With the growing popularity of social media and other online channels, some business owners may be wondering if email marketing actually works. While there are many effective alternatives, email marketing continues to be one of the simplest and most effective methods of reaching new prospects and converting many more visitors into paying customers. Over the years, email marketing is known for delivering exceptional outcomes for business organizations of all sizes.
This piece will look at why email marketing has been around for ages and is still considered effective in 2021. Also, we'll go over some essential tips that can help you improve your email marketing strategy today.
Why Email Marketing in 2021?
Here are a few reasons why email marketing remains a top marketing strategy for businesses:
It is one of the most cost-effective marketing strategies with one of the highest returns on initial capital investment. Email marketing yields an average 3,800% return on investment for businesses, and for every $1 spent on email marketing, the average return on investment is $38.
With email marketing, you can create personalized and custom experiences, increase engagement, and deepen brand awareness with leads, new customers, and returning customers.
It is a testing opportunity to gain valuable customer data for more intentional and meaningful customer touchpoints.
There is the opportunity to harness the power of automation to supercharge your digital marketing strategy.
Email marketing is highly targeted. With email marketing, you can segment your email list based on lead status, demographics, location, and other data. It allows you to send targeted emails based on the needs and interests of your customers.
Email marketing increases brand recognition. People may not always be ready to purchase your products or services when they first hear about your business, but sending targeted emails can help you stay top-of-mind with your target audience.
Email marketing is measurable. With email marketing, you can evaluate the success of your campaign by looking at key metrics like open rate, bounce rate, and click-through rate.
Email marketing is cost-effective compared to other traditional marketing efforts. You do not have to pay for the print, postage, or ad space, or any of the costs associated with conventional marketing. This makes it a truly cost-effective marketing method, ahead of search, display, and social media marketing, and, of course, a strong reason why email marketing will be around for a very long time.
Practices/Tactics That Make Email Marketing Work
1. Personalized messages: The probability that a subscriber will read the content of your mail is higher if it is personalized. Years ago, marketers could blast generic email messages to customers, and get away with it, but not today. With new technology, real-time email marketing is gaining momentum, and recipients are interested in receiving personalized messages that cater to their tastes and preferences. Creating engaging emails can help more people connect with your brand and allow your business to convert more customers.
2. Optimizing emails for mobile devices: The number of emails opened on mobile devices outnumbers emails opened on desktops, and this trend may likely continue. It implies that emails must be optimized to display on mobile devices.
3. Making your emails shareable: If your emails contain helpful information, your recipients will likely want to share them with their loved ones. It can help you increase awareness of your brand and expand your reach online.
4. Incorporating videos and animated content: You can also include videos and animated content in your emails to grab your audience's attention and provide them with more valuable information. These unique additions also guide recipients to take actions that have a positive impact on click-through rates.
Not only are graphic elements appealing, but they can also help enhance user experience and make people more likely to want to find out more information about your business.
5. Use of convincing subject headlines: the chances that a subscriber will click on your email, let alone read the email, is higher when the subject is irresistible. 33% of people decide whether to open emails based solely on the headline. For more people to open your emails and read your content, you need to create attractive subject lines that encourage them to find out more.
You should create 5-20 subject lines for each of your emails, then pick the one you think will best resound with your intended audience. Keep in mind that while headlines should be creative and engaging, they also need to give recipients an accurate picture of what to expect when they view your emails.
Key Takeaway
Email marketing has proven to be a timeless marketing strategy that can quickly adjust to recent trends. What's more? During a year that changed as 2020 did, it very well can be one of the few marketing strategies that can bring results. Most importantly:
Define your goals
Who? Identify your target audience. Learn about their pain points, aspirations, and the emotional/psychological triggers that influence them to take action on your offers.
What? What do you want your contacts to do with your emails? Do you want them to download your content, subscribe to your webinar, or sign up for an event? Define a goal for each email message so you can add a clear call-to-action (CTA).
When? Determine what types of content are relevant to your subscribers. Meanwhile, someone in the decision stage will find pricing guides more valuable.
Where? Figure out what device your email subscribers are using to open your emails. Are they using smartphones? Laptops? Or tablets? Use your email service provider’s analytics solution to obtain this information, so you optimize your email marketing campaign accordingly.
Why? What is your desired outcome for your email marketing campaign? Does it align with your overall business direction?
Asking these questions will establish cohesiveness between your email marketing campaigns and all other promotional initiatives you are pursuing to grow your business.
Grow and segment your contacts
Email segmentation means grouping email addresses according to a sub-niche. Some of the most common segmentation ideas are sorting based on gender, age, interest, and behavior. Choose the segmentation type that fits your data and goals. Segmenting emails allows you to create personalized content since you can tailor it specifically to the sub-niches interest.
Create value-packed emails
Your content should be relevant and helpful to your subscribers. An excellent way to achieve this is by creating your marketing materials based on where subscribers are in their buying stage.
Optimize for email deliverability
Choose your colors and visuals correctly. They matter and should align with your brand tone. Always read the room. After all, 2020 has been a real rollercoaster. Smart brands already know that the most popular and most engaging or effective digital trends are human-centric, and have empathetic approaches.
Wrapping Up
Are you looking to brush up on your email marketing tactics or just not sure how or where to begin? You can contact us at The Mission today for assistance with any grey areas regarding your email marketing strategy, and we`re always delighted to help you grow.
As leading growth strategists, sales, and digital marketing experts, we are here to take through every step to creating smart digital marketing goals. We provide you with help on how to implement them successfully. Also, as leading partners in the PEO, HR, payroll, and benefits outsourcing marketplace, we provide result-oriented services for small and medium-sized organizations and government contractors, serving as a trusted partner in integrated human resource compliance, risk management, employee benefits, employment practices liability insurance (EPLI), and payroll processing.