Does Email Marketing Really Work?

Our email accounts are important. Most of us have almost every aspect of our lives attached to them. This leads us to check our email multiple times every day. In fact, most of us check it first thing in the morning. This sets a tone of connectivity that continues throughout the day. If we want to know about any updates in important online accounts, we’ll find out through our email accounts.

There are countless methods of marketing available to businesses. Inbound marketing, traditional marketing, and more give us a wide variety of options for how to connect with our customers. So how does email marketing fit into digital marketing?

We know that people pay attention to their email accounts. But do they pay attention to email marketing? This method of contacting customers has been around since email became widely available. How has it held up over the years? Is email marketing still an effective means of contacting your customers?

Click-Through Rate for Email Marketing is 3.71%.

Email is still a widely-used form of communication, despite the constant emergence of new options. Social media, messaging apps, and more have tried to replace email as the main method of contacting your friends, family, and coworkers. However, email still remains at the top of the heap.

99% of email users check their email every day. Some of us take that a step further and check our accounts up to 20 times in a single day. The rise of cell phones and email apps have made this as easy as a flick of the finger. The ease of checking our accounts has made it almost a reflex for many people.

And this is true for people in all age groups.

Social media posts are great for a variety of reasons, but email marketing is much more targeted. A social media post is one of many. There’s no direct contact. Email marketing, however, goes directly to a previous or potential customer. It addresses them personally which makes it likely to create engagement if done correctly.

In fact, the average engagement rate for the major social media platforms is only 0.56%. The click-through rate for email marketing campaigns, however, is 3.71%. So even if your email list is much smaller than the potential exposure of a social media post, the engagement you can garner is quite possibly much higher.

How to Make Email Marketing Work

Simply blasting your mailing list with multiple emails a day won’t create the kind of engagement you are looking for. In fact, that will likely lead to an avalanche of people unsubscribing from your list. There are certain tactics that you can use to get the most out of your email marketing efforts.

Customize Email Messages

Personalization in your messages is a great way to encourage your recipient to continue reading. Include their name at the start of the message to catch their attention and draw them in. It might seem simple, but directly addressing your customer is an effective way to create a quick connection.

Make Email Messages Brief

Quick messages tend to work much better. People don’t want to read entire articles in their email inbox. This is for communication, not a complete dispersal of information. Explain your subject, convey the main points you want to hit, and then direct them to your website to learn more if they are interested. Long email messages can cause a person to click off immediately without taking the time to learn what it’s about.

Send Less Emails

This is one of the main reasons people unsubscribe from email lists. People don’t like to be bothered. And direct targeting like email marketing campaigns runs the risk of annoying people. So give yourself the best chance at avoiding this by putting an ample amount of time between your contacts. The correct amount of communications will vary depending on the industry, but you should try to keep it to around once a month unless a pressing issue arises.

Each Email Should Have An Action

This is the main point of email marketing — you are trying to get people to come to your website. A call-to-action (CTA) gives your reader a reason to visit. It’s an enticing message with a promise of answers on the other side of a link. They are usually phrased as a direction but without coming across as bossy or demanding. Your CTAs are what is going to make your email marketing campaign worthwhile.

Emails Need To Be Clear

Think of it like a tiny blog post. Include appropriately-sized pictures, break up your copy with white space, and don’t use zany font sizes and colors. You want your messages to be clear and concise. Confusing or annoying formatting can quickly convince a reader to click right past your message.