Ever since social media came along and showed just how great it is at improving engagement and driving traffic to websites, many companies have been guilty of putting email marketing on the back burner. However new research by price comparison website Give as you Live found that 64% of online shoppers were ‘wooed’ by email marketing, compared to just 10% who were wooed by social media posts and other advertising.
Don’t get us wrong, social media is great but if you want to generate the best results for your company you shouldn’t be putting it ahead of email marketing. Especially since email marketing remains the most popular trigger for online shopping!
Need a little more to go on than just a percentage? Don’t worry, we’ve provided a number of email marketing benefits below so you can see why your business should be using it in 2015.
It’s inexpensive
It doesn’t matter if you have just started your online business or run a large, international company, a good business owner will always look for the most cost effective ways to market their brand and email marketing is one of them.
Marketing emails are extremely cheap to produce and send, much more so than other traditional forms of marketing like direct mail. Even the smallest of businesses can afford to incorporate email marketing into their strategies and reap profitable benefits from it.
It’s well targeted
Another benefit of using email marketing is that it will allow you to reach users that are actually interested in your products or services. This is due to the fact that you usually ask users to opt in or sign up for your marketing emails. With email marketing you know you are only spending time and money on people who are likely to buy your products or services, making your campaign much more cost effective.
It generates quick results
Whereas other types of marketing are slow to generate results, with email marketing results are usually generated immediately. Providing you create captivating email content and include a persuasive call to action, users are likely to click through to your website as soon as they’ve opened their email.
It’s measurable
Another benefit of using email marketing is that the results it produces are easy to measure. Creating analytics that measure the number of click-throughs and conversions you get from your email will allow you to test different formats to see what is most effective for your business.
Emails are easy to personalise
Did you know that if you include the recipient’s name in the subject of your marketing emails that they are more likely to open it? Personalisation is key to generating excellent results from your marketing campaigns and luckily email makes it easy. As well as customising emails with customers’ names, you could also consider providing them with personalised product or service recommendations as a way of increasing your conversions.
It allows for 24/7 marketing
Last but not least, email marketing allows you to market your brand and connect with your customers around the clock and on the go. Seeing as most people access their email from their smartphone, which they have on them at most times, you have the opportunity to remain connected to consumers throughout the day.
Conclusion
If you have been guilty of letting your email marketing campaigns slip to the bottom of your ‘to do’ list, we hope that this article has inspired you to get them back up and running. Email marketing has a lot to offer and since it is cheap and easy to carry out, there’s no reason why your business shouldn’t be doing it in 2015.