Why Email Marketing is NOT Dead and How-To Tips

Much like rumors of SEO being dead, email marketing also gets the death scare from time to time, but hard facts and statistics from reputable online marketing sources thankfully refute these notions. According to survey from the Radicatti Group, there are currently over 4.1 billion email accounts today. That figure is expected to reach 5.2 billion by 2018, which only proves that email is still alive and kicking. MarketingSherpa also found that 72 percent of consumers consider email as their main conduit of communication with companies. Marketers need to stop underestimating email and learn to use it to their advantage instead.

Here are some useful tips:

Update Your Strategy
Perhaps the biggest reason people keep saying that email is dead is that it has changed drastically through the years. It’s no longer the same because like any other technology, it evolves. For instance, the rising numbers of mobile device users call for a mobile-optimized email campaign. An article from ExactTarget.com  (@marketingcloud) titled “10 Tips to a Powerful Email Marketing Strategy” noted that users immediately delete emails if they can’t properly view it on their devices. Email marketing may change every year, which is why you should always remain in the know of the latest online marketing insights from sources like Marketing Digest.

Ask for Permission
Users will only treat your efforts as spam or junk mail if you don’t ask for their permission first. Seek approval before you send them marketing messages by letting interested users sign up. This will also give you the opportunity to gather more information about particular consumers so you can improve your products or services accordingly.

Personalise Campaigns
People appreciate brands that show interest in what they like. In that case, personalized emails for people who subscribe to can really improve the results of your email marketing. One good idea from a Forbes (@Forbes) article titled “Email Marketing Strategies You Can Borrow From Billion-Dollar E-Commerce Giants” is to personalize your offerings whenever you can by taking into account recommendations based on your visitor’s first purchase or lead source.

Promote Deals on Email
Nothing brings customers to your door faster than mentions of discounts, sales, and bargains. If you are only promoting your deals on social media, you’re missing out on a lot of opportunities. Moreover, most people would actually prefer getting information about deals through email rather than scrolling through thousands of posts on their News Feed for your offers.

Use Email Sequences
Email sequences, using auto-responder services like Mail Chimp and Aweber and many more, increase the purchase likelihood.  An average person takes 7 touches/contacts before buying.  They are going through a buying cycle but you don’t know what stage they are at – an email sequence will keep you in front of them and top of mind when they are ready to purchase.  You can move them from lists of cold contacts to prospects to subscribers to purchasers and send them emails appropriate to their interest stage.

Build Your Email List
Your email list is extremely useful for Facebook marketing especially in building Lookalike Audiences.  Facebook takes your existing email list and searches its database for similar addresses to which you can then advertise very inexpensively. 

CALL US on (09) 449 1005 or (027) 489 5009 or email chris@pattersondigitalmarketing.com for a FREE consultation on Email Marketing and how to build your website visitors, enquiries and sales.

Based on an article written by Megan Pearson of Marketing Digest

Chris Kirkham