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Email marketing is alive and well.[/caption]
Do you remember in 2015 when all the marketing experts said email marketing was dead?
Neither do we.
Although there were some published reports that declared the time of email marketing was ending, that didn’t prove to be the case. In fact, email marketing increased slightly last year, according to some industry experts.
About 74 percent of consumers indicated that they preferred email marketing compared to other forms, according toMarketingSherpa. (Snail mail came in second, believe it or not, with 48 percent). Some marketing executives believe email marketing drives as much of their revenue as their social media, website, and display ad efforts combined, according to The Relevancy Group.
Email marketing also has the benefit of being easy to track.
Those are three of the reasons why email marketing will be just as important to your business this year as it was last year.
You still, however, have to do it right. Here are some tips for email marketing in 2016:
Look back. You can’t improve on the past without taking a look at it. Go through your campaigns last year to see what worked and what didn’t and get an idea of the types of subject lines and content was more successful. That’s what you want to build on.
Target. Target. Target. The more you target your audience, the more successful you’ll be. We’ve always promoted targeted emails over mass market emails for the simple reason that what appeals to a 20-year-old customer won’t necessarily appeal to a 57 year old customer. Getting this demographic information isn’t too difficult: ask your customers how old they are and how they heard about your business when you ask them to sign up for your enewsletter. Promise them that it will help you deliver content that they’ll appreciate—and then live up to it.
Be mobile friendly. Let’s face, as smart phone use increases, fewer and fewer people read their emails on their computers. Make sure the content you want them to see is optimized for their device—you don’t want your message to get lost in the translation.
Connect the dots. With so many different channels to choose from, you don’t want to rely on only one. Use your email marketing to connect to your social media sites, and vice versa. The cross promotion will give customers a different look at the same material and it’ll bolster your Search Engine Optimization ratings, too.
Automate, mate. Some degree of automated marketing material is acceptable, as long as you don’t rely on it too often. You can have a thank you email sent after someone makes a purchase from your web site, schedules an appointment at your auto shop or schedules an appointment for service. For the great majority of your campaigns, though, use a personalized approach.
Look back, part II. Don’t wait for a year to go by to look through your campaigns and gauge your success. Spend time every month to look over the last month’s results. It will allow you to react more quickly to marketing and consumer trends.
Do you have any other tips? Let us know in the comments.