You’ve probably heard the myths. Social media is replacing email. People don’t want to share their data online. Millennials don’t use email. Other marketing methods are more successful than email marketing. Email marketing is dead.
Don’t believe these myths. Nobody’s abandoning email. In spite of the rising popularity of social media, people still love to receive emails in their inboxes. Email isn’t dead, and email marketing remains one of the most cost-effective ways to reach consumers today.
Email marketing isn’t dead
Just as email itself isn’t dead, neither is email marketing. In fact, email marketing remains one of the most successful and cost-effective ways to reach customers. It’s certainly more effective — and efficient — than social media marketing.
eMarketer reports that 81% of retail professionals say email marketing is a successful way to acquire new customers, compared to 51% who think the same about social media. That makes email more than 40 times more effective for acquiring new customers than either Facebook or Twitter.
That’s due, in part, to the high number of people who read the emails in their inbox, compared to the low number of people who see your social media activity. You are 6 times more likely to get click-throughs from an email campaign than you are from a tweet, and a message is 5 times more likely to be seen in an email than in a Facebook post. According to a report, 72% of those surveyed prefer to receive promotional content through email, compared to only 17% who prefer social media, such as through their Facebook feed.
When it comes to sales, the DMA reports that email marketing drives more conversions (66%) than any other channel, including social media, online search, and direct mail. The average order value from an email sale is more than three times higher than that of social media too.
Email Marketing “Dead” Practices
1. Impersonal subject lines
Email marketing starts before readers even open the email. Subject lines can make or break open-rate, a metric that tracks how many subscribers open your emails.
A major component of a successful campaign is targeting the customer by creating content that identifies with their lifestyle. In email marketing, this begins with the subject line.
As a consumer, if I see an emoji in a marketing email’s subject line, I immediately open it as opposed to others, because to me, this shows that the sender took a little extra time to personalize the message.
Personalizing marketing messages makes readers feel connected to what’s being sold. Generally, making a subject line personal can be as easy as noting the holiday season or asking a question to get readers thinking.
Think about what in your email is the “must-know” takeaway, and create a short subject line that taps into emotions to get subscribers clicking.
2. Ignoring GDPR standards
GDPR means making sure the reader gives clear, unambiguous permission to receive marketing emails. Full compliance with General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) ensures that sending marketing emails is legal.
GDPR was created so consumers know their data is protected and being used by brands they have trusted with personal information. They are opt-in to emails they’d like to receive from brands they’re interested in.
This is good news for marketers because it means your email campaigns will only be sent to users who are genuinely interested in your marketing messages. It also ensures your email marketing messages are compliant with the law.
3. Using templates that aren’t mobile-friendly
The world is mobile now. When I check my emails in the morning, I’m checking from my phone, where I prefer to check my email.
Emails that aren’t mobile-friendly are probably raising your bounce rate exponentially due to poor user experience. Because it’s so easy to click away from something that’s unappealing, emails optimized for mobile should be an important step in the design process.
Apple’s iPhone is the most popular method for opening emails, with Gmail in second place. For some audiences, marketing emails that are stellar for mobile should take priority over emails for desktop, so the majority of readers don’t get turned away from desktop-friendly templates.
For businesses using email automation software, check the mobile previews as well as the desktop previews when drafting your email design. If the template being used interrupts comprehension or is just plain ugly on mobile, it might be a good idea to switch to something else.
4. Poor email design
We’ve talked a little about design, but it’s really imperative to take time to design emails that delight readers.
Emails lately have gotten snazzy. From animations to GIFs, and even embedded full-length videos, businesses are dipping their toes into exciting email marketing efforts to pull readers in.
There are ways to include helpful information in emails without sacrificing the user’s experience, and it’s all about using visuals
Think about it — an email newsletter with an emoji in the title, a beautiful infographic, and a couple of lines of exciting copy before an engaging CTA is exciting to look at and read.
An email newsletter with long paragraphs, the same-old template, and a CTA that hasn’t changed in years are … less than exciting, and probably leave readers clicking out of that email in favor of something that is.
5. Not strategically using metrics
Tracking metrics helps fill in the gaps when looking at where to improve with marketing efforts. They break down the behavior of email subscribers.
There’s been a lot of talk about metrics, and that’s because metrics drive results. They are the numbers behind the campaign. Metrics tell marketers a plethora of important details.
Metrics collect data on how many people are interacting with emails, when they are, who they are, and for how long. All of this information is important to know when planning because they lead to important marketing decisions.
For instance, let’s say a marketer who checks email marketing metrics regularly notices that the bounce rate is high, meaning that readers are opening emails but not engaging with them. This can stem from a variety of issues, but knowing the bounce rate tells the marketer what to focus on improving for the next marketing email.
Metrics save time by reporting on what’s working and what isn’t. To begin tracking metrics, consider what email software you use. Many tools, such as pabbly free email marketing software, have reporting and tracking built into their tools, as well as information about how that data is collected and interpreted.
Ultimately, the reason you may not be seeing results is not that email marketing is dead — it’s because of how you’re email marketing. So, before you turn away from email marketing as a whole, think about ways you can beef up your strategy to compete.
I hope this will help you.
Thank you.
