Why Email Marketing Is Still Effective

Why email marketing is effective

Why Email Marketing Is Still Effective

It’s good to talk – to borrow a cliché and national slogan from BT.

But it is. As human beings we are social creatures and it’s positive to interact with each other. Email marketing is a great way to keep the lines of communication open between businesses and customers – still.

Communicate regularly and personably

Let’s not take anything away from a face-to-face conversation (in person, not Facetime or Skype) but sometimes, as a business, it’s not feasible to see every client and prospect face-to-face as much as you’d like to – and there are limited benefits in having a Costa Coffee loyalty card.

Step forward email marketing, a great tool to allow businesses to broadcast valuable information. But sometimes this is where a problem may lie. Email has a bad rep for shoddy, salesy and worthless information. It’s not the fault of the email rather the content therein and the fault of which lies with the sender.

89% marketers said that email was their primary channel for lead generation.

Emails need to be crafted.

They need to look great visually but also to read well with relevant content that resonates with the reader offering something of value.

A quick 12-point checklist for effective email marketing  

Here’s a top list of what to include in every email campaign:

  1. Offer something of value – a tip, an offer, insider knowledge
  2. A powerful headline
  3. Creative and relevant imagery – video if possible
  4. Short paragraphs of intriguing copy
  5. Regular sub headings
  6. A conversational and personal tone of voice
  7. Links for your readers to learn more
  8. A stong call to action – what is it you want your readers to do? You’re not doing this to waste time
  9. Full contact details
  10. An unsubscribe option
  11. A note as to how people came to be on your recipient list
  12. Offer something of value – a tip, an offer, insider knowledge

(Yes, I did intentionally repeat a bullet).

Stop when asked

Email (and all electronic communication), has taken a beating recently with GDPR [link to your blog]. As a business, if you have email addresses from genuine prospects and clients that, at some point, you have previously interacted with, you have a legitimate business interest to stay in touch. The unsubscribe button is there for a reason – should you babble, be overpowering in your sales approach or if people wish to move on and cut all ties.

78% of consumers unsubscribe from emails because brands were sending too many emails.

Plan high quality content for achieve email success

Sure you will have company developments, new staff, and product or service offers that you want to introduce. But don’t make every email all about you. Split email communication into newsletters and promotional campaigns and structure them differently.

86% of professionals prefer to use email when communicating for business purposes.

Give consideration to who you are emailing and whether they need to be segmented into groups. You will have customers and prospects (those who have only enquired) but you will also have customers who have purchased different types of products and services. Do they all need the same information or could time be well spent to divvy your lists?

Your audience will stay loyal for longer if you provide them with useful information that they can learn from and implement quickly to solve a problem, save money, or gain some kind of advantage.

If someone is interested enough in you to hand over their email address, you owe it to them to dish out the good stuff.

Choosing an appropriate email application

There are many email software companies offering a great service at competitive levels.

Here at TukTuk Creative Marketing we love Mailchimp. It’s free for up to 2000 email addresses with super easy ‘drag and drop’ templates to choose from. Plus it integrates with numerous social media platforms, accounting and CRM systems – more on this in a future blog.

The benefits to you are factual reporting on the effectiveness of your email including open rates and clicks rates. This valuable data will show which recipients are engaging with your content – an opportunity to follow up by other means such as a telephone call or highly specific offer.

No one stops at the first corner

When you set out on a journey you wouldn’t stop at the first corner. Yet so many businesses send one email then seize up and another never comes. Don’t be that company.

Plan your content and be consistent. If you plan to email your database every month, prepare at least three months’ worth of content to get you started and into the habit. The hard work up front will reap benefits in a stronger, loyal customer base.

If you need help to build content plan or to set up an email account that’s branded with your logo and styled using our fonts and graphics, give us a bell.

Jump on the TukTuk Creative Marketing ride and let’s take your brand on an ever more inspiring journey, ping an email today and signup for our monthly hints and tips for your website direct to your Inbox here.