E-newsletters have gotten a bad rap over the years...
...cue the cringey memories of your aunt’s 8-page memoir of everything her cats did the previous year. Or the long, painfully-boring list from your company about office “accomplishments” that month, like changing the brand of creamer at the coffee station. Go ahead and flush those images from your mind and open your eyes to the new generation of email marketing.
The 2015 DMA National Client Email Report shows that, on average, e-mail marketing generates $38 for every $1 spent. That ROI is UNHEARD OF, and has no doubt increased dramatically in the last 5 years as smartphone usage continues to skyrocket worldwide. Thanks to killer platforms like MailChimp and Constant Contact, e-newsletters are more attractive, functional and measurable than ever before. It’s not a matter of if you should be investing in email marketing, it’s more like you needed to start yesterday. Not convinced email marketing is necessary for your business? Check out these 5 reasons you might want to reconsider.
1. Smart Phones
According to Statista.com, smartphone usage has increased worldwide from 2.5 billion in 2016 to a projected 3.8 billion in 2021. All you have to do is take a step outside your door to see this in action – you can hardly bat an eyelash before seeing someone with their nose in their phone. The average professional checks their email 15 times per day. That’s 5,475 opportunities to expose your brand to one person in one year. Imagine how many you could reach with an email list of numbers in the thousands! Smartphones aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, and according to statistics, you can count on your target market having their eyes on their email multiple times a day. Don’t you want your brand to be one of the things they see?
2. Personal Connection
This is perhaps the most important reason of them all -- your audience wants to know you. Gone are the Mad Men days where consumers will blindly support huge companies simply based on a clever advertising campaign. Sorry Don Draper, billboards and magazines aren’t the only way people learn about products anymore. The digital age we live in means that content is thrown at us constantly, and the truth is that we’re numb to most of it. But email provides a way to reach your audience on a personal level, something all of us crave now more than ever.
3. Budget Friendly
Did we mention it’s FREE to start collecting emails and sending monthly updates to your audience? Well, it is. Even when you get to the point where your email list is big enough to pay for a subscription, we’re talking about a drop in the bucket compared to most advertising options.
4. Increased Web Traffic
We include endearing copy and appealing imagery in each e-newsletter to keep things interesting enough to at least capture attention for a few seconds, but the real goal is to get your audience to click on that “Learn More” button. Not only does this give you an idea of how many people are actually interested in any given subject (more on that later) but also lands them on the Grand Poobah of marketing tools – your website. If you’re doing it right, you’ve spent precious time and money cultivating a website that encompasses all that you are as a business. You’ve invested in professional photography, poured over every inch of copy and even taught yourself a thing or two about SEO. If you’re looking to see a spike in those web analytics, monthly email communication is one of the best ways to do just that.
5. Know Your Numbers
Email marketing is one of the most measurable marketing tools available. Not only can you see who and how many are opening your emails (open rate) you can also see how many are actually clicking on the links you provide (click through rate.) This gives you a highly accurate measure of how many people are interested in what you have to offer. Because of the millions upon millions of emails sent since these things started being measured, companies like MailChimp can even tell you the best days and times to send emails based on your particular industry. Not sure what a good click through rate is? Don’t worry, MailChimp knows and can tell you exactly how you measure up based on your competition. Once we know your numbers, we can adjust accordingly to increase them.
At the end of the day, email marketing is simply one of the best things you can do for your business. It’s not only inexpensive, but also highly customizable, measurable and extends your reach far beyond your storefront. One of the first things we do with new Design on Retainer clients is to up their e-newsletter game with a shiny new template, top-notch content and customized strategies for growing their mailing list.