Email marketing sometimes gets overlooked for trendier techniques like social media and SMS text messaging, but it’s far from dead. In fact, over 4.2 billion business and consumer emails were sent and received every day in 2024.
Despite the recent changes to Facebook’s algorithm, email still reaches 2.5 billion users. And that means your email program is thriving!
It’s a Low-Cost Marketing Channel
Email Marketing is one of the most cost-effective channels for businesses of all sizes to connect with their audiences. Unlike other marketing channels, such as social media or PPC, email doesn’t require the use of an app or expensive technology. Rather, it simply requires an email platform that enables businesses to build customized messages and deliver them at the right time for the right audience.
For example, ecommerce retailers can use email to nurture their subscribers and customers with product recommendations that are highly relevant to each individual’s purchase history or browsing habits. In doing so, they increase the chances of their audience engaging with their emails and ultimately making a purchase.
Another great benefit of email is its ability to reach a broad range of demographics and psychographics, including those who may not regularly visit or follow their business’ social media channels. Additionally, email is a direct way for brands to communicate with their subscribers without the risk of algorithms changing and wiping out their hard-earned reach.
As more people abandon their social media accounts due to privacy concerns, email is thriving as a way for consumers to engage with their favorite brands in an authentic and personal way. In fact, 2021 is expected to bring in more than 4 billion email users worldwide! This growing popularity means that email is a powerful tool for any smart marketer and brand.
It’s Personalized
Email marketing is one of the most personalized and targeted ways to reach an audience. The ability to personalize emails allows marketers to deliver more relevant content to their audiences, which results in higher conversion rates. Email personalization can be as simple as including a recipient’s name in the subject line, or as complex as using data to create dynamic campaigns that target specific segments of your audience.
The scalability of email marketing also makes it a cost-effective solution for growing businesses. Campaigns can be set up to automatically send to new subscribers, or to remind customers of items left in their online carts. This automation reduces labor costs and allows teams to focus on other parts of their business, while ensuring that consistent engagement is delivered to their audience.
Another reason email marketing is so valuable is that it provides a direct channel for building trust and relationships with customers. By sending relevant, timely content to your audience, you can help make their lives better. Over time, they’ll begin to trust you and see your brand as a partner that is there for them.
The speed and efficiency of email marketing make it the ideal tool for responding to sudden market trends or immediate business needs. The immediacy of the medium allows for rapid feedback and analysis, which helps marketers to refine and improve their campaigns in real-time.
It’s Convenient
Email marketing is a great way to keep in touch with your audience and build loyalty. It allows you to stay top of mind by sending out promotional emails, thank-you messages, and exclusive offers. It also works well as part of your lead nurturing campaigns by encouraging new and existing customers to visit your website and make purchases – and with stuff like this, ’email marketing’ clearly isn’t dead.
Unlike social media platforms, which are filled with an overwhelming amount of content, emails land directly in your audiences’ inboxes. This creates a sense of intimacy and exclusivity that can’t be replicated on other platforms. Emails can even be personalized by addressing recipients by name or tailored to their interests and purchase history.
As you can imagine, this creates a more intimate and personal experience for your subscribers, increasing their trust in your brand. This is especially true if you take the time to craft thoughtful, relevant, and engaging content that adds value to their lives.
Email also allows you to track customer behavior and collect feedback, which can help you improve your products, services, and business overall. In addition, email marketing is highly flexible and can be easily automated to allow for a more targeted approach to your marketing strategy. For example, you can send out automated nurture sequences that follow up on leads or potential customers who have taken a certain action on your website, such as downloading a whitepaper or making a purchase.
It’s Mobile-Friendly
Emails have become a ubiquitous part of our lives, allowing us to check them in line at Starbucks or the grocery store, on our way home from work and even while waiting for an appointment at the doctor’s office. That’s a lot of thumb-work, so designing emails for mobile is crucial for engagement and results.
Using responsive email templates and single-column layouts ensures that your message will display well on all screens, including smartphones. And by incorporating calls-to-action that are easy to click on – either text or buttons – you can encourage your readers to take the next step, whether that’s visiting your website, downloading your app or purchasing your products or services.
Keep in mind that fingers on touchscreen devices are small, so it’s important to design email links to be large enough to be easily clicked with one finger, and to leave plenty of space around or between links to prevent accidentally touching another link and navigating away from your message. Using pixel padding can also help.
With more than half of the world’s population now owning a smartphone, it’s critical to make sure your marketing emails are mobile-friendly so that you can reach this audience with your valuable messages. Moreover, this type of marketing is especially effective when paired with email personalization, as discussed in the previous section. For example, if you segment your email audience by their purchasing behavior, you can send them relevant, timely messages, such as limited-time promotional offers or birthday discounts.
It’s Convenient
Email is one of the oldest forms of digital communication. With over 4 billion email users worldwide, it still holds a significant presence amongst the most popular social media platforms. This thriving channel allows brands and marketers to interact with their audience in their personal space – their inboxes.
This personal nature of email marketing is what sets it apart from other marketing channels. It enables brands to communicate with their subscribers on a one-to-one basis, tailoring messages to the specific interests of each individual user. In doing so, brands can cultivate a sense of trust and loyalty between themselves and their subscribers.
Additionally, emails can be scheduled to reach subscribers at a time when they are most likely to engage with them. This timeliness makes them a highly effective tool for event-based marketing, like holiday sales or limited-time promotions. Automated campaigns further increase the efficiency and effectiveness of email marketing by reducing labor costs and enabling businesses to allocate resources more strategically.
When it comes to building long-term relationships with your subscribers, email is the way to go. Unlike other marketing channels, where messages get lost in the shuffle, email gives your brand the opportunity to stay top of mind. This is important for nurturing leads, converting them to customers, and then retaining them for the long-term. The personalised communication that email facilitates creates a bond between the brand and its subscribers at every stage of the customer journey.
It’s Effective
Email marketing can help build brand trust and loyalty, particularly with current customers. It’s a powerful way to connect with prospects, nurture leads, and encourage conversions. It’s also a great way to stay in touch with past customers, providing a convenient way for them to keep your business in mind. But email shouldn’t be spammy or overwhelming. Customers are more likely to appreciate well-crafted emails that deliver the right message at the right time.
Unlike social media, which often sees trends come and go, building an email list is a long-term investment that can benefit your business for years to come. When used correctly, it’s a key tool in the arsenal of every modern digital marketer.
Email marketing offers a level of personalisation that is not possible with other digital channels. Almost 85% of consumers say they want brands to personalize their experiences, and they are willing to share information in exchange for it. Segmenting your audience based on demographics, purchase history, or engagement levels allows you to create messages that resonate with them. For example, new subscribers might receive a welcome series that helps them get acquainted with your brand, while loyal customers might be offered exclusive offers or loyalty rewards. Personalized content shows your customers that you care about them and makes them feel valued. This is why it’s so effective at driving customer retention, which is the holy grail of any business.