This article is part of our Email, SMS and Marketing Automation resource section
The advancement in technology in the current dispensation has shifted most business operations into the digital space. Traditional shops transformed into online stores, nerds who helped you with homework started their sites with term paper help services, even flowers and other time-sensitive items can be bought (and sold) online. Most businesses market and trade using different digital platforms, and among these, entail popular email marketing. You might think that this marketing strategy proves new, though it has existed for close to forty years.
The initial marketing email got sent by Gary Thuerk, a marketer at DEC, around forty years ago. It entailed promotional content about the DEC to four hundred people, and it in turn generated a massive email spike. The stature of email marketing, however, has grown tremendously, and today, it forms a critical part of marketing in any business organization. You can now even avail yourself of business email marketing services from Denver.
Unlike many newer digital channels, email gives businesses a direct communication channel with people who have already shown some level of interest in a brand. A customer may subscribe to receive updates, download a resource, make a purchase, request information, or simply choose to hear from a company. This creates an opportunity to build an ongoing relationship rather than relying entirely on a single advertising impression.
Modern digital marketing also extends beyond email. Businesses increasingly combine email campaigns with SMS messaging and marketing automation to create connected customer journeys. Instead of treating each channel as an isolated activity, marketers can use them together to deliver timely information, reminders, offers, educational content, and follow-ups.
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Email Marketing in 2021
Emails form a strong messaging channel, and therefore its usefulness can never get started enough. 55% of the sampled marketers report receiving excellent ROI through email campaigns. Further, survey participants in the Seventh Sense study alluded to making plans when it comes to communicating with prospects and clients using emails, especially during these pandemic times.
HubSpot, reports email marketers as sending 27% extra emails during the pandemic times compared to the pre-covid-19 period. Additionally, LiveIntent has recently published data demonstrating more engagement when it comes to email newsletters, especially in shopping, finance, and hard news.
These developments demonstrate why email remains important even as businesses adopt social media, paid advertising, SMS, and other digital channels. Email can be used at almost every stage of the customer relationship. A company can use it to introduce a new subscriber to its brand, educate a prospect, announce a product, provide order information, collect feedback, or reconnect with an inactive customer.
The effectiveness of email, however, does not come simply from sending more messages. Businesses need to consider the relevance, timing, personalization, and frequency of their communications. A large database does not automatically produce successful campaigns. The quality of the relationship between the business and its subscribers matters just as much.
This is where email marketing copy becomes an important consideration. The words used in an email influence whether subscribers understand the message, recognize its value, and decide to take action. Subject lines, introductions, calls to action, product descriptions, and follow-up messages all contribute to the overall effectiveness of a campaign.
What Is Email Marketing?
Email marketing is the practice of using email communication to build relationships with prospects and customers while promoting products, services, information, or other business objectives.
A basic email campaign may involve a company sending the same newsletter to its entire subscriber list. More advanced programs divide subscribers into groups and deliver different messages according to their interests, previous interactions, purchasing behavior, or position in the customer journey.
For example, a new subscriber may receive a welcome email immediately after signing up. Several days later, they could receive educational information about a product or service. If they visit a particular product page without purchasing, the business could send a relevant follow-up message. After a purchase, the customer could receive confirmation, usage information, feedback requests, or recommendations.
This progression illustrates the difference between simply sending emails and developing an email marketing system. A strong system considers what the recipient needs at each stage.
Why Email Marketing Matters
One of the biggest advantages of email marketing is its ability to support long-term communication. Social media algorithms can influence how many people see a particular post, while paid campaigns depend on continuing advertising expenditure. Email provides another channel through which a business can communicate directly with subscribers who have opted into its messages.
Email can support several business objectives, including:
- Building awareness of a company or product
- Educating potential customers
- Generating website traffic
- Promoting products and services
- Supporting customer retention
- Recovering abandoned purchases
- Announcing new products
- Sharing company news
- Collecting customer feedback
- Encouraging repeat purchases
Email can also be measured. Businesses can examine metrics such as delivery rates, opens, clicks, conversions, unsubscribes, and revenue generated from campaigns. These measurements can then be used to improve future communication.
However, marketers should avoid viewing any individual metric in isolation. A high open rate does not necessarily mean that a campaign generated business results. Likewise, a large number of clicks does not automatically mean that customers completed the desired action. The most useful measurements depend on the purpose of the campaign.
