The idea that email marketing is dead existed long before the smartphone and continues to this day. Marketing influencers argue over email’s value over other social media platforms or discuss how the new iOS will ruin your list.
Despite all of that, the truth is that email marketing continues to be the absolute best marketing value for your business dollar than anything else.
Email marketing is the only form of digital marketing that allows you to build a targeted campaign that hits the inboxes of only those interested in your products.
As a bonus: you own this form of communication. No worrying about algorithms or social media updates; you control how you communicate with your audience 100% of the way.
Email marketing is not dead, and The Loop Marketing team is here to tell you why you need to invest in email marketing this year.
Why Invest in Email Marketing?
New, shinier social media platforms pop up yearly with promises of more engagement and customer interaction. Maintaining your enthusiasm for the next most significant trend in digital marketing is tough when your business faces challenges like:
- Cash Flow
- Staffing
- Employee Healthcare
- Government Regulations
How can you consistently engage your customer base with these high-priority concerns sitting at your desk? Is there time to take pictures for Instagram? Will you need followers on Twitter? Will email marketing help me grow my business?
All are valid questions, but the results speak for themselves at the end of the day. Don’t believe me? Check out these email marketing stats for 2023 to understand why it continues to be the number one strategy to engage your customers and drive leads.
Millennials Aren’t Killing Email Marketing
Despite headlines like “Are Millennials Killing Email Marketing?” data tells us that it continues to be a viable source for customer interaction, and usage is projected to increase.
As it turns out, email and how we use it have improved. That email is ubiquitous is why it can be a first-rate choice for a small business marketing strategy.
Think of the ways that email intersects with the worldwide market:
- In 2023, there will be 347.3 billion emails sent and received per day worldwide.
- By 2025, there will be 4.6 billion email users worldwide.
- Nearly 80% of business leaders say consumers spend more (an average of 34 percent more) when their experience is personalized.
- 33% of marketers send weekly emails, and 26% send emails multiple times per month.
- Within the first hour of sending, 22% of all email campaigns are opened.
By far, the largest percentage of consumers use email as their most frequent connection with products and services:
- 85% of professionals use email for their business transactions.
- 73% of consumers prefer email as their marketing channel.
- 83% of consumers say email is their preferred form of brand communication. (Facebook falls far behind, at only 38%.)
- 70% of consumers prefer to receive commercial marketing through email.
- Children aged 12-17 are using email more than Snapchat or Facebook. We can be sure that email isn’t going anywhere.
Every small business owner and their customers have email accounts; the same can’t be said for other social media platforms. And as time goes on, more consumers will use this as their primary tool for social and business interaction in the coming years.
How to Build a Better Email
The worst place for an email is in the trash folder. After months of research, here are some of the best ways to ensure that a business email is noticed, opened, and read:
- Create a subject line that jumps out from the consumer’s inbox. A/B Test it. Enhance it. Optimize it.
- Use the customer’s name in the greeting. Just as making eye contact, reaching out your hand, and greeting someone by name is the opener for a warmer business conversation, personalizing email communications in this way always greases the runway.
- Send the email from a person in the company, not merely from the company. A customer will connect steadfastly with a direct contact at the company.
- Compose an email that engages and informs. Conversely, avoid information sharing that is easily obtained elsewhere or creating a communication channel that is all-business, no-fun,
- Engage the perfect cross-section of our customer base by segmenting your database. There are ways to optimize your company’s marketing outreach by delineating your customers by demographics such as age, location, purchase history, or even how many times they open your emails. Email segmentation is clever marketing, helping you to finetune your conversations.
- Timing is everything. Find out which days of the week and times of the day the email is most likely to be read, and ensure it lands in the right place at the right time.
- Decrease the likelihood that the communication will end up in the consumer’s spam folder. Using terms directly connected with money savings, such as “sale” or “deal,” in the subject line may lead to a consumer’s spam filter.
What if Everything Goes as Planned, but the Customer Still Bounces?
That’s where email marketing automation is your best friend!
Your website or email system needs to be set up to capture email information to reconnect immediately with that escapee.
The phone rang, or the bathtub overflowed, and the customer clicked out of the screen for reasons that had nothing to do with your product or services.
What better way to stem cart abandonment than to build a system that immediately reaches out to that customer, reintroduces your brand magic, and reminds them why they are excited about your product or service?
Is Email Marketing the Answer?
Short answer: yes. Long answer: yes. Email marketing is the best way to engage with your customers directly and will stay that way for the foreseeable future.
If your business is ready to take the next step into email marketing, reach out to The Loop Marketing today, and one of our digital marketing experts will get you started on the right foot in 2023.
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