Did you know that email marketing is the most profitable and cost-effective direct marketing channel, generating an average return on investment of $36 for every $1 spent . That’s a higher return than any channel you can imagine — as long as you don’t buy into the hype of those 100X ROI social posts by “influencers.”
Moving along…
For this reason alone, email should be a key pillar of your company’s digital marketing strategy. Not doing any email marketing is like leaving your money laying out on the table, ready to be taken by others.
But if you’re confused about where to start, that’s totally normal. Email marketing is a vast discipline. It’s easy for beginners to get lost in a sea of tools, techniques, and terminology, especially when you’re a small team and are looking to scale your company.
Additionally, a growing issue in the email marketing world is being able to STAND OUT from 99% of all other emails. Let’s face it, when you check your email, you will glance over your inbox and delete most of them. Why is that? Because you only get a few seconds to get someone’s attention while scrolling through your emails. But enough with the intro, let’s jump right into the source.
What Is Email Marketing?
Email marketing is sending commercial emails to a list of contacts who have given their express permission to receive email communications from your business/company. You can use email marketing to inform your contacts, drive sales, and build a community around your brand. An example is a newsletter.
Modern email marketing has moved away from one-size-fits-all mass mailings and instead focuses on consent, segmentation, and personalization. This may sound time-consuming, and yes, it really is, but what good does it do to not send the right messages to your potential lead and losing the person’s interest completely?
Different Types of Emails in Marketing
Emails can be promotional, informational, or serve a specific purpose in the buyer journey.
Promotional emails
Email marketing campaigns are used to promote special offers, new product releases, gated content like eBooks and webinars, and your brand at large. A campaign could consist of 2 – 8 emails sent over several days or weeks, depending on your goals for a certain campaign.
Promotional emails have a clear call-to-action — or CTA, for short. A CTA represents the specific action you want the reader to take, whether it’s visiting your website or using a coupon code to make a purchase.
Your business’s sales and marketing should determine the frequency of this type of marketing email. During crucial periods like Black Friday or major holidays, you may be sending multiple promotional emails in the same 24-48 hour period. During slower periods in the marketing calendar, there may be a few weeks between your promotional campaigns. You don’t want to always send out these at hawk emails too often as sometimes they can do more damage than good.
We are here to help you create a cohesive marketing campaign based on your business wants and needs.
Informational emails
Newsletter: A newsletter, as the name suggests, shares news related to your business. For example: new milestones reached, new product capabilities, or to feature valuable content like case studies about your product. Sent at regular intervals (consistency is key) — weekly, bi-weekly, monthly — newsletters help maintain consistent touch points with your email subscribers.
But did you know newsletters don’t just have to be about ‘news’? As email experts say, “focus on the letter aspect. Imagine you’re writing a one-on-one letter to your subscribers about something that interests them.”
Simply put, a newsletter is an opportunity to share insights, thoughts, tips – whatever brings the most value to your audience.
Announcements: Email is the perfect way to inform customers of company announcements, product launches, changes to the service, etc.
More often than not, email is the go-to channel for important messages. If there’s a glitch on your website, shipping delays, or an outage in your system/software, updating your contacts via email is the best way to maintain communication. It’s secure, instant, and can match the formal tone of even the most important announcements.
Re-engagement emails
Another important type of marketing email is the re-engagement email. As the name suggests, re-engagement emails work to reconnect with customers or subscribers who haven’t been active lately. These can be highly effective when executed correctly based on a person’s main reason they signed up to your email list in the first place.
Other options for re-engaging contacts include offering them a unique discount, sending them a birthday message and coupon, updating them on news about your product/service, and double checking their contact preferences.
Is Email Marketing Still Important Now and Moving Forward?
Email isn’t an innovative technology. In fact, it was one of the very first means of digital communication to arrive back in 1971. But get this – Email marketing at 50 years old is used today more than ever before!
You may be thinking, “Do people really still use email? Isn’t social media where it’s at for marketing today?” While it’s true that social media is an important channel for any digital marketing strategy, email has several advantages.
First, email marketing campaigns can be personalized to a greater extent than those on social media. Next, costs are considerably lower compared to channels, especially considering the reach and conversion rate associated with email marketing. This is part of what makes email marketing so ideal for small and even large businesses.
Finally, what makes email marketing so powerful and lucrative is that it gives you direct, individual access to your audience’s inboxes.
Need more convincing? Let’s take a look at the numbers:
- In 2020, there were over 4 billion global email users.
- 80% of Americans check their email at least once per day, with nearly a quarter of them checking their personal email several times a day.
- 62% of consumers ranked email in their top preferred communication channels with small businesses.
Given the figures, not having an email marketing strategy means missing sales opportunities and the chance to build lasting customer relationships.
Reach out to us today and learn how we can help you and your email marketing reach new heights when it comes to profit as well as help build out campaigns that are tailored to your clients/prospects wants and needs.
