It's Alive!!
Ok, we get it. Everyone gets lots of email. We’re all inundated. We’re all busy. Sometimes opening our inboxes doesn’t give us that Christmas morning anticipation like it used to.
But the idea that email is no longer an effective way to market to consumers or businesses is not only absurd, it’s completely wrong.
The Direct Marketing Association came out a while back saying that email marketing has a return on investment (ROI) of 4,300%. I mean, even if it’s only half that, even if they just totally made that up, that’s still a LOT better than any other marketing media I can think of.
Email marketing is alive and thriving. There is, however, a catch.
Your emails have to be awesome.
Not boring. Not decent. AWESOME.
More than 200 billion emails are sent and received around the world every day, so yours better be spectacular.
That means a lot of things. It means you need:
- A big email list full of people who like you and have volunteered to hear from you.
- A compelling subject line.
- A message or offer that people actually care about.
- Fast-loading, engaging graphics.
- A responsive template that looks great on EVERY device.
- A call to action that makes people take action. (And buttons that are big enough to accommodate fat fingers on tiny screens.)
Timing and relevancy are also key. You need to make sure your customers are getting your email as soon as they indicate they’re interested, and before they move on to something else. Marketing automation allows you to create user events that trigger a targeted email being sent, so you can capitalize on those moments. (For example, if someone downloads a whitepaper about monkeys, you can automatically send an email that says, “I see you’re interested in monkeys. Here’s another cool resource about monkeys and a 50% off coupon for bananas.”)
And guess what? Those emails get opened. Triggered email messages average 70.5% higher open rates and 152% higher click-through rates than “business as usual” marketing messages.(Epsilon Email Institute)
Convinced? Us too! Here at Roger West, we’ve managed some very successful email campaigns for some great brands and we know email marketing is alive and well. Let’s talk.
Diane Callihan
With more than 20 years of experience writing for some of the country’s top brands, Diane helped to shape Roger West’s content strategy, lead generation, and PR efforts as Director of Marketing. She currently serves as President of Callihan Content Creation.