Email marketing has always been a powerful and reliable way for marketers to engage with customers and build business. But in recent years, email marketing has taken a backseat to newer, more attractive approaches like social media and search engine marketing. Trends in user behavior and social media suggest that this shift in approach is justified; however, there are many reasons why you can’t afford to turn your back on email marketing.

What Makes Email Marketing Different

Email marketing is a measurable, cost-effective approach to building and retaining your customer base. It is easily automated and conversions are easily tracked, but there are other, often overlooked, reasons why you should push to add a solid email strategy to your marketing mix.

Personalized Content

Email marketing allows businesses to personalize promotional content and humanize the business-customer interaction. According to Experian, businesses that personalized their email campaigns experienced a 27% increase in unique clicks and an 11% increase in open rates. Although most social media and search engine marketing efforts are highly effective, they lack this personalization factor and are often not as targeted as email campaigns.

Targeted Campaigns

Email campaign management tools like Mailchimp allow you to distribute targeted emails to select customer segments, grouped by their specific product needs, buying habits, and so on. Grouping makes it easier to design and launch heavily focused campaigns and allows you to tailor your content to your customers’ interests. Targeted marketing efforts generally result in higher conversion rates and better customer engagement because they allow businesses to share relevant content with customers who are likely to be interested.

Reinforced Branding

Email marketing gives you an opportunity to strengthen your brand’s image and increase brand familiarity. Studies on consumer behavior suggest that individuals are much more likely to do business with familiar brands than unfamiliar ones; therefore, it is imperative that you establish a strong email presence where you can build and reinforce your brand’s image. Branding materials like business logos, taglines and color schemes can transform otherwise bland emails into valuable branding tools.

What Email Marketing Can Do For Your Business

Successful email campaigns can yield tremendous results. According to a survey conducted by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), marketers reported a median return on investment of 122% on email campaigns, which is 4 times greater than any of the other marketing formats – social media and search engine marketing included. Email marketing has always been an effective way to engage with existing and prospective customers; but, like most marketing strategies, it demands proper execution to produce amazing results.

Speak to a marketing expert to see how you can use the power of email marketing to transform your business.