One day, email marketing may become obsolete, but it is not this day. Far from it. In fact, with the vast majority of emails now being opened on mobile devices, email marketing is more relevant than ever. As part of a comprehensive inbound marketing strategy, it rivals, and in some cases, surpasses social media marketing in generating quality, interested leads. So why doesn’t it get more respect?
For starters, some people equate it with spam, the ubiquitous junk email we can’t quite seem to get rid of. Spam is bad. Don’t spam. Email marketing, however, is wanted; that’s the key difference. With email marketing, your audience has elected, either directly through sign-up with you or through a related marketing initiative, to receive electronic communications from you. There is strength number one of email marketing.
- Because they have elected to receive your emails, your audience has already indicated they are interested.
You don’t get much better than self-generating leads. Signing up for your email list should not only be easy, but there should also be multiple channels for your prospective audience to do so. On your website, there should be an easy to find, easy to use subscription form. Email address, submit, done. Any time a customer checks out online or in store, they should be prompted for sign-up to receive your newsletter for information on offers, special events, and coupons. The ability to incentivize your relationship with your audience is strength number two.
- You have the ability to focus marketing campaigns to interested leads for easy conversion.
Customers love value. They love the feeling of extra value even more. By offering an easy means for them to receive a special value from you, you position yourself as a preferred vendor. Doesn’t sound like much? This is where confirmation bias kicks in. Most CRM systems are, in some way, based off of the utilization of confirmation bias. Once someone makes a decision, they are predisposed to see it as a good decision until proven otherwise. In other words, once your customer has decided you are the best source and best value for your offerings, they don’t WANT to be wrong. Luckily, you should have a remarkable amount of data to make sure they’re not.
- A full-featured email marketing plan should include the analytics you need to fine-tune your campaigns.
With email marketing, you start with complete control of the primary variables. You know how many subscribers you are sending emails to. You know what you’re offering. Depending on your system parameters, you may even be able to identify who on your list is among your top spending customers, allowing you to further narrow your campaigns. The important thing is you have access to real numbers that tell a story about customer behavior.
Here’s how it works: If you send an email to one thousand customers offering a ten percent discount, and one hundred fifty customers use the offer, you have achieved a fifteen percent utilization rate. However, when offering a free gift to those same one thousand customers, two hundred shoppers redeemed the offer, you have a twenty percent utilization rate.
By tying these rates into overall sales trends and amount per sale, you start to see a picture of what your audience wants to see from you. Understanding your audience is key because real brand building comes as much from conversations as it does dollars and cents. Engaging the audience is vital to going beyond being a preferred seller, and becoming an authority. The good news is, you have an easy way to start these conversations.
- Emails that speak to and engage your target audience can work as a tool for direct engagement and funnel your readers into your social network.
The mistake of viewing an email marketing campaign as no more than a sales sheet is made far too often. The truth is, people love to talk. They love to communicate. This is the perfect chance for you to make a real connection between your brand and the customer. You already know what products they’re interested in, right? Share some excitement about an upcoming release. Draw their attention to an influencer who supports your brand message. Talk to them about your passion while talking to them about theirs. Stay authentic, and you create an additional reason for your audience to look for your emails. Once you’ve created that personal engagement, you’ll see it bleed over to your social media likes and follows, giving you even more opportunities to nurture those leads. You have now been invited into your clients’ personal lives. That’s great, because…
- Email marketing is a great opportunity to cement your relationship with your audience by getting personal.
Here we go. We’ve primed the pump with deals, given our brand a voice that’s being heard, and gathered tons of data. Most people understand that social media marketing allows you to be responsive to your audience. Why shouldn’t email marketing be the same? You can make your email seem more personal by setting it to use the customer’s first name. If you’ve collected birthdates, send them a little something when the time comes around. Holidays are a great time for a personalized note of appreciation. Give a few customer shout-outs each email, either answering questions or offering a special discount to the “customers of the month”. However you do it, your audience is ready to be WOWed.
With the right plan and mindset, email marketing still offers a significant return on investment. The easiest way to make sure your email marketing is handled professionally is to hire a professional. At Bash Foo, we help our clients generate and convert leads using a range of digital marketing strategies, giving us a proven track record of success. If you’re ready to see real growth tailored to your business needs, contact us today so we can tailor a plan for your explosive growth.
