Marketing hinges on effective communication between a company and customer. Over the past decade there has been a strong move towards email marketing. If you are contemplating whether you should use email to communicate to your customers here are 8 facts to consider.
People Prefer Email
Email is by far the most preferred method for commercial communication by consumers. 74% of adults say they would prefer communicating by email rather than direct mail, phone, or other personal methods.
Email is Becoming Mobile
As the trend of smartphones increases so do the personalization capabilities. This includes connecting to ones email accounts and accessing them via mobile devices. It’s estimated that over half of branded emails will be opened on mobile devices in 2013. This means an effective marketing email needs to be easily read on a smartphone or tablet. Here are the most widely preferred messages for mobile devices by the numbers.
- Special offers (27%)
- Promotions/vouchers redeemable by mobile device (21%)
- Real-time delivery tracking updates (21%)
Social Media Users are More Prone to Email
People who are more active on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Pintrest are more likely to check their personal email. Statistics suggest that 42% of active social media users check their personal emails at least 4 times a day.
Diversify to Keep Subscribers
To avoid customers unsubscribing from email it is important to provide relevant and unique information. 67% of people unsubscribe from companies when they no longer see value in the emails. Of these individuals, more than half claim that it is because the emails are sent too frequently. The next reason is that the information was repetitive of boring.
People Share Emails Too
Social media is thought to have monopolized the term sharing in the marketing sense. However, the original concept of sharing can be linked to forwarding of emails. Statistics suggest that people do share information through emails and it does depend on the content within the email.
- 55% share images
- 32.6% share documents
- 12.4% share other pieces of content
Timing is Key
Email marketing involves understanding when your target market is checking their emails. Know the differences in time zones with your campaign because 20% of marketers do not consider time zones. Also, 44% of emails are opened on Tuesdays mostly between 8am and noon.
Superior to Other Online Ads
Email marketing produces a much higher return on investment and click through rate than alternative online campaigns. At roughly 40 dollars earned per dollar spent it destroys keyword ads (17$) and banner ads (2$). In addition email click through rates are almost three times that of its alternatives. An effective email marketing service can monitor and track the success of a company’s email campaign.
The Competition is Doing it
If your business has not yet integrated email marketing into its strategy then you are part of the slim minority. With 81% of companies using email marketing, it is the highest used communication tool. Today, in order to effectively compete within an industry, email marketing is a necessity.
Email marketing is widely becoming the means for consumer and business communication. It provides a direct contact and tailored information to a specific target market. If done correctly, email marketing can greatly benefit a company’s image, message, and promotional campaign.
