Email Marketing: Why it’s still one of the most effective digital marketing strategies

With the rise of social media, you may think that email marketing is outdated – this article will show you why it is still one of the most effective digital strategies. While a well-rounded marketing strategy is always the best approach, ROI on email marketing is higher than any other channel. It beats SEO, social, and affiliate marketing (and even better than SEO + social combined), with an average return of $36 for every dollar spent.

Continue reading to learn how to make the most of what is considered the chief of marketing channels.

What is Email Marketing?

Effective email marketing is much more than just blasting promotional content to an email list. Just open your spam folder to get an example of email marketing poorly done.

Successful email marketing is achieved by building relationships with your potential customers. It’s a process of gaining subscribers, getting to know them, and building rapport by communicating with your audience about what is important to them.

Some tried-and-true tactics separate effective email marketing from spam. Sophisticated email marketing campaigns use a series of well-planned messages, an email sequence, personalized throughout your audience’s journey.

Here are some of the most common email sequence types:

  • Onboarding sequence: Arguably considered one of the most important emails in the customer journey, a series of welcome emails averages 51% more revenue than a single welcome email.
  • Nurture sequence: This sequence is targeted to your audience in the stage where they are close to converting. Typically, the content will be tailored to provide high-value customer education.
  • Engagement sequence: This sequence is less educational and more entertaining, with the goal of strengthening your audience’s feelings toward your brand. These emails can be used pre- or post-conversion.
  • Conversion sequence: This comes after the nurture sequence. For best conversion rates, this is done via storytelling and speaking to your audience’s pain points.
  • Renewal sequence: This sequence is used to re-engage with readers who last engaged with your band a while ago. These emails need to be short, enticing, and inspire action.
  • Event sequence: This is used to get people to attend your event, generate interest, and grow engagement. You can also use this sequence post-event for another level of engagement.
  • Follow-up sequence: This sequence is generated after a customer completes an action. For example, after they sign up for a webinar. Since they expect to receive a confirmation email, it is a great way to guide them toward the next conversion.

What makes it more effective than other strategies?

The current number of global email users is four billion and is estimated to grow to 4.6 billion by 2025, with smartphone users saying they prefer to receive brand communications via email. Aside from the data, another important aspect to consider when investing in email marketing is that you own the list. Social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, or whatever platform you are leveraging own your list. Even with SEO, you don’t own the traffic. Also, you don’t have to worry about algorithm changes impacting your reach.

Here are some recent stats that show just how powerful an effective email marketing strategy can be:

  • 77% of marketers have seen an increase in email engagement in the last 12 months.
  • 64% of businesses leverage email marketing to reach their customers, with 37% increasing their email marketing budget
  • The most effective strategies for email marketing campaigns:
    • Subscriber segmentation (78%)
    • Message personalization (72%)
    • Email automation campaigns (71%)

Essentials of Email Marketing

How can you leverage this powerful tool to engage your leads, build rapport, and sell your products or services? Regardless of your goal, audience, or business size, it all comes down to the copy. Here are some essentials for writing copy that converts:

Know your audience

The first and most important step in writing copy that speaks to your readers is to know your audience. The stats above show that the most effective strategies for email marketing campaigns are subscriber segmentation and message personalization. Understanding your audience is key to segmenting your list and creating targeted email copy.

Utilize Storytelling

Once you understand your audience, you can craft copy that really connects with them by appealing to their emotion through the art of storytelling. Stats vary across sources, but all agree that most purchase decisions are emotional (ranging from 50-95%), with an estimated half of those being driven by fear. It’s then estimated that the remaining percentage is driven by logic. To write compelling copy, you first understand your audience’s pain points and then speak to them. A successful email sequence will:

  • Phase 1: Attract attention and appeal to emotion. This is where the reader should also start to connect with your brand emotionally.
  • Phase 2: Create interest and desire by showing your product’s or service’s hidden benefits. This step is where readers will start to justify the reasons for this purchase, thus speaking to the logical side.
  • Phase 3: The final phase should convince readers and inspire them to take action. They’ve connected when your brand, they can see how your product or service will benefit them, and now you covert them by showing them hard data or enticing them with an offer.

Effective Copy

There are some important elements to pay attention to when writing your copy:

  • Subject Line: It’s critical to write a compelling subject line that will get the reader’s attention and get them to open the email.
  • Preview Text: Consider this as your elevator pitch to open the email. It should be short and reinforce the value proposition.
  • Email Body: It should be easy to read. Use short sentences and paragraphs and leverage bullet points where appropriate.
  • CTA: Include a strong call-to-action; best practice is in the beginning paragraph and at the end.

Let us do the work for you

From writing the copy for your next email marketing campaign to fully managing your email newsletter, we can help you achieve your email marketing goals. Contact us to get started or read more about our email marketing services here.

Email Marketing: Why it’s still one of the most effective digital marketing strategies
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