Why Businesses Need E-mail Marketing | 7 Stones Digital

Email is arguably the most affordable marketing tool and has by far the greatest reach compared to other channels. One doesn’t need to be a rocket scientist to deduce that a large percentage of grown-ups use emails on a daily basis. Even without statistics to back up the claim, you will hardly find anyone who does not use email regularly. There are good reasons why we all do: it is free, fast, and keeps us in contact with friends and colleagues no matter where they are.

Email Marketing at a Glance

  Email marketing campaigns are considered to be the most efficient sales promoter. On top of acquiring a stunning 90 percent chance of reaching recipients’ inboxes, email marketing messages also stand a better chance at attracting consumers when presenting offers.

 Essentially, emails are convenient because they allow for higher word counts. However, that is by no means its only advantage. It helps businesses keep in touch with their customers while also allowing them to promote their offers on a regular basis. Emails make adding a personalized message, a subscription button, or even a video is seamlessly done, thus increasing the chances of further campaign targeting. 

 In fact, it was found that 92 percent of online adults use email, with 61 percent of them every day. According to the McKinsey Global Institute, employees spend approximately 13 hours per week performing the same task. Plus, 57 percent of email subscribers spend 10 to 60 minutes browsing email offers on a weekly basis. Collectively, these stats help prove the importance of email marketing campaigns in modern businesses.  

Increasing the Value of Email Marketing Campaigns

  Although the statistics may look great, that isn’t to say that email has made marketing any less effortless. Cheaper, yes, but when it comes to winning and keeping customers, personalization is all that matters.

Before that, one must make sure that the messages being sent will reach people’s inboxes and not their spam folder. The crucial steps to boosting ROI with the help of email marketing can be broken down into several steps: deliverability, optimization, personalization, and segmentation.

 1. Deliverability

 Deliverability is the first step. Increasing it means more messages will be read, which in turn guarantees a larger percentage of click-through rate. Be certain that your email service provider is a trusted one and avoid using spam trigger words (refer to the CAN-SPAM Act for help).

Finally, an unsubscribe button should be included in all the messages you send. Sadly enough, too many emails get flagged as spam because people don't have the option to unsubscribe from the services they are no longer interested in.

 2. Optimization

 Mobile phones have been on the rise and are likely to stay on top. As all stats have pointed this, it is a must that email marketing campaigns be optimized for mobile devices. Today, most emails are being accessed via mobile devices, with one-third of all clicks happening there. With that being said, all messages must look as good on a mobile phone as they do on a computer screen.

 3. Personalization

  Everyone wants to feel special, and this is no different when it comes to marketing. A personalized welcome message will do wonders to keep your customer base growing. If you decide to add a concise and professional opening line, stay away from clickbait and mind shopping cart reminders. You will start seeing a massive increase in your business’ ROI in no time.

  Personalization does not imply that you have to write a separate message for each customer. There are numerous email templates that can shorten the process for you; however, using insights to deliver the type of content each customer is looking forward to is the essence of email marketing.

  A call to action at the end of the message will also be necessary to boost sales. Make sure to present exactly what the offer is to prevent you from losing customers to clickbait.   

 4. Segmentation

  List segmentation is of utmost importance as it provides insights into the specifics that customers wish to be informed about. Factors will include demographics, behavioral data, and purchase history. It is essential to remember that each customer segment will have their own preferences and shopping habits.

 Email Marketing Meets Automation

  Currently, 95 percent of companies rely on marketing automation while also keeping personalization intact. The larger the campaign, the more time it will take, so there are no surprises in this regard.

As a matter of fact, automation does wonder to boost ROI. Statistics have revealed that automation has a 133 percent higher chance of delivering relevant messages. Targeted email campaigns generate over 75 percent of overall email revenue and personalized emails — six times higher transaction rates.

To fully grasp the potential of email marketing, we’ll leave you with some stunning facts to keep in mind: (Source: Campaign Monitor)

• 50 percent of small and medium-sized businesses make use of automated email marketing campaigns
• Email marketing has an ROI of 4400 percent
• The average order value per email is approximately three times higher compared to social media
• 77 percent of ROI is generated through segmented and targeted campaigns

 Author Biography:

Emily Woodman is a creative author and long-time digital marketeer for all things business, marketing, and technology. Currently working for Mailbird, an innovative Windows email client.