With technology allowing us to contact one another in various ways via the click of a smart phone or tablet, email may seem like somewhat of a dinosaur in the digital realm. But email is still a powerful device to store in your digital marketing toolbox. In fact, the ROI of email marketing can be tremendous if you strategize well.

What is email marketing?

Email marketing is basically what it sounds like—using email to promote your business, its products and/or its services. That’s the straightforward definition. On another level, email marketing is the use of email to forge meaningful connections with your current and potential clientele.

Along that vein, don’t confuse email marketing for the spam that automatically gets sent to your trash without even a cursory glance. Spam is what sullies the reputation of email marketing. The emails you send should include quality content, sent to vetted leads, that will keep those on your email list coming back for more.

Email marketing does not have to be complicated. Your content can appear in the form of a monthly newsletter, a weekly offer, or even a daily blog post. Use it to give your followers an update on what’s been going on with your business recently, or share relevant information pertaining to your industry. Ask for reviews, or direct people to your website or social media pages. There is a ton of flexibility regarding what you do with email as a marketing medium. The key is to give your consumers incentive to want to continue to follow your content.

What are the advantages of email marketing?

When it comes to advantages, email marketing is not only inexpensive, but it’s easy to implement. These are its two most significant benefits. The ROI of email marketing is perhaps its most appealing feature. You do not have to pay to print anything, to send anything—and advertising rates? Nonexistent.

Here’s where the “wow” factor comes in. According to the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing yields on average $43 for every $1 spent. Put another way, email marketing has an impressive 4,300 percent return on investment! This outperforms traditional marketing, social marketing and even search engine marketing by a longshot.

Another reason to use email marketing is that it is targeted—meaning you have exact control over who will see your emails. You can target your audience based on factors like age, income, location, etc. That being the case, you can better customize content to appeal to the people you are sending it to. Email marketing is also easy for subscribers to share. By a simple click of the “forward” button, your reach could exponentially increase.

The ease of being able to measure your email marketing efforts is yet another draw to using email as a marketing medium. You can measure click-through rates, open rates, bounce rates, conversions and of course, your return on investment.

If the ROI of email marketing doesn’t have you convinced…

Check out these statistics that you should know about email marketing in 2018:

• 94 percent of internet users use email, while only 61 percent use social media.
• The number of email users worldwide is projected to increase to 9 billion by 2019.
• In the United States, the number of email users is expected to grow to 7 million by 2020.
• Checking email is something people do in tandem with other activities. Sixty-nine percent of people check email while watching TV, 57 percent while in bed and 79 percent while on vacation.
• 73 percent of millennials prefer to use email as their main means of business communication.
• In a study of 1 billion emails, it was determined that video emails see click-through rates that are 96 percent higher than emails without video.
• 56 percent of emails sent with an emoji in their subject lines had a higher open rate, according to Experian.
• 49 percent of businesses are using some form of automated email sending.
• 80 percent of retail businesses say that email marketing is their biggest influencer when it comes to customer retention.

The takeaway

If you aren’t currently using email in your marketing approach, start now! Unlike social media, with which you can’t guarantee that everyone in your target audience will see your message organically, email promises that your content will appear in their inbox. It’s a measurable, inexpensive and versatile way for you to communicate with and build a relationship with your brand followers.

If you need help launching your next email marketing campaign, the McNutt & Partners team can help. Call us today at 334-521-1010, or visit our contact page.