recognize this will be at an advantage, maximizing the use of email as an invaluable marketing tool. Will your business be one of them?
