In recent years we’ve all rushed headlong into new digital and social media in the hopes of reaching our audiences at a lower cost. But the process has added complexity and for most, has not delivered the massive ROI gains we hoped for.
And while it’s important to be in the media your customers prefer, let’s not abandon tactics and media that have worked in the past—especially email.
Here’s why I’m bullish on email:
- If you’re doing it right, you have a list of people who’ve ASKED for you to send them email. It’s the holy grail of marketing—a warm audience!
- Your customers and prospects check their email EVERY day. They look at and read emails
- You can get personal in email. Relevance is the key to readership and response and with email you can personalize your emails like never before
Wondering if email marketing is still worth the effort? At One Partners we believe email marketing is still alive and well. And especially for B2B is an essential element of your marketing plan.
Here are 6 statistics that may surprise you!
- There’s big ROI in email. According to the Data Marketing Association (DMA) email delivers $32 for every $1 invested
- 73% of Millennials prefer communications from businesses to come via email. (Adestra, 2017)
- More than 50% of U.S. respondents check their personal email account more than 10X a day, and it is by far their preferred way to receive updates from brands (Campaign Monitor, 2017).
- 86% of professionals prefer to use email when communicating for business purposes. (HubSpot 2017)
- People are 2X more likely to sign up for your email list than interact with you on Facebook (Constant Contact 2018)
- Personalized email delivers 6X higher transaction and revenue rates (Experian 2013)
Why Email Still Works
Email marketing is working better than ever because in essence it’s an intimate media that can be segmented, targeted, and personalized. That means when you’re communicating with email your communicating on a true 1:1 level. And when done with respect and permission, you’ll see greater engagement, response and conversion.
What’s more, email is a persistent media that enables you to build your brand voice over time.
While you may not read every email you soon get used to seeing the author or company name which builds your brand equity.
The trick is NOT being boring. Boring, irrelevant or spammy emails will diminish your brand and reduce your email effectiveness.
What’s Working with Email Today?
Today’s successful email marketers have discovered that email gives them a unique platform to build relationship with their customers and opted-in prospects. And they’ve transformed their email programs to create conversations and deliver offers in more entertaining and informative ways.
Here are the three email elements I believe are most important to driving ROI with email.
Conversation
At its core, email is a stimulus response media. Meaning, when you read an email (stimulus) your natural reaction is to respond. Which makes it an ideal media to join or start a conversation.
Many digital entrepreneurs and brands use their email programs to let their customers into the inner workings of their companies, and their personal lives. This opens the door for customers to react, respond, suggest and comment which in turn builds trust and engagement.
Here’s an example of an email subject line that opens a conversation with the reader:
- Why I don’t cater to short attention spans when selling online
In this email the author reveals some of his pet peeves and sets the tone for how to work with him. Readers were then encouraged to share their own challenges and pet peeves.
Entertainment
With our Hollywood shortened attention spans our customers and prospects need a car chase or love scene every few minutes to keep them glued to our email.
Successful email marketers today are infusing their emails with stories and letting their sense of humor show through.
For example, here’s a subject line that got me to open, read and respond:
- Why being a miserable failure is cool
The story in the letter told an entertaining story about how the author had turned his biggest failures into successes. He then went on to make an offer—which I gladly bought.
Education
Education is the biggest challenge for as marketers. It takes time, money and patience from the C-suite to produce results. But with email you can deliver truly valuable educational content that builds your brand authority and actually lets you set the criteria for buying your product or service.
Here’s an example of an email that delivered an educational message:
- How to play the marketing game on “god-mode”
Summary
Email marketing is alive and well, and delivering more ROI than virtually all other digital media. But you’ve got to update your approach so your emails standout and demand attention.
The key is to infuse your emails with your brand personality, to entertain and to deliver valuable information. And when you do you’ll see your open rates, clicks and conversions skyrocket.
About the Author
Collin Dayley is the SVP of Growth and Strategy for One Partners, a leading performance marketing agency with offices in Salt Lake City and Seattle. Learn more about how One Partners can help you Wow! your customers at www.one-partners.com
