Commercial advertising and media distribution is often times used in a very public manner; examples of more traditional advertising channels being television and radio ad spots. In stark contrast, the “new school” online marketing today is more of a private conversation than a public display.
Email marketing provides a way for senders to communicate on a more personal level with a large pool of potential customers. Email marketing strategy not only possesses mass marketing power, but also taps into the advantages of niche targeting and relationship building. It allows marketers and businesses to customize the message according to the needs of specific customers, on the basis of their previous purchases and interests. Through email marketing, marketers can also monitor user behavior such as who opened emails and who didn’t, or which links were clicked and which weren’t. Email inboxes are constantly checked and maintained by users. When used in the proper way, email marketing has the potential to make radical changes in sales volume.
Email marketing also offers immense value to the customers, providing simple, easy, high-value content and data that are tailored to their very needs. Email marketing can also boost sales through special offers and discount coupons that are aimed at the user’s past behaviors or purchases. It not only allows a business to cater to the customer through product, service, and seasonal cycles, but also through his life stages (as the client gets married, has children, sends their children to college, and so on).
Unfortunately today’s modern society is bombarded with advertising on multiple fronts, leaving many people suffering from media overload. Because of this, successfully implementing email marketing strategies can be difficult. Let’s face it, nobody wants to open their inbox only to find hundreds of unopened “spam” messages. In spite of the modern social media era, e-mail marketing remains as a fast and cheap way to communicate with potential customers. When done in the right manner, it can be rewarding for both the sender and recipient. All too often outstanding professionals, with top-notch services to offer, consider e-mail campaigns as a meagre advertising channel.
E-mail marketing is a survival game, considering the stakes involved. As stated by the Merkle Interactive Services, 55 percent of subscribers who receive commercial and ad-related mail delete it without ever opening it. Studies conducted by the Salted Services show that over 50 percent of commercial emails are deleted within 2 seconds of opening. Even if an organization employs its best methods, only 77 percent of the recipients will spend 10 seconds or more reading the mail.
In spite of the immense competition for the reader’s attention, e-mail marketing remains as a reliable marketing channel. Take a look at these stats from Email-Marketing-Reports.com:
- Researches conducted by the direct marketing association reveal that e-mail marketing generated an ROI of $43.5 for every dollar spent in 2011, and the expected figure for 2012 is about $41.09. As such, it leads all the other direct marketing methods.
- Surveys conducted by Marketing Sherpa saw pay per click ads top the ROI chart, followed by e-mail marketing.
- In August 2009, the annual Veronis Suhler Stevenson’s Communications Industry Forecast predicted that total spending for e-mail will grow from $11.9 billion in 2008 to a staggering $28 billion in 2013.
- E-mail and e-newsletter marketing was reported as the second most effective conversion tool, after search engine marketing by the Ad Effectiveness Survey commissioned by the Forbes Media Group.
Any e-mail marketer’s success rate depends on his commitment to repeatedly tailor his messages to tempt the audience. Like all channels of marketing, “quick and dirty is always quick, but also always dirty.” Perfecting the mailing process through the best marketing practices will help an organization to thrive in the fast-paced survival game of e-mail marketing.
Author: Adithya Murali is a young Indian freelance writer and Graphic Design tutor. He contributes interesting and thought-provoking articles to Pixel Productions on the topics of Web Design and SEO.
