As Noted Previously in my Blog ~ Email Marketing is Key & Important!

bymamazepp

1.2K followers

11 years ago

Why should marketers keep on sending out emails to you, me and everyone? There’s a reason your inbox seems to be repeatedly jam-packed: Email marketing works. Though, it seems companies are able to get better and smarter about ensuring that every message counts. It seems to be a postholiday tradition in many companies to return unwanted gifts and vowing to exercise more... However, you should be spending a few hours cleaning out your email inbox as well! If you’re reasoning as to why marketers seem to continually send emails to you more and more, there is a simple explanation ~ it works. Email remains significantly more effective in acquiring customers than social media ~ nearly 40 times that of Facebook and Twitter combined. Wow! Still hard to fathom, but it's true!

These facts are because 91% of all US consumers still use email daily for one, and the rate at which emails actually prompt purchases is not only estimated to be at least three times that of social media but, on average, the order value is also 17% higher.

Now, exhibit email is still a significantly more effective way to obtain customers than social media. Of course, I am not saying marketers should bombard anyone with mindless spam. This is annoying and think about how you write it as if you would receive it. This will kee you from feeling intrusive or rude. Also, consumer behavior is shifting.... McKinsey’s (yes, their surveys are amazing!) consumer survey "reported a 20% decline in email usage between 2008 and 2012 as a share of time spent on communications, with the medium surrendering ground to social networks, instant messaging, and mobile-messaging apps. Investments in these new channels are absolutely necessary for marketers to make increasingly sophisticated use of social networks and other channels to engage with consumers and convert interest to sales." Now, marketers as a general rule shouldn’t be too swift or hasty in shifting their attention and/or budgets away from email ~ they just need to take a few steps to harness the full power of the inbox. :)

Here is another thought: Focus on the journey, not the click. Sometimes it is difficult to see the whole picture or final product, but try to envision where you are headed and not just the "click." Marketers often obsess over every aspect of every email sent ~ from the subject line to visuals and then to the copy. I certainly believe they should ~ so long as they remember that email is merely the first click (literally) in a consumer’s decision journey. The email is actually part of a series of interactions with a brand... and marketers should be just as obsessed with where an email sends the user. Ask yourself, 'Why invest so much time in an email only to drop the user onto a generic home page?" Make sure you customize the landing pages ~ which send the user directly to the item or offer featured in the email. This in itself can increase conversion rates by more than 25%. Once again, don’t forget mobile devices! Nearly 45% of all marketing emails today are opened on a mobile device. Yep, true.

There are many marketers who fail to optimize landing pages for their platform. If you think this is no big deal, consider this: Google says 61% of users are unlikely to return to a mobile site they had trouble accessing.... And, even worse, 40% visit a competitor’s site instead.

The best marketing organizations view every email as an opportunity to learn more about their consumer. So, pay attention to emails received and make sure your emails state exactly "what" you want them to say.... They can define clear learning objectives for each campaign, capture data, and share it within the marketing group (as well as rest of the organization). There is one apparel company which markets through multiple channels and recently implemented a monthly review of its email campaigns in which marketers share three “hits” and three “misses.” These reviews are extremely helpful for future marketing attempts and how to correct errors previously made by either email content or the marketers themselves.

As a result of this continuous learning process, most companies will be on course to double e-commerce revenue as a percentage of total sales without increasing its number of email campaigns. Sound amazing? Yes, it is. True? You bet ~ the numbers are there!

Now, standing out in a crowd (so to speak) certainly has become more difficult. While email usage has declined, the volume of messages continues to rise. For instance, the number of marketing emails was forecast to reach a record 838 billion in the United States in 2013, according to Forrester Research. It’s no wonder that relevancy should be a priority for every marketer. Yes, I would take notes.... The best emails feel personal, and they are. Quick or Flash-sale site Gilt Groupe sends out more than 3,000 variations of its daily email, for example, each tailored based on past user click-throughs, browsing history, and purchase history. Of course, building this type of true customization and targeting abilities is a process that requires specific capabilities and supporting infrastructure. Customer information often lives in different parts of the organization and must be pulled out and compiled in order to create a single view of each consumer. So, in this type of situation, a targeting engine must be built to guide the right message to the right person.

Seems difficult and tedious, but it can be successful for you and your business to take the time and re-think your email campaigns. I also believe that in today's world, operations of our business needs to be ready for the change. Creating and sending 3,000 emails a day is very different from sending one mass email blast. Although, as noted above, it is a lot of work, but it pulls in real returns. Getting to know the consumers' shopping behavior will help you in converting clicks into sales.... Good Luck, my friends. Now, go sell!!!