You would think that, with the advancement of technology and new marketing tactics, e-mail marketing is not so important as it used to be. Yes, I get daily mails regarding flight deals, coupons, and all others that I simply throw in the trash. However, this doesn’t mean the age of email marketing is over – email marketing just simply has to evolve to cater to high expectations of consumers. People actually still do subscribe to store and product emails. Nielsen reported that 28% of US online shoppers subscribe to store or product emails to stay informed. Email marketing is still an effective strategy to promote your brand. So don’t think its over, start using it now!
Here are 3 easy ways to step your email marketing game:
Personalize your email, but don’t use the recipient’s name!
I’ve seen enough emails that start along the lines of, “Dear [MY NAME]”. According to Temple’s Fox School of Business, These type of personalized email greetings are, in fact, be very harmful. The authors state that, “Given the high level of cyber security concerns about phishing, identity theft, and credit card fraud, many consumers would be wary of e-mails, particularly those with personal greetings.” Email marketing is all about trust. Forced and faked familiarity will give a sense of fraud to the consumers. Then what should you do? Send emails that is catered to the user’s individuality (ex. purchase history). (Lee, 2013) This will show that you actually care about the user’s preferences, and its highly meaningful.
Send emails on weekends!
According to a study done by Experian, Saturday and Sunday outperformed the weekdays. In addition, lower the volume of email sent on the weekends, to put your messages stand out. Because more people are free on the weekends, they have more free time to look into your product mails, unlike busy weekdays.
Give freebies!!
Who doesn’t like free stuff?
A recent data from Deloitte found that 65% of consumers ay email coupons are important when grocery shopping online. This simply applies to mostly any product that can be purchased online. Have discount codes and promotions only available via email marketing. Consumers love freebies. Not only this will incentivize your users to check your product emails, but it also rewards them for having their email address subscribed to you. After all, keeping a fine relationship between your customers is everything.
Those were just several ways you can use email marketing to its full potential, but I’m sure there’s more. How do YOU utilize email marketing in your business? Please comment below!
Sources:
8 Effective Email Marketing Strategies, Backed by Science. (2013, October 08). Retrieved May 6, 2016, from https://blog.bufferapp.com/8-effective-email-strategies-backed-by-research
Conroy, P., Nanda, R., & Narula, A. (2013, December 13). Digital commerce in the supermarket aisle: Strategies for CPG brands. Retrieved May 6, 2016, from http://dupress.com/articles/supermarket-digital-commerce-cpg-strategies/
Dear [insert company name], personalized emails don’t impress customers. (2012, June 12). Retrieved May 6, 2016, from http://www.fox.temple.edu/posts/2012/06/dear-insert-company-name-personalized-emails-dont-impress-customers/
Newswire . (2014, May 3). Retrieved May 6, 2016, from http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2014/e-commerce-its-an-evolution-not-a-revolution.html
Experian Marketing Services. (2012). Quarterly Email Benchmark Study [Press release]. Retrieved May 6, 2016, from http://www.experian.com/assets/cheetahmail/white-papers/email-marketing-quarterly-benchmark-study-q4-2012.pdf?utm_source=bronto&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Quarterly Email Benchmark Study&utm_content=The Moz Top 10 – April 2013, Issue 2&utm_campaign=Moz Top 10 – April #2 4.23.13
Roesler, P. (2014, September 29). Top 5 Reasons Why Email Marketing Still Works. Retrieved May 6, 2016, from http://www.inc.com/peter-roesler/top-5-reasons-why-email-marketing-is-still-works.html