Building an Email Marketing Strategy
A successful email marketing program generally starts with a clear objective. Before writing a campaign, determine what the message is supposed to accomplish.
For example, an email may be intended to generate sales, encourage registrations, educate subscribers, promote an event, or simply maintain an ongoing relationship with an audience.
The next step is understanding the recipient. Different customers can have different needs. A first-time visitor may require more educational information, while an existing customer may respond better to product updates or loyalty offers.
Build and Segment Your Email List
The quality of an email list is more important than simply having a large number of subscribers. Businesses should build lists through legitimate sign-up opportunities and communicate with people according to the expectations established when they subscribed.
Segmentation can make campaigns more relevant. Subscribers might be divided according to factors such as:
- Previous purchases
- Geographic location
- Interests
- Customer status
- Website activity
- Engagement level
- Stage in the buying journey
A segmented approach allows a business to avoid sending exactly the same message to everyone.
Create Relevant Content
Subscribers receive many communications every day, so the content needs to provide a reason to pay attention. Useful content can include educational information, product announcements, exclusive offers, practical advice, company updates, or resources related to the subscriber’s interests.
The message should also have a clear purpose. If an email attempts to communicate too many unrelated ideas, the recipient may not know what action to take.
Write Effective Subject Lines
The subject line is one of the first elements a recipient sees. It should accurately communicate what the email contains while creating enough interest to encourage the recipient to open it.
Avoid misleading promises. A subject line that creates curiosity but does not match the actual content can damage trust and increase unsubscribes.
Include a Clear Call to Action
A call to action tells the recipient what to do next. Depending on the campaign, this could be reading an article, visiting a product page, registering for an event, completing a purchase, or contacting the business.
A clear call to action makes the next step easier to understand. The design and copy surrounding it should support that objective rather than compete with it.
Email Marketing and Marketing Automation
As businesses grow, manually sending every email becomes increasingly difficult. This is where automation becomes useful.
Marketing automation allows businesses to establish rules or workflows that trigger communication based on customer actions or predefined conditions. A welcome email, for example, can be sent automatically after someone subscribes.
Other possible automated workflows include:
- Welcome sequences
- Abandoned-cart reminders
- Post-purchase messages
- Customer onboarding
- Birthday or anniversary communications
- Re-engagement campaigns
- Lead-nurturing sequences
- Product recommendations
- Event reminders
The relationship between email marketing and automation is particularly important because automation can improve consistency while reducing repetitive manual work. For a deeper comparison of the two approaches, businesses can explore email marketing vs. marketing automation.
Automation should not mean sending messages without consideration. The workflow still needs appropriate timing, useful content, clear objectives, and opportunities for recipients to manage their communication preferences.
Email Marketing and SMS Marketing
Email is not the only direct communication channel available to businesses. SMS marketing can complement email when a message requires a more immediate form of communication.
For example, a company might use email for a detailed product announcement while using SMS for a short reminder. An appointment reminder, limited-time notification, delivery update, or time-sensitive promotion may be suitable for SMS.
The two channels can therefore perform different roles.
Email generally provides more room for detailed content, images, explanations, and multiple sections. SMS is usually shorter and more immediate. Using both does not mean sending identical messages through every channel. Instead, marketers should consider the purpose of each communication and select the channel that best matches the situation.
Businesses interested in extending their direct marketing strategy can also examine approaches to effective SMS marketing and consider how SMS can complement their email campaigns.
Statistics of Email Marketing
The importance of email marketing has widespread comprehension, especially when it comes to building band loyalty, customer engagement, with matters higher ROI, etc. So what statistics back the performance of email marketing? Below comprise some of the crucial stats.
- Segmented campaigns, when it comes to marketing, results in increased returns by up to 760%, according to the 2019 campaign monitor.
- The last twelve months have returned an increased email engagement level for 78% of the general population of marketers, according to the 2020 State of Marketing.
- The 2020 Content Marketing Institute reports that 31% of the B2B marketers acknowledge email newsletters as the best channel of growing leads.
- The 2018 Emarsys study stipulates that business experts amounting to 80% believe email marketing to enhance their customer retention.
- 59% of the 2018 SaleCycle study respondents allude to email marketing, having a significant influence on their purchasing decisions.
- Emma also found out that 59% of salespersons credit email as their largest ROI source in her 2018 study.
