By Danielle Whetstone

We’ve all heard the stats about dismal email open rates and the diminishing effectiveness of emails in general. While data doesn’t lie, it’s a little premature to throw in the towel or write off email marketing as ineffectual. According to a survey in August 2019 by Statista, over 90% of American internet users use email. Clearly, email is alive and well. But how do you ensure your emails get opened and drive action? 

Just like any advertising effort, the key is doing it right. If you can nail down what your customers want and provide something of value, you’ll open up a world of prosperous possibilities with email marketing. And, with more mobile users accessing their email wherever and whenever they want, you have the ability to reach consumers at their convenience and on their terms. Let’s look at why email marketing still packs a powerful punch and how you can leverage it for impressive results.

Affordable

Let’s start with every brand’s pain point – budget. The good news is email remains one of the most cost-effective marketing strategies available. With hundreds of email service providers and a variety of attractive, plug-and-play templates, the options are endless and very accessible, even for the novice marketer. Do a little research and you’ll find most programs available on the market take nearly all the guesswork out of creating an optimized strategy to help you reach a defined goal.  

Insightful 

One of the great benefits of email marketing is the opportunity it provides to not just engage with your audience but to build a relationship and understand them better. What are their concerns? What problems can you solve? Do they prefer light-hearted messaging or an educational approach? The better you understand both your current audience and potential customers, the better you can align your products and services to meet their needs and create content that resonates and produces results. 

Measurable

Email offers the ability to test initiatives and real data about how your audience responds. Wanting to try out a new product or service, understand what kind of promotion is most effective, even a different brand look or voice? Try it out in email and have concrete data to measure effectiveness. Because it’s so budget-friendly, you don’t have to break the bank or lose a heavy investment if it doesn’t produce a worthwhile return. This is a great way to filter out all those great marketing ideas, determine what’s effective, and then disseminate that data-driven tactic with paid advertising.

Automated

And the music to every marketer’s ears: email marketing is fully automated (queue the hallelujah angels). From scheduling to segmenting your audiences, email software makes getting your message to the right audience seamless. Wherever your leads are in the sales cycle – from considering your brand to loyal customer – nurture them with relevant messaging and offers. Did they just subscribe to your newsletter? Click on an email promotion but never made a purchase? Added an item to their cart but dropped off before paying? Craft a unique, personalized message for those personas to help move them down your sales funnel. Once you have your messages created and your audiences defined, it’s time to sit back and let automation take the wheel. 

While there’s never a one-size-fits-all marketing strategy, there’s no argument that a diverse audience requires a diverse approach. Round out your comprehensive marketing strategy with email marketing! Not sure where to get started? C Squared Social can help.