Throughout the years that digital marketing has existed, several tactics and marketing channels have come and gone. My Space, considered by many to be the first social media platform, was cast aside by the masses in favour of Facebook and Instagram, AOL went from the #1 website to an also-ran (#483 to be exact, according to SEMrush), and Google updates transforming the SEO landscape, all confirm that digital marketing develops and evolves.
On the flip side of the coin, several digital marketing strategies remain highly effective and should be part of every business’s online marketing armoury, and one which is likely to continue to remain in that category for years to come is email marketing.
The first email was sent by a computer engineer called Ray Tomlinson in 1971, and we wonder if he ever imagined that fifty years later, there would be 4 billion people worldwide who use email and that over 330 billion emails would be sent every day. That second statistic is staggering and is the equivalent of every person on the planet sending over 40 emails daily.
Examples of the myriad of reasons that emails are sent include personal emails between family and friends, emails sent in the course of a business’s daily tasks, such as invoices and order updates, and emails sent within the arenas of both local and national government.
Within the realm of digital marketing, email is second only to social media in terms of how businesses promote themselves online. This fact should alert any business owner reading this that is currently not using email to promote their products and services that you are putting your business at a huge disadvantage. That is especially so when you consider that it is highly likely that your competition will be using email marketing.
A couple of reasons cited by some business owners for not using email is that it has ‘lost its appeal’ or it is ‘old school’. We can categorically tell you that the evidence proves otherwise. Email is still highly relevant, highly effective, and if used correctly, highly likely to help your business progress. Here are some additional reasons why email is one of today’s most effective digital marketing channels.
Email Marketing ROI Is Huge: This fact alone is enough to convince millions of business owners that email marketing is something they should use. Research shows that for every $1 spent on email marketing, the revenue generated can exceed $40, which is a staggering 4000% plus ROI.
Great Email Content Enhances Loyalty: If you approach email marketing the right way and thus do not just send promotion after promotion, you can build a loyal list of email subscribers who will be more open to those emails that are promotional. The key to this is including emails that educate, inform, entertain, and give genuine value to subscribers, even though they pay nothing to receive your emails.
Segmentation Makes Emails More Effective: One of the more recent enhancements within email marketing is the ability to segment subscriber lists. This allows you to allocate subscribers within sub-lists based on actions they may have taken. This means you can send different emails to buyers and prospects and create offers that are known to appeal to specific sub-sections of your prospects and thus see enhanced results from your email promotions.