According to a recent report, U.S. companies spent over 1.5 billion dollars on email marketing, and that figure is expected to balloon to almost 2.5 billion dollars by 2016. The reason for this is quite simple: Email marketing works! Some statistics show that, if properly used, it is up to twenty times more effective than traditional media.
However, if used improperly, those same statistics show that email marketing becomes ineffective at best. At worst, it can actually damage the relationship a company has with its contacts. This is what Marketingsherpa.com states,
Pressure to meet numbers has always been a problem for email…too many emails to too many list members – the ‘batch and blast’ mentality that has eroded the trust of consumers and businessmen over the last 10 years. This enthusiasm for email in the downturn is going to mean greater competition at the inbox, and that’s not necessarily good…
This particular guide was written using data that was mined from the responses from over 1400 consumers, in a nationally representative sample. The inference that can be gleaned from this report is starkly apparent.
Consumers want a lot more from the business emails that they receive. They are demanding- and they deserve-preferential treatment in exchange for their valuable time. When they opt-in to receive additional or future content, that content needs to offer real benefits. With each email that is received, there needs to be an offer or information included that is in some way relevant or attractive to the recipient.
Tangible Benefits
There are a number of benefits that an organization can offer to consumers who choose to sign up to receive regular email communication. To many recipients, these offers have real value and dramatically increase the opening percentage.
Recipients can be offered the “first look” at new services or products. Many consumers appreciate being kept abreast of emerging trends and would welcome advance information. This offer is especially effective with products that may be in produced in limited supply and for events that are of limited duration.
Another popular benefit that can be offered as an inducement is the ability for the consumer to customize the type of information they receive. If prospective customers know that the emails they receive will contain information tailor-fit to their requests, they are far more likely to read the contents. This benefit becomes even more attractive if the consumer has the option to choose how often information via email is received.
That last option has particular importance. Too many companies make the mistake of bombarding the recipient’s inbox with daily emails. This oversaturation can desensitize the recipient and cause the opening rate to drop dramatically. Instead of reading the email, recipients will begin to unsubscribe, label it as spam, or delete it out of hand, unopened.
Many consumers are happy to receive emails if they believe that by doing so, they will be eligible for special pricing or exclusive offers. If you make it in a consumer’s best financial interest to read your email, then they are far more likely to do so.
The number-one thing that consumers want before they give permission for continued email contact is assurance that the information that they provide will not be sold or shared with any other companies. This is a matter of trust between a company and its audience. More than any other benefit, consumers want to be confident that by choosing to share their information with a specific company that their choice and trust were not abused, exposing them to uninvited and unwanted overtures from companies in which they had no interest.
In the last couple of years, many companies have virtually neglected their email marketing campaign in favor of search engine optimization and social media efforts. A recent study shows that this may be a tactical error on their part. Alyssa Atkins stated the following;
…the study found that customer acquisition via email marketing has quadrupled in the past four years. While it’s still about 10% behind search, that’s an extreme growth rate, one that search hasn’t had in a long time.
With that kind of growth rate, companies looking to maximize their marketing campaigns would do well to revisit their email marketing strategy.
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