Is email marketing still effective in 2020?
With newer digital technologies finding their place in a marketer’s arsenal, email marketing often gets overlooked; however, email marketing continues to be a powerful tool (and among the simplest to use). Therefore, it should definitely be part of any online marketing strategy.
The effectiveness of email marketing comes from the fact that it allows hyper-specific targeting, as one can segment email lists according to lead status, location, demographics, interests and more. It also allows for personalization – via variable tags and segmentation- causing higher conversion rates. Email marketing is measurable and cost effective tool that allows you to speak directly with your customers and increase brand recognition.
What is the success rate of email marketing?
Data collated by MailChimp shows that the average open rate for email marketing is 21.8% across all industries and the average click-through rate is 2.8%. These statistics makes emails among the most efficient forms of marketing, with the highest ROI, estimated at revenues of over $40 for every $1 spent on it. Email marketing has proved especially successful for B2B strategies. The success rate is further enhanced by making email templates being mobile responsive.
What are the steps in email marketing?
The steps in email marketing include (in no particular order):
- Defining marketing goals and target audience
- Building an email list
- Segmenting the list based on goals and target audience
- Understanding when/why to use different email templates – like discount offers, renewing subscription, welcome messages, announcements, brand stories, client case studies,
- Learning to use an email automation platform
- Designing optimized templates
- Creating effective content focused around a specific call-to-action
- Choosing a compelling subject line
- Knowing what to avoid to prevent ending up in spam folders
What should you not do in email marketing?
To increase the effectiveness of your email marketing campaign, it’s best to avoid the following:
- Unsegmented email lists
- Buying email lists from untrustworthy sources
- Overhyped or misleading subject line
- Very long text with multiple call-to-actions
- Poor visual appeal
- Using words that are flagged as spam
- Sending emails with attachments
- Using generic email addresses like admin instead of real email IDs
- Mistakes in personalization like using the company name instead of the person’s name
- Not optimizing for mobile
- Sending too many emails
- Ignoring reports generated by the email delivery platform
Click here for more information on email marketing best practices.
