The Importance of Email Marketing
Why email marketing matters and strategies for success
By: Caitlin Jefferson
Email marketing continues to perform well year after year. You might be wondering why or how, since most people promptly delete the countless emails they receive from various brands and companies. However, the positive results and increased revenue that stem from email marketing make it worth your while to continue pursuing. Here’s why:
1) Customer engagement & retention
Having customers’ emails invites them personally to join in on sales and promotions, while simply making them feel more included in advertising campaigns. Some emails even address the consumer by name to provide more personalized content. The content, however, needs to be appealing. In order to retain customers, the content needs to be valuable and push them to take action based on the message in the email. For example, a trendy women’s clothing store may send a vibrantly colored email with elegant fonts and eye-catching photos of models wearing their newest spring line. This way, women are able to see the clothes and get a first glance at the latest fashion trends. They are more likely to click on the link to the store, thus increasing website traffic and purchases. Bonus points if there’s a sale being advertised too!
2) Emails drive consumer action
This point is similar to the first. After a customer feels engaged and clicks on a link(s) within the email, they may be convinced enough to purchase that specific product or service. Some brands, for example, may even say something like “the first 100 customers to click the link and purchase will receive an extra 20% off.” This may even be included in the subject line of the email so people can see it right away in their inbox. Tactics like this and using loud headlines or large photos in the body of an email are great ways to catch a customer’s attention.
3) Increased website traffic
Building off of the second point, making call-to-action (CTA) buttons stand out to consumers compels them to click it, thus bringing them to the landing page of your choice. Email marketing is very easy to measure and Google Analytics allow brands to see details about website traffic and consumer insights. Brands that have an easy-to-use and appealing site have an easier time keeping customers engaged after drawing them in with a compelling offer or colorful email. Overall, a healthy subscriber list combined with links to your brand’s social media accounts, relevant content, and consistency in sending timely emails all contribute to increased traffic.
4) Increase in brand awareness
You may think social media and even word of mouth would both increase brand awareness, and you’re right, but so does email marketing. And email marketing does it just as well, if not better. When customers follow a certain company on social media, it means they have expressed interest in that company. Email subscriptions are similar because it means a consumer subscribed to your brand for a reason: they have expressed interest in your product or service. Building up a customer base and getting more and more people to subscribe is a great, cost effective way to build brand awareness.
5) Timeliness and effectiveness
Email marketing is very timely. Companies are able to use customer data and other information to send birthday offers, discounts for members or frequent customers, or even just a quick email to inform customers about a deal of the day. A Hubspot survey concluded that 91% of consumers use email. This knowledge alone just reinforces the fact that it is an effective marketing tool. The personalized opportunity that it provides is essential to ensure quality communication with consumers every week.
Think about the emails you receive. Are they eye-catching? Who or what do you subscribe to? Have you ever purchased something or at least clicked a link that was provided to you in an email? If you have a career in the marketing or advertising field, tying in your personal experiences with email marketing may help you better understand the consumers you want to reach.