Why Email Marketing is Still so Effective in 2020

Despite the growth of social media, email marketing remains one of the most popular channels for brands to reach and engage with their audience. There have been discussions that email marketing is on the decline due to increased usage of social media by end users and investment from brands looking to take advantage of this.

However, those predicting its demise are likely to be waiting for a considerable amount of time as the one key advantage that email marketing has over social media is its ability to reach users who are familiar with your brand, are interested in the subject matter and, most importantly, are looking to hear from your company.

Yes, there is Paid Social advertising, but it is unable to match the impressive metrics of email marketing and it is considerably more expensive.

There is also the fact that email marketing is simply more diverse and can be used for a variety of different sectors and requirements.

In the early days of social media, it was possible to gain high levels of traction with your organic social campaigns, but times have changed. It is now harder to generate as many impressions and gain as much organic reach, meaning that those utilising the channel are required to investment significant media budget to reach their goals.

Personalised Email Marketing

Personalised marketing via a multichannel messaging platform, or one-to-one marketing, has become more and more popular in digital marketing and it is estimated that 72% of consumers are only interested in and will only respond to this type of marketing now.

This is where email marketing is ideal: it offers the chance to speak directly to your audience as individuals and not just as a segmentation within your database. Send them highly targeted content that you know is of interest to them and that will generate engagement, and in turn, increase your organic reach to members of your target audience.

It also provides a channel with which you can connect with your audience that is not seen as being overly invasive; contacting your database via email with tailored offers is always going to be a tactic that is well-received and appreciated.

But how do you achieve this? Well, we are about to find out!

Audience Segmentation

Audience segmentation is one of the most important aspects of email marketing.

None of us like to receive emails that are not relevant to us or our interests. When we do receive them it makes it more unlikely that we will open future emails from the brand and even unsubscribe. This is what happens when a blanket email is sent, it leads to disengagement amongst the recipients to whom the campaign was not relevant.

Segmenting your database is key to long-term email marketing success and monitoring and spending time on refining your data is of the utmost importance. A good place to start is to consider the following for segmentation:

• Geographical
• Demographical
• Psychographics
• Behavioural

As mentioned, these should only be the starting point and further segmentation based upon these four areas is essential for delivering successful email marketing campaigns that are drive traffic to your website and generate revenue.

Revenue & Lead Generation

When you are working with a restricted budget, it is essential to make it go as far as possible. This is where email marketing is ideal for smaller sized compabies. The channel enables the sender reach a wide range of recipients that you know are interested in your brand and actually want to hear from you, especially in relation to important offers.

When combined with personalisation, it is highlylucrative in generating revenue from your core products and services. There is the also the opportunity to increase revenue through up-selling and cross-selling based upon purchase history and wider seasonal considerations.

Taking Advantage of Email Marketing

If email marketing is not currently part of your digital marketing strategy, then it is important that you start right now! Its ability to consistently and cost-effectively generate revenue means it has the ability to improve or transform the fortunes of businesses.