You can’t run a business in the twenty-first century without making a digital marketing effort. Out with the old media, in with the new – most people get the lion’s share of their information online.
You may think social media is the name of the game. While maintaining a social media presence is very important, some people tend to overlook the power of email marketing. It is one of the most cost effective, simple, and fruitful types of digital marketing.
If you’re still on the fence about it, we’ve made a list of the benefits of running an email marketing campaign.
Most everyone has an email address
While the older part of the population may not maintain social media accounts, everyone has an email address. According to numbers published by Statista, 92% of all internet users have an inbox. That makes it the communication channel with the largest penetration rate.
Email marketing uses this to its advantage. The incredible penetration, coupled with the fact that people tend to perceive email as a more official and serious channel of communication, makes this type of customer outreach highly effective.
Email marketing is flexible
Business owners across the spectrum of industries can all benefit from this sort of outreach. Email marketing for dentists, for example, bolsters both patient acquisition and patient retention considerably.
It’s highly customizable in the kind of content it can deliver, and almost everyone has an inbox. You can fine tune your emails according to your average audience.
It’s also very easy to personalize and fine tune to your company’s aesthetic. A nice font choice and a tasteful signature can go a long way towards increasing your businesses’ look and feel.
Another layer of personalization comes from addressing each individual recipient by name. That way, your subscribers will feel a greater attachment to your brand and business.
Email marketing ROI
The return on investment for email marketing is, for lack of a better word, incredible.
According to some estimates, the ROI is 3600%. That means for each dollar you invest in your email marketing campaign, you get thirty six back. These estimates may vary for different industries, but almost every business can see an above 30x return on their hard spent money.
One of the best ways to track your ROI is to keep tabs on the conversion rate of your emails. If a newsletter subscriber visits your site and orders your product after they’ve read your email, you know your campaign has hit its mark. The bigger the conversion rate, the better the ROI.
Compared to other types of marketing, it’s easy to see why so many marketing professionals recommend investing in email marketing before anything else.
Email marketing metrics are easy to follow and interpret
A vast amount of data gets extracted during an email marketing campaign. This data can be used to fine tune your strategy, and even call an audible if an opportunity to optimize shows itself.
One of the most important parts of any marketing campaign is setting goals. It’s
Here are a few metrics you should keep your eye on:
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Clickthrough rate
Everytime a recipient clicks a link in an email, that’s counted as a clickthrough.
The clickthrough rate is a percentage that tells you how many recipients have had their attention grabbed by your message. That’s very valuable information.
This metric is invaluable in A/B tests when deciding which adjustments help the campaign and which only complicate things.
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Conversion rate
All types of marketing have the same goal – to turn a lead into a customer. The conversion rate for an email marketing campaign measures the amount of people that actually follow through and accept the offer you’ve made them.
This metric can be tracked as the number of people that filled out a form on your website after accessing it through email.
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Subscriber growth & unsubscribe rate
You should set goals for how much your subscriber list is growing. A larger subscriber list means more audience and reach. It solidifies your status as an industry leader.
The opposite side of the coin is the unsubscribe rate – how many people open the email and unsubscribe from your newsletter. A high value in this metric can indicate a change in strategy is needed.
However, you should also keep an eye on inactive users – the people who don’t interact with your email. A high percentage of no-opens can result in your emails being sent to people’s junk or spam folders.
Keep an eye on the percentage, and don’t be afraid to do a bit of spring cleaning once in a while.
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Open rate
As the name suggests, the open rate represents the percentage of people who have actually opened the email you’ve sent them.
Now, the open rate can be a bit of a red herring for some marketers. They invest too much time and energy into increasing this metric.
While, of course, you want to have your open rate as high as possible, the conversion rate is a much more important metric to follow.
You don’t have much from people just opening the email. You want to engage your audience and convert that engagement into a sale.
- Bounce rate
A ‘bounced’ email is one that never reaches the recipient’s inbox.
This can be the result of a temporary malfunction in the recipient’s email client, or it could be that you’re sending emails to a defunct address.
The ‘hard bounces’ to invalid inboxes should be accounted for, and the addresses should be deleted from your mailing list. If you keep sending out emails that bounce, your reputation will sink into your internet service provider’s eyes. They may penalize you and start marking your emails as spam.
Conclusion
Digital marketing experts in all fields agree – an email campaign is one of the easiest, most effective, and safe types of marketing.
No matter your industry, you can always find value in growing a subscriber list for your newsletter.
