6 reasons your business should start email marketing
Emails are a powerful weapon to have in your marketing arsenal. Read on to find why.
In the social media-obsessed 21st century, the humble email is easy to overlook in a marketing strategy. But even though they are one of the older forms of digital marketing communication, they remain just as relevant – and valuable – today.
If you need convincing, here are 6 reasons why your business should start an email marketing campaign today.
1. Emails are cost-effective
Emails cost very little to produce and deliver, but they certainly pack a punch when it comes to return on investment. In 2019, a survey carried out among marketers across the world found that 73% of in-house marketers and 75% of agency marketers agreed that email marketing had ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ return on investment.
Indeed, in 2020 a UK survey found that the approximate return for every pound spent on email marketing was £35.41. Not bad for a marketing channel that’s been kicking around since the 1970s.
2. They can boost customer retention
New customers are always going to be valuable, but holding on to the ones you already have is just as important. To do this, you need to keep your buyers engaged and interested in your brand, something that email is perfectly suited to do.
This is because emails can be easily personalised, which makes the recipient feel as though your business is interested in them and reaching out to them as an individual. This personalisation can be simple as adding a customer’s name into a subject line. Doing this alone can increase open rates by 50% and result in click-to-open rates that are 58% higher than normal. Add in some personalised offers or exclusive discounts, and your bottom line is sure to see a boost.
Emails are also great vehicles for other retention strategies. For instance, they can be used to induct customers into a loyalty program.
3. Emails can lead to conversions
The decision to buy a service or product doesn’t usually happen as a spur-of-the-moment decision, particularly if what you are selling requires a decent bit of expenditure. In a typical sales journey, a customer will move from an ‘awareness’ stage, through to interest, desire and – finally – action. With the right email campaign, you can help your customers to move smoothly through these stages and make a purchase.
You can do this by creating a campaign that targets customers at the earliest stages of the sales process, gradually drip-feeding information over a series of emails until the customer is convinced and buys your product.
A lead nurturing campaign such as this could start with a welcome email after a potential customer has subscribed to a newsletter, gotten a quote or created an account. You could then show your value as a brand by following up with an email that gives them something for free. This could be a relevant blog post, white paper or free service, for instance. This campaign could then culminate with a discount or another strong call to action to promote conversion.
4. They’re great for cross-selling
Cross-selling is a great opportunity as it means you can capitalise on customers who are already engaged with you and what you’re selling. With email marketing, you can easily flag up complementary products to these customers and provide them with a button or link that makes these products easy to purchase.
For instance, if a customer has just purchased car insurance from you, you could send a thank you email that also asks them if they’ve thought about home insurance. A button at the end of the email could then take them directly to your website to get a new quote.
5. You can share your latest news and content
If you have a fascinating new blog on your website, or your business has just won an award, email is the perfect way to get the message out and drive traffic back to your website.
Monthly email newsletters are particularly useful for this. Use them to highlight new content, or other information that is timely and relevant, and then include calls to action to get readers to read the full story on your site.
6. You have ownership of your audience
If you send out your own email marketing campaigns, this means you have your own list of contacts. By owning your own contacts, you never have to worry about losing access to your followers or customers.
This is a very real risk with other platforms. For instance, now that Twitter has changed ownership, some customers may have left the platform. And if the channel gets closed down, you will have lost the ability to connect with a huge swathe of people. With your own email marketing contact list, you never have to worry about this happening.
So, what are you waiting for? Kick-start your own email marketing campaign today!