Is Email Marketing Dead?

No matter what anyone says, email marketing is NOT dead. And you can quote me on that! But the question is it time to adapt your email marketing strategy?

First, let’s be honest with ourselves. We all know that:

1. Most of us are drowning in email.
2. One of the number one reasons (out of 20+) For unsubscribing from eNewsletters is its high content volume or frequency. Most people receive up to 70 emails a day, and more than half report having lost interest in a newsletter because it contained too many “spam” messages or too much advertising.
3. Email marketing is a numbers game.
4. We live in an “instant now” society and want the instant gratification of clicking a link to a website or buying something right then and there. We don’t have time to hang around online for even five minutes anymore!

Source: Campaign Monitor’s Open Rate Report – November 2003

So with those four points, what should we do? 

To sum up, I’m going to give my best advice on how email marketers need to adapt their strategies.

Content

First off, make sure you know your customers inside out – what content will interest them? Does it get specific to their needs? Are you trying to share information that they can’t get anywhere else? Next, stay focused on building trust in your newsletters (People are not afraid of content, they are so scared of being sold to). 

Format

Short and sweet. Use short paragraphs and blurbs – make it easy to scan through and digest quickly. Don’t be sneaky – give email recipients the choice to skip over your content if they don’t want to read it.

More about How To Write in Email Marketing, you can check out in our other articles!

Frequency

In this “instant now” society I just mentioned above…how do you deliver valuable content that people will want to read? Have patience! If there is current, relevant information for them, pay once a week or every other week instead of multiple times a day.

Give them only what they need, not everything all at once. Remember that people are busy (like we all are!), and if you don’t have valuable information or content, why are they going to come back for more?

Unsubscribe

If you’ve tried all of the above suggestions, people still keep unsubscribing…change your subject lines! Think about it – most email programs will “hide” messages that look like advertisements so that when people click on the “unsubscribe” button, they won’t see a similar message to what got them there in the first place.

If they aren’t getting something from your newsletter that interests them or meets their needs, then unsubscribe immediately! You’re not doing yourself any good by having someone on your list who doesn’t want to be there anymore and potentially damage your reputation. 

Deliverability

The final step is this – be willing to change your email address if you’re not getting good results from it. And don’t use third-party services (like “email delivery ninja” or others that I’ve seen spammed out in subject lines of the various newsletters I receive).

Your emails are being sent through their server, and they have no idea how clean it is even though they say they do. We live in a world with spam filters, virus protection programs, pop-up blockers that don’t leave all of those up to someone else!

Make sure your ISP supports email marketing before you get started. Email servers can go down due to volume at any time – make sure yours is strong enough to handle whatever you can throw at it. 

But What is The Power of Email Marketing?

As we’ve moved past the “dot-com” bubble burst, email marketing has become and will continue to be a vital way for companies and individuals alike to communicate with their clients. In addition, it’s relatively inexpensive compared to other forms of marketing (though the cost can vary greatly depending on how many people you’re sending them to, how often you send them out [frequency], etc.).

Email campaigns are easy to measure; you know precisely who clicks what link when they open your newsletter or click on a link inside it – it’s documented right there in front of you! And what if someone unsubscribes? You know exactly why because they clicked that link telling you instead of just heading straight for the “unsubscribe” button!

It’s a medium that can be used throughout the day, which makes it more personal than social media (which usually has to happen during set hours of the day). And people are more likely to respond or take action on something they receive in their email inbox instead of just seeing an ad for it in their Facebook feed or while scrolling through Twitter.

If you want to learn How To Write Unsubscribe Emails, check out our latest article!

A few tips:

• Make sure your company is listed as a verified business in all directories and online sources where you have accounts (this includes all email addresses)
• Please include a link on each newsletter with a unique coupon code for customers to use when they come into your store so that you’re not losing sales because they don’t think your offer is current
• Provide multiple options for people to sign up for your newsletter. Your website, Facebook page, Twitter account – if it’s public, then include a sign-up link!
• Make sure that you’re sending the emails to the right platforms and places. If you’re emailing customers from a WordPress platform, make sure that you’ve got MailChimp integrated first!

How Effective Are Email Campaigns?

Professionals point to the premeditated death of email marketing caused by social media’s growth and success. However, with a bit of help from each other, email marketing can still be effective in 2013.

Email marketing is alive and well, even if it has lost its dominance to social media. Here are three reasons why companies should always invest in email marketing:

Segmentation and Targeting 

Email campaigns allow you to re-target people who have already visited your website or downloaded exciting content. You can run campaigns for multiple products or offers with the same list of subscribers but without sending the same message twice. It allows you to eliminate all those impersonal messages that overwhelm users who want to receive relevant information about their interest areas.

Email Is Still On Top  

Despite the expansion of social networks, email is still on top. Research shows that email marketing is still the most preferred way to communicate with customers or prospects, especially in B2B (business to business) sector.

Your emails are likely to be read more than social media updates, and you can send multiple messages without annoying people. This means that a single email campaign will have better reach than your Facebook page update posted a few days ago.

Just Words? 

Email can carry multimedia content as well: images, videos, documents. The trick lies in the subject of your message, which should reflect what’s inside (like “Spring is coming – get new brochures now!”). Most email providers allow for adding attachments, but an image does not take up much space compared to a video or document.

Let’s not forget that email is still one of the best and most effective communication channels to reach customer engagement. It is still preferred by them, and it gives you several opportunities for personalization (which social media cannot offer).

What Are The Best Ways To Learn Email Marketing?

No matter your experience with email marketing, you probably want to send a high-quality campaign. Here you can learn more about email marketing practices and advanced email marketing techniques. These courses can help you create a meaningful email campaign that is worth your time and money!

Summary

And as always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this matter. Have you had any success using email marketing in the past? Are you currently using one of the tips I mentioned above? How are things going for you? Leave a comment below and let me know!