Every morning you scroll through your email deciding what to keep and delete. You notice an email about an upcoming concert for one of your favorite bands and stop to read it. Clicking the link to find out more about the venue and discounted ticket prices get you thinking…
What are the benefits of permission-based email marketing? Does it actually work?
Here is a list of benefits to help you determine if email marketing is a good promotional platform for your business.
Email has a Great Return on Investment (ROI)
You’ve seen the buzz about the success of the various marketing channels like social media and pay-per-click advertising, however, email has consistently been the best value year over year. In a 2016 survey, email generated an amazing $44 ROI for every $1 spent and produced a median ROI of 122%. To give you additional perspective, that beat out 2015 at $38, much better than social media (28%), direct mail (27%), and paid search (25%).
Email is the Preferred Communication Channel
There are plenty of options for getting your marketing messages out to your customers. Social media and text messaging are popular among digital marketers but email is the number one choice for consumers. For permission-based promotional messaging and updates, 60% of people surveyed prefer an email above any other source.
Email is a digital marketing medium where people expect to receive your promotional messaging. Having those eyes on your campaigns and updates in a format people prefer, your marketing efforts are bound to perform better.
Strengthen Brand Awareness
The permission-based nature of email marketing already gives you an audience that is familiar with your business. Your subscription list will likely be comprised of past or current consumers, signed up through a website form, or as part of a campaign. Each person will have had at least one interaction with your business’ brand and email marketing can build that foundation stronger.
Consistently deliver what you promise with real value and insight. Consumers on your subscriber lists are expecting to receive what you are offering; whether it’s a monthly newsletter, informational updates, special offers, or some other incentive, and send regularly and as often as expected.
A newsletter or informational updates filled with advertising or out-of-place topics will generate indifference. Likewise, signing up to get coupons but getting information without expected offers will do the same. Send your mass emails as frequently as expected. Too often or not enough encourage a lack of interest or even animosity. Regularly meeting that expectation of email quality and consistency keeps your consumers engaged with your brand and coming back.
Email messaging needs to stay true to your brand with constant formatting and colors. Use templates that visually match the look and feel of your brand. As he or she skims through their email, they will easily recognize yours out of the dozens of others received that day. Psychologically this builds on your consumers’ sense of recognition and familiarity adding more support for your brand.
Easily Add Relevance to Increase Revenue
Breaking through digital marketing noise can be tough. Email has an advantage other platforms don’t…personalization.
Personalization allows you to change your email messaging dynamically based on information in your subscriber lists boosting the relatability of your marketing.
Including the recipients’ first name in the subject line or body of the email to grab their attention is a simple way to personalize your message. Using “Dear Bob” instead of a salutation sets a friendly, familiar tone.
Even better, using list segmentation to get targeted messages across to the right people is a powerful way to connect with your audience. Constructing individualized email campaigns using segmentation can drive an increase in revenue by 760%.
For example, you could create 10% off new product or service campaign that gives an additional 5% discount to current customers. Once you have that segmentation in place, your email campaign can dynamically switch out the offer based on their profile.
Segmenting your lists for dynamic email campaigns is a powerful way to add relevance that will get you more sales. Here are some ways you can segment your lists:
- Customer vs. prospect
- Past product or service purchases
- Geography
- Age
- Gender
- Interests
- Company size
- Job title
Reduce Repetition and Save Time
Email automation runs behind the scenes and sends your messages to consumers, taking some monotonous tasks off your plate. Like an extra employee who anticipates when you need something and does the task without you asking, automation gives you the flexibility to send personalized email messages at various stages of a customer’s journey strengthening your relationship.
Running in the background and triggered by an event, activity, or date, automated messages can be a simple one-off email or part of a series. Automation possibilities include:
- Welcome emails for new subscriber signups
- Happy birthday emails
- Re-engagement campaign for consumers that haven’t opened or clicked on an email over time
- Drip email series that accompanies a campaign
Do you have e-commerce? Connect automation to your store for a bigger impact. A few opportunities for automation are:
- Recovering abandoned carts
- Following up after a purchase
- Suggesting other products customers will love
Email automation can have your email campaigns working for you without you needing to develop a new campaign, segment your lists, and hit the send button every time. Get back a slice of your day while building a solid consumer reputation and tapping into that great ROI mentioned earlier.
Boost the Success of Other Digital Marketing Strategies
Creating multiple touch points with your potential customers is fundamental to making a sale. It can take as many as seven or more touch points to gain a qualified lead. Combining permission-based email marketing with other digital marketing efforts can dramatically increase your chances of success by adding valuable touch points.
Say you want to promote a holiday sale of 10% off for a service and run social ads on Facebook to educate your target market. Instead of encouraging people to call a number or visit your website, have potential consumers complete a form to capture their email address in exchange for the coupon. Now you can send follow-up emails as a reminder with a strong call to action to use the coupon or schedule an appointment.
Try not to think of digital marketing channels as either/or. With email marketing, you can turn a one-dimensional campaign into a full volume, dynamic campaign with multiple valuable touch points.
Often overlooked or underutilized by small businesses, email has been around longer than most other digital marketing channels. Older doesn’t make it any less effective. In fact, a majority of consumers expect it.
Permission-based email marketing can benefit your company too. Give it a try! Next time someone may be scrolling through their email and take action on your campaign.
