Is Email Marketing Still Effective in 2018?

Is Email Marketing Still Effective in 2018?

In this article we analyse ” Is Email Marketing Still Effective in 2018″. Here we hightlight on the benefits of Email Marketing and the Email Marketing Best Practices to Gain the maximum out of this effective marketing channel.

Yes, Email Marketing is Here to Stay!

The internet has made the exchange of information faster, easier and cheaper.

It’s no longer common to receive weekly magazine via the post. Instead, we now have newsletters sent via email.

Businesses have certainly moved from postal mail to email marketing.

Email marketing is basically the use of email to promote products and/or services. It is more or less like direct mail, only without the postman in his blue cap.

With the need for faster communication, it replaced the postal service with electronic transfer of information.

Benefits of Email Marketing

Benefits of Email Marketing

It has a larger reach– according to Radicati, the total number of worldwide email accounts was 3.9 billion in 2013 and grew to 4.9 billion by 2017. This is particularly influenced by the fact that just about every internet platform requires that you have an email address. Think about it. 4.9 billion potential customers. Even if you were to target a mere 1% of them, well, the statistics speak for themselves.

It is relatively cheap– emailing is just about one of the cheapest avenues of communication out there. Heck, all you need is a computer and internet connection and you’re good to go! You can run a marketing campaign at very low costs which are obviously economical for your business. This is especially good news for a small business.

Ease– it is quite easy to set up and track an email marketing campaign. With newsletters, for instance, these will simply be sent to the email list generated from those that have provided their information on your website. You can then send clients updates, or reminders or even gather feedback from them as often as you desire relatively easily.

Visibility– a customer is more likely to see an email than a post on social media. Research shows that 90% of emails get delivered to the intended recipient. On the other hand, only 2% of your Facebook fans see your posts on their news feeds. This basically implies that you can automatically reach more people via email than any other social network. This gives email marketing the advantage of being capable of reaching people more effectively and therefore being more likely to lead to conversion.

Has a high return on investment– A study shows that for every $1 spent, email marketing generates $38 in ROI. This is mostly because, with email, the messages are more personalized and relevant. You are talking to people who have a specific interest in your organization. Social media, on the other hand, reaches every Tom, Dick and Harry, even those who know nothing of you beyond your name.

It is the preferred communication channel– Email is a relatively more professional channel for conveying information about products and services. 72% of people prefer to receive promotional content through email, compared to 17% who prefer social media.

It is an open platform– Facebook recently changed its algorithm and now fewer followers get to see your posts unless the posts are paid advertisements. This basically means that businesses have to pay to market themselves on social media platforms. Emailing, however, remains an open medium. You are in charge of your own mailing list, therefore only you can control how small or large it is.

It is likely to exist until perpetuity– Social media platforms come and go. Who even remembers what 2-go was about? (I’m sure you’re wondering what in God’s name I am going on about). But email is here to stay. It is more likely to retain your client list, in the long run, a reassurance that few social media platforms, if any, can give.

How to Run an Effective Marketing Campaign

Email Marketing Best Practices

We have seen that email marketing is definitely a great market strategy. However, even the best-laid plans can fail if implemented poorly. The success of an email marketing campaign largely depends on how it is set up and run.

Here are some Email Marketing Best Practices that will get you to increase those numbers in 2018:

  • Establish your goals.

Have you ever tried to shoot an arrow without the bull’s eye to aim at? Yeah? I bet wherever it landed was a score for you. If you lack clear goals, you have no idea what you’re aiming for. It is critical to know what your goals are.

Know what you’re intending to achieve with your email marketing campaign. Is it to drive new signups for your product? Is it to put out more information on who you are? Is it a combination of multiple goals? Answering this question will aid you in planning. It will help you create focused, high-performing campaigns.

  • Build your email list.

Now that you know what your goals are, develop your desired list. There are various ways to do this, each, of course, dependent upon the initial goals;

    • Create a list of your contacts- to be able to run an effective email marketing campaign you need to have as many emails as possible. The easiest way to get these emails is to import the ones you already have from your existing customers and potential leads you’ve already engaged in the past. Simply import their details into your email marketing tool. It is vital to ensure that you have adequate permission to email these subscribers.
    • Create a new list from the bottom- if you want to target an audience that is not already in your database, you will have to start from scratch. Here, you have to provide incentives to draw people to subscribe. Ask yourself, “what would drive me to subscribe to a particular business?” Is it a first-time discount? Is it the content? Think like a potential customer then work to draw them to you.
  • Select the type of campaign you want to run.

Again, this will largely depend on the goals you want to achieve. You can opt to work with newsletters, marketing offers, announcements or event invitations. Choose the campaign that is likely to drive your objectives home most effectively.

  • Create your campaign.

Email Campaign Creation

You must remember a few tips while launching your email campaign.

Structure your campaign in an easy-to-read manner. Avoid long, heavily-worded campaigns. Pay attention to what will interest people while guiding them towards the email’s call to action.

Ensure that the campaign is relevant to each subscriber. This is where segmentation comes in handy. According to statistics sending targeted campaigns to segmented lists can result up to 760% increase in revenue.

Your subscribers have probably visited your website or social media site to sign up for your emails. Maintain consistency in your branding e.g fonts and colors across the board. This will help to build your brand and build trust in who you are.

Optimize your campaigns across all devices. Most email openings are done via mobile phones. If I have trouble clicking through your campaign from my phone, I am likely to discard it altogether. The easier it is, however, the more likely it is to lead to conversions.

  • Keep your emails out of spam folders.

This can be achieved by ensuring that you have been whitelisted. This is basically being termed as a friend by the recipient. This goes hand in hand with acquiring permission before doling out your information. Avoid using all caps, or too many exclamation marks or any poor formats that could have your mail flagged down by spam filters.

  • Encourage readers to respond

Ensure that you open the door for meaningful conversation with your campaign. You can achieve this by personalizing your emails. We always want to feel that we are talking to a person not a machine in some back room. Show me that you care through the language you use. Whenever possible, encourage your customers to respond to your emails. This is a sure way to gather feedback.

  • Manage expectations with follow up efforts

With email marketing, you have to be consistent with following up on the expectations you set. If you promised to send weekly emails but send about 5 per week, my response is likely to be negative. If I am expecting a daily update but get one every two weeks, I will be out of your list faster than you can say ‘email marketing’.

  • Measure your results.

Measure your Email Marketing Results

You cannot determine your progress if you do not measure the results of your campaign. Your email marketing tool and website analytics tool should generate these reports for you. Such reports tell you elements such as;

    • The number of bounces- these are the addresses to which your campaign could not be delivered.
    • Number of unopened emails.
    • Number of unique opens- these are the unique subscribers who opened your campaign.
    • Open rate- this is the percentage of all your subscribers who opened your campaign.
    • Click- through rate- this is the number of people who clicked on a link shared in your campaign.
    • Unsubscribe rate- the percentage of people who unsubscribed from your email list.
    • Shares- the number of subscribers who proceeded to forward your campaign to friends or who shared it on social networks.

Analysis of such statistics will lead you to evaluate your campaign on a whole. This will drive you towards making the most of your strong points while improving on your weaknesses.

Email marketing is not going anywhere. With the need for more and more online marketing tools, it is only becoming more crucial moving forward. Set yourself apart in 2018 by creating and managing a great campaign.

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