‘Why Businesses should focus on Email Marketing as a vital tool?’

 

 

To give a quick insight into what this blog post will feature, the main points being raised and researched will be as followed;

 

• An introduction into the role of Email Marketing for businesses
• What makes Email Marketing so important and why businesses focus on it as a marketing tool
• A list of tips and guides of how to make Email Marketing work for companies
• The risks of this marketing tool will be discussed

 

Let’s begin this brief introduction with a quote from Email guru (email marketing consultant with 13+ years of experience) Jordie van Rijn;

 

“An email without clarity is like an annoying mime: Just say what you want or get out the way!”

 

I like this quote because it summarises what Email Marketing should be about. Give me the information, the goods, the message, the whatever you’re offering me and then leave it at that. Email marketing should be clear, concise, snappy, and real hammer-on-the-head type marketing. If you are receiving emails from a company that means you have subscribed to their mailing list or have previously completed a transaction with them and Email Marketing is their method of communicating with you in a personal way. Email Marketing is very important for businesses because it is a way of communicating with people who actually want to hear from them. The importance of Email Marketing can be summarised in six major points:

 

1. More effective than social media (in terms of customer acquisition)
2. Email Marketing is cost effective and economic
3. As previously mentioned, it is personal and also customisable
4. Action Orientated
5. Measurable way of marketing
6. The increase in mobile use means that people are constantly checking their emails on their handheld devices (Inbound Rocket, 2018)

 

 

Now, let’s analyse these points in terms of how they are important for businesses. Firstly, Email Marketing is more effective of converting customer’s than social media, which makes it essential for any businesses. Once you have a customer’s email address on your subscription list then you can create a conversation with them with personalised and customised content. According to a report conducted by Oracle Eloqua confirms that by personalising the email subject line with the receiver’s name results in more emails being opened, than emails without this small level of personalisation (Rajeck, 2017). The second point can be very useful for those start-up businesses because some marketing companies will charge you astronomical prices for something you can set up yourself. Email Marketing being described as action-orientated is interesting. The Cambridge Dictionary (2018) define ‘Action-Oriented’ as, “willing or likely to take practical action to deal with a problem or situation.” That is what great about email, you can reply, forward, delete or move it almost immediately and I am sure that is why businesses are so hot on using it as a marketing tool for their subscribers. Moving on, Email Marketing is a measurable way of marketing, but how do you go about measuring this method of marketing for your business? Before we list the three main ways in which this can be measured, it is paramount to know that email is one of the most trusted ways of communicating online, with 77% of consumers preferring email over other online channels. Continuing with the three ways of measurement;

 

1. Delivery Rate – A great metric used to measure the strength of your company’s subscription list.
2. Open Rate – It does exactly what it says on the tin. People could be receiving your emails, but are they opening them?
3. Click-through Rates – This is where ‘Action-Orientated’ becomes relevant, is the consumer reading your email and following through by clicking the link or replying?

 

These are the different ways in which you can measure how relevant your Email Marketing is and whether it is having a desired effect on your subscription list (MacDonald, 2018).

 

Now it is important to focus on how you can make your Email Marketing campaign as successful as possible. As before, it is easier to list in bullet points how you can run a successful Email Marketing plan to keep consumers interested and to increase your Click-through Rate. Here are 8 main points to follow when using Email Marketing:

 

1. Know Your Goals
2. Understand Email Types
3. Know Your Audience
4. Use Technology Wisely
5. Create Great Optins
6. Plan Emails and Followups
7. Craft Your Subject Line
8. Write Out Drafts

 

By following these steps your Email Marketing Plan should keep your subscribers interested in your content. It is vital to understand that you the consumer has chosen to listen to what you have to say, so it’s more advantageous to make it interesting so they follow up a read with a click!

 

Email Marketing has some risks which are good to know, should you use it as your main marketing tool. Email can be too much for some readers, as they sometimes feel that there isn’t any useful or interesting information being posted to them. You should watch out for spamming your subscribers with too many emails, because this could end up being frustrating for the receiver. Building up a trust with your mailing list is vital in this marketing method, because the readers will have more of a bond with you if they are following you. Lastly, Skip Fidura, Chair of the DMA’s Responsible Marketing Committee stated that some consumers of Email Marketing felt like deleting their email accounts as they felt so disheartened by constantly receiving spam email (Hanrahan, 2017).

 

To conclude, keep your emails short and to the point. Don’t spam your readers with pointless emails as they will more than likely become disheartened and disinterested by reading too much information that is not relevant.

 

By

Jack McCann, University of Brighton.

22/03/2018

 

References

 

Cambridge Dictionary. (2018). Meaning of “action-oriented” in the English Dictionary. Available: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/action-oriented. Last accessed 18th March 2018.

 

Hurley, S. (2018). How to Run a Successful Email Marketing Campaign.Available: https://optinmonster.com/how-to-run-a-successful-email-marketing-campaign/. Last accessed 18th March 2018.

 

Inbound Rocket. (2018). 6 Reasons Why Email Marketing Is Important For Your Internet Marketing. Available: https://inboundrocket.co/blog/6-reasons-why-email-marketing-is-important-for-internet-marketing/. Last accessed 18th March 2018.

 

Jordie van Rijn. (2018). The Email Marketing Quotes Hall of Fame.Available: https://www.emailmonday.com/best-email-marketing-quotes/. Last accessed 18th March 2018.

 

MacDonald, S. (2018). Measuring the Effectiveness of Email Marketing.Available: https://www.superoffice.com/blog/measuring-the-effectiveness-of-email-marketing/. Last accessed 18th March 2018.

 

Rajeck, J. (2017). Email marketing must be mobile, automated & personalised to deliver ROI. Available: https://econsultancy.com/blog/69192-email-marketing-must-be-mobile-automated-personalised-to-deliver-roi. Last accessed 18th March 2018.