There’s an old saying that the more things change, the more they stay the same. This is definitely the situation when it comes to email marketing and changes to the internet. Email marketing was one of the earliest tactics used to reach people on the internet, and despite all that changed since then, it remains one of the best ways for business owners to reach consumers and other professionals. This article will highlight some of the most recent research that shows the continued value of email marketing.
As was discussed in a recent article on this site, there is a lot of research that shows that email marketing and social media marketing are among the best tactics for marketers. They work even better together. A study released in November suggests that in some cases, email may work better at getting the attention of consumers. According to data obtained from the UK comparison shopping site, Give As You Live, 64 percent of consumers were likely to click on an email link from a retailer whereas only 10 percent clicked on the equivalent social media link. The study was based on consumers in the UK, so the percentages are likely different for US consumers, but the study still shows the enduring value of email marketing.
Email marketing is especially useful for business-to-business marketing. Email is easily the most useful tool in a B2B marketers toolbox. Not every business allows their employees to use Facebook at work and there are a lot of professionals who aren’t on LinkedIn (they’re missing out, but there are people who don’t use it). However, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who works in a modern office who doesn’t have access to email. This is supported by a recent study from Pew Research Center where business professional overwhelming chose email as the most important tool they use. More than 60 percent of respondents said email was “very important” to their job, compared to only 4 percent for social media. Email even beat the internet, which doesn’t make any sense because you can’t have email without some form of internet. It just shows how much workers value email.
One of the reasons email remains so useful is that it adapts with technology. Or to be more precise, any new technology is introduced with the ability to read email. This means that email marketing will remain relevant for as long as people continue to use email. In many cases, the changes in technology just give email marketers new ways to reach consumers.
In the early days of email marketing, the target had to be sitting at their computer to read the message. Mobile devices have made it possible to reach consumers anywhere and to use email marketing messages that connect to websites, apps, coupons and more, that can be used by customers on the go. However, marketers have to be willing to think outside the box to make all the pieces work.
“Mobile devices make it easy for consumers to read their [email] messages on the go, yet they’re less likely to click and purchase due to the mobile experience,” stated Judy Loschen, Vice President of Digital Analytics at Epsilon, according to research cited by Loyalty360. “This requires marketers to get smarter and more targeted with their communications and their digital strategy.”
The Q3 2014 North America Email Trends and Benchmarks from Epsilon found that mobile marketing email open rates rose 6.5 percent between the third quarters of 2013 and 2014. However, the did note that click-through rates were slightly down from the same period. As was stated earlier, marketers have to think of content and offers that will get people to invest more time by clicking on the links.
All of this research shows that email marketing remains extremely valuable for marketers in the present, and for the foreseeable future. To see a lot more statistics that show the value of email, read this article with 10 stats that prove email is still worthwhile.