Most of us are familiar with the email that pops into our inbox highlighting the newest of the new or what's happening with our favorite stores and products. From “BOGO” or “25% off”, new product announcements, or full-fledged e-newsletters that highlight company social responsibilities and community support, it's apparent – emails are still going strong.
Companies utilize these messages to help communicate and promote their business while keeping their brands in the forefront of consumer minds. These messages are a form of email marketing – a type of digital marketing that helps educate and engage customers while marketing your business products or services.
Is email marketing still relevant today?
Email marketing proved itself as an effective means of communicating to consumers with the Internet boom during the 1990’s. Individuals were going out securing personal email accounts from the most popular providers at the time, such as AOL, Hotmail and Yahoo! (kudos to those of you who still have these accounts) and signing up for updates from their favorite companies.
However, over the years, email marketing received some slack for becoming too intrusive which helped garner a new nickname for the digital medium – spam. Email users began blocking and unsubscribing from messages from the companies they had previously signed up for, and also from the unsolicited messages they received from businesses they had not requested.
What marketers once considered an effective means of reaching customers was now becoming harder. In addition, new regulations were being introduced that would impact how marketers could reach their customers. To continue reaching customers through email, businesses and their marketing teams would have to develop new strategies that would engage customers instead of push them away.
Are there still benefits to email marketing?
Fast forward to today... If you were hoping to hop on the email bandwagon, don’t worry. Email continues to be a competitive medium for reaching out to your target audience. Due to changes in consumer behaviors from the start of the pandemic in 2019, companies shifted their strategy to encompass more digital marketing to help offset impacted sales from physical storefront closures. Social media, websites, audio promotions and even email were considered primary areas that would reach customers who were now holed-up in their homes. However, not all digital mediums are created equally, and additional company costs, time and staffing have to be evaluated.
Email marketing provides a variety of benefits and should be considered when developing your marketing strategy. Check out four top reasons why we believe email is beneficial for businesses today:
Brand Awareness: Emails are a great way to continue to grow and build brand awareness with potential and new customers. Yes, the design elements of your email count, but more importantly, it is the content you are sharing and how consistent you are with your emails. Email marketing provides you with an easy way to share new product launches, special features, service benefits and additional content about your company.
Sales: Email is a great tool to encourage and improve your company’s sales. According to an article by Constant Contact, "60% of consumers say they've made a purchase as the result of a marketing email they received." Promoting your company services and products through emails allows readers to make purchases conveniently with a click of a mouse or a tap of a mobile button.
Website Traffic: Emails are also a great way to get readers to visit your company website. The content you share in your emails can link back to full product catalogs, a listing of services, and other relevant articles, videos or materials. By driving customers back to your webpage, you encourage them to continue engaging with your content in addition to improving your website metrics.
Personalization: We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, “Give them what they want.” Your customers are different and they are all looking for specific products, services and content that resonates with their needs. From personalized product recommendations to special offers based on their past purchases, email marketing allows you to segment your customers into groups, ensuring that you are sending relevant materials to those specific individuals. If you’re not quite there yet with this type of data, don't worry. Start with something small, yet meaningful – address them by their first name.
"Email has an ability many channels don’t: creating valuable, personal touches – at scale."
David Newman, author of "Do It! Marketing"
Email marketing has been considered one of the most cost-effective marketing tools and continues to be an important and useful strategy. Whether you are evaluating starting an email program or reconsidering if your emails are still relevant, you can rest assured – email isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
Want to learn more about how to make email marketing work for you? Contact us today or subscribe to our monthly newsletter.
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