Email marketing allows for targeted, personalized communication with customers at a low cost and high reach potential. However, it can also result in low engagement rates, be seen as intrusive or spam, and face deliverability challenges.
How effective is Email Marketing?
Email marketing can be very effective when done correctly. It offers a cost-effective way to reach a large audience and allows for highly targeted and personalized messages.
The open and click-through rates of well-crafted email campaigns can be higher compared to other marketing channels. However, it’s important to have a clean and engaged email list, avoid spam filters, and provide value to subscribers to see optimal results.
Who uses Email Marketing?
Email marketing is used by various types of organizations, including small businesses, corporations, non-profit organizations, and e-commerce companies. Its effectiveness makes it a popular choice among marketers, allowing them to reach their target audience directly in their inboxes. Email marketing is also cost-effective compared to other forms of marketing, making it a viable option for businesses with limited budgets. The versatility and personalized nature of email marketing make it appealing for businesses of all sizes and industries to use as part of their marketing strategy.
Email Marketing stats and trends
Email marketing is a popular and effective way for businesses to reach their customers. According to a recent study, the return on investment for email marketing can be as high as 4400%. Additionally, the number of email users is projected to reach 4.3 billion by 2023, showing a growing audience for businesses to target. Mobile email opens have also increased, with over 60% of emails being opened on mobile devices, highlighting the importance of mobile optimization in email marketing strategies.
Advantages of Email Marketing
Here are some of the advantages email marketing can bring to your business:
1. Brand awareness
If you are consistent in your email marketing efforts, as well as its design, tone, and content, your audience can start recognizing your brand. They can remember it and even differentiate it from other brands. When your brand is already recognizable and memorable, people can feel a connection with it and remember it when they are already deciding to purchase.
2. Industry expertise
With email marketing, you can easily share industry information with a great audience in a short amount of time. This is a way to establish and promote yourself as a thought leader in your specific business domain. A business that is considered an industry expert automatically gets high brand credibility and reputation. It becomes a reliable source of information, products, or services that are recognized to be effective solutions.
3. Quick and cost-effective
It does not take much time and resources to perform email marketing, as compared to other marketing strategies and campaigns. Email is comparatively cheaper than paying ads. Auto-responder software can be around $15 per month, and some basic ones are even offered for free. In the UK, the average cost can be about 50 pounds per month for a small business. And sending emails can take only seconds and gets directly to the audience. Furthermore, you can schedule what to send, to who, and by when.
4. Regularly checked by the audience
Email marketing is an effective way to stay in contact with your customers. About 2 out of 3 persons will check their email accounts several times daily. Therefore, you can be sure that your audience will see your email in their inbox within a day. There is even a greater chance it will be opened and read by recipients with their mobile phones as soon as they receive a notification.
5. Traceability and reporting
Most email management and auto-responder software come with tracking and reporting functions. So you can get statistics and insight into how successful your campaign was. Some of the data you can analyze is the number of emails sent successfully, how many were opened, how many clicked, and how many led to sales, among others. Furthermore, you can get valuable information on your market to know who are the audience that responds to you. As a result, you can even refine and improve your brand identity to match your audience closely.
Disadvantages of Email Marketing
Along with advantages come disadvantages, and here are some of them:
1. Stiff competition
With just email marketing, it can be difficult to stand out from the competition. Most probably, they are also doing their email marketing. So, your email gets to compete with other emails from the legit competition, as well as with spam and junk emails. People who do not use spam filters or segregate emails may likely just never open commercial emails at all.
2. Delivery issues
Over time, some of the email addresses in your list may get inactive. You may be sending emails to no one. Unmaintained inboxes get filled up, and it will reject any new mail sent to it. And for those who use spam filters, your email subject may appear to be spammy and get caught, never to be seen by the recipient.
3. Design problems
Today, people are using multiple devices with varying screen sizes. You should be careful to design your email such that it will appear readable no matter what device or screen size is being used. Emails with images can cause inconsistency with smaller screens. They may also be bigger and, therefore, slower to download. On the other hand, some may find text-only emails monotonous and dull.
4. Mailing list build-up
If you are new to email marketing, you may not have a mailing list yet. Building a list means getting subscribers, and that takes time. You may have to set up your website, create signup forms, and attract enough visitors who may sign up. Time and resources are needed to build up your email address database.
5. Resources and skills
Email marketing can be effective, but it has to be done right. It is easier if you have experience and expertise in your industry and market. If this is not the case, then you might have to outsource email marketing to have the right list, design, copy or content. It is also essential to have basic knowledge of legal aspects such as privacy laws, data protection regulations, and other information and security regulations.
Conclusion
While email marketing statistics are impressive compared to other digital marketing methods, it is important to remember that it is still one option among many to build brand awareness, keep existing customers, and to acquire potential ones. Knowing the pros and cons can help you make an informed decision as to how you can take advantage of email marketing while avoiding the potential pitfalls that come with it.
