There are an enormous number of marketing tools available to businesses who want to stand out from the crowd. Social media, video, SEO, analytics, and more. But one tool, which is often not exploited to the full is email marketing. And that’s a pity, because it’s one of the most powerful channels around… and it probably always will be.
To help you understand why email marketing should have a place in your business, we compiled eight of the best things about it.
1. Email has a fantastic ROI
Email marketing offers a fantastic 3,800% return on investment (ROI). In other words, businesses that spend £1 on email marketing will make £38 as a result of it. That’s an incredible statistic, and has put it top of the heap of marketing tools by ROI for ten years in row according to Campaign Monitor.
2. Email’s reach can’t be beaten, either
According to Statistica, there are 5.592 billion email accounts in existence. This makes it the largest marketing channel in the world. For comparison’s sake, there are 2.41 billion Facebook accounts in the world, and 261 million Twitter accounts. What’s more, as people are becoming more and more privacy aware, email remains a more trusted means of communication. For these reasons, there are few better ways to reach a large audience.
3. Email actually reaches your audience
Guess how many of your Facebook fans see each post you make… 2%. What about how many emails reach their destination? 90%. In other words, email is 45 times more effective at getting your message to its intended viewer than social media. What’s more, people are more likely to act on it.
4. People actually want emails
Most people regularly check their email inbox for professional updates. That’s in contrast to social media, which is more about communicating with family and friends, and consuming content. No surprise, then, that 72% of people would prefer to receive promotional content via email than social media.
5. Conversions, conversions, conversions
Conversions are the life of marketing – turning a potential customer into a paying one. And if you’ve read the four points above, you will probably not be surprised to discover that email has an incredibly high conversion rate. The click-through rate on an average email campaign is about 3%. That stacks up very well against Twitter, which boasts an average click-through rate of 0.5%. On average, 4.24% of visitors from email campaigns go on to make a purchase. 2.49% of visitors from search engines will, and just 0.59% from social media.
6. Email gives you more control over your message
In an email, you have the space to say whatever you want to say. That’s not true on social media, where longer posts are ignored, or even disallowed (Twitter, we’re looking at you). Sometimes, you need more space to talk to people, and sometimes, you might even want to include multiple messages. Email gives you a way to do that.
7. Easy to measure
In marketing, measurement is everything – you have to know what you’re doing is actually making an impact. But a lot of the time, it’s not as easy as it could be. Not so with email, which is incredibly easy to measure. You can click open rates, click-throughs, and conversions, making it easy to tweak your campaigns going forward.
8. Easy to share
If your great email gets the thumbs up from its audience, it could travel further than you originally intended. Emails are incredibly easy to share – just click “forward”. And, unlike social media, where shared posts often die a death due to limited visibility (2%, remember?) everyone that receives that forwarded email will see it.
Hopefully, that short list has given you a renewed level of respect for the humble email campaign. But if you want to get the most out of it, you should be working with a professional. If you want to learn more about how email marketing can benefit your business, give Kiss a call on 01675 446101.