- Oberlo also found that email marketing creates $32 of ROI for each $1 spent.
- Smart Insights also credits emails with higher conversation rates compared to direct traffic, search, and social media.
- 81% of organizations who deal in business credit emails to driving customer acquisition, besides retention of about 80%, according to Emarsys
- Most marketers see a need to improve the area of personalization when it comes to email marketing, according to 67% of Upland Adestra’s and eConsultancy study respondents.
- Most respondents (51%) when it comes to email marketing attribute problems with data integration for companies as a thorn in implementing personalization.
- Personalization gets deployed a lot in email marketing besides becoming the most effective, though proves the most complex to execute, according to Ascend2 research.
These statistics illustrate several recurring themes: segmentation, personalization, retention, engagement, and measurable return. They also highlight why businesses should approach email as a strategic communication channel rather than simply another place to distribute promotional material.
Personalization in Email Marketing
Personalization is increasingly important because customers expect businesses to understand their interests and previous interactions. A personalized email does not necessarily need to include extensive individual information. Even relatively simple segmentation can make communication more relevant.
For example, an online retailer could send different recommendations to customers based on categories they previously purchased. A software company could provide different educational content to new users and experienced customers.
The objective is relevance rather than personalization for its own sake. Businesses should use the information they legitimately have to improve communication while respecting customer expectations and privacy.
Measuring Email Marketing Performance
An email campaign should be evaluated against its original objective.
Common metrics include:
Open rate: The percentage of delivered messages that are opened, although this measurement can have limitations.
Click-through rate: The percentage of recipients who click links within an email.
Conversion rate: The percentage of recipients who complete the desired action.
Unsubscribe rate: The percentage of recipients who unsubscribe after receiving a campaign.
Bounce rate: The percentage of emails that cannot be delivered.
Revenue or return: The financial result attributed to an email campaign where reliable tracking is available.
Looking at these measurements over time can help marketers identify patterns. If a campaign receives opens but very few clicks, the subject line may be effective while the email content or call to action needs improvement. If clicks are strong but conversions are weak, the landing page or offer may require attention.
Common Email Marketing Mistakes
Even a well-designed email marketing program can encounter problems. One common mistake is sending messages too frequently. Subscribers may become overwhelmed and unsubscribe if they feel that every interaction with a company results in another promotional email.
Another issue is poor segmentation. Sending irrelevant offers to customers can make a business appear disconnected from their needs.
Weak copy can also reduce performance. A long email without a clear purpose may be difficult to understand, while an overly promotional message may fail to provide genuine value.
Businesses should also pay attention to mobile users. Many recipients read email on smartphones, so emails should be easy to read and interact with on smaller screens.
Finally, businesses should monitor their lists and remove or manage inactive contacts appropriately. Maintaining a healthy database can improve the quality of campaign performance and reduce unnecessary communication.
Creating an Integrated Digital Marketing Strategy
Email, SMS, and marketing automation do not have to operate independently. Together, they can form a connected communication system.
A potential customer might first discover a company through digital advertising or organic content. They could then subscribe to an email list to receive additional information. A sequence of automated emails may educate them about the product. After a purchase, email can provide onboarding or support information. An SMS message could provide a timely reminder when appropriate.
This type of integrated strategy allows businesses to communicate with customers throughout their relationship rather than relying on a single campaign.
The key is coordination. Customers should not receive multiple unrelated messages from different systems without considering how those communications interact. Frequency, timing, personalization, and channel selection should be considered together.
Conclusion
Email marketing proves crucial when it comes to marketing strategies for companies. As a result, the statistics should guide your modeling and deployment of emails as a marketing tool in your respective business.
However, modern email marketing should be viewed as more than simply sending promotional messages. It can support customer acquisition, education, engagement, retention, and long-term relationships. Segmentation and personalization can make campaigns more relevant, while automation can help businesses deliver timely communication at scale.
Email can also work alongside SMS and other digital channels. By understanding the strengths of each channel and coordinating them through a thoughtful strategy, businesses can create a more complete customer communication experience.
The most effective approach is therefore not to focus solely on sending more messages. Instead, businesses should focus on sending the right message, to the right audience, through the right channel, at the right time. With clear objectives, useful content, careful measurement, and consistent optimization, email marketing can remain a valuable pillar of a broader digital marketing strategy.
