Remember when email was new and exciting? Some of us recall the thrill of powering up the Tandy or Compaq to check the Prodigy or AOL mailbox. Later, when businesses adopted email, it was a useful way to avoid talking to someone at work but still communicate with him or her. Email could also provide a good laugh when someone hit “reply all” instead of “reply” to an email about what to wear to the Bon Jovi concert. Those were the days!
Funny thing is, we still check our email, although not with as much excitement as back in the day. I bet you look at yours before you check voicemails. I know you look at email on your phone all the time, to the point where you might not even notice texts or the voicemail icon.
The thing is, email marketing is still useful and in the larger marketing world, it continues to be a pretty solid performer.
B2B Marketers Say Email Marketing Is Tops For Developing Leads Into Clients
Business-to-business (B2B) firms certainly appreciate email because most people won’t ignore their inbox at work. Looking at data from several sources, the global marketing firm Acton International found some very encouraging data on the effectiveness of email marketing:
- Marketers who exceeded their revenue goals said email marketing was the most effective tool they used to cultivate leads. (Forrester, 11/2013)
- 85% of marketing professionals said email was most effective to generate new leads. (B2B Technology Marketing Community, 9/2013)
- According to a 2013 Email Institute report, emails sent through a blast service such as ConstantContact had click rates 152% higher then “business as usual” email.
- Gleanster Research found efforts like personalizing and segmenting email contacts resulted in conversions 360% more then those sent in a standard email blast–improving upon already pretty good rates.
The idea of email may be old-fashioned, but used within the context of a comprehensive marketing plan, email campaigns deliver on several fronts.
Emails Hold A Lot Of Information!
It’s funny, but customers seem to appreciate emails from reliable sources because of the breadth of information they receive in one package.
A single email can quickly communicate a message (although I recommend using more then 140 characters in an email!), supplemented with multiple, clickable graphics that send readers to the relevant webpage. Links can also be embedded within the content, and attachments like digital coupons can be added to download to a smartphone or printed. Emails can also include apps to download directly to a smartphone.
Email services created the concept of scheduling communications to reach customers at optimal times. They can be easily forwarded to another party and shared on social media, providing a boost to the centerpiece of most corporate marketing campaigns.
Email Service ROIs Are Easier To Understand
Email services have spent a lot of time figuring out how customers can justify their costs, so they provide a ton of metrics to show ROI and other insights. Each email campaign is tracked for several performance metrics, including:
- Total number of emails opened
- Number of forwarded emails
- Number of new subscribers
- Click-through rates for one or more links
If you’re thinking about an email campaign, give me a call and I can walk you through examples of successful email campaigns we’ve worked on with Constant Contact, a leading email generation firm.
