Believe it or not, email marketing can help improve sales growth for your business.
No doubt as a business owner or marketing professional you have recognized the potential email has a marketing tool. While no one can argue social media came along and stole a bit of its thunder, email remains a powerful way of reaching your customers and leads.
In fact, email is arguably one of the most important components of your marketing channels. Pair it with the increase in smartphone usage and you have a combination that has a solid history of success with modern convenience.
Don’t believe email marketing is important? Just look at these numbers:
- Over 205 billion emails are sent and received every single day (The Radicati Group, Inc.).
- The most frequently used marketing tools were newsletters (Salesforce)
- 73 percent of 5000 global marketers reported that email marketing is, in fact, the core to their business and sales growth. (Salesforce)
- 80.8% of users report reading email on mobile devices (Hubspot).
- 69% of email recipients will report an email as spam solely based on the subject line (Convince and Convert).
These statistics are probably not surprising news to you.
You may have already noticed that people are spending a good portion of their day staring at their smartphones. However, this highlights two important elements of your email strategy: quality email content along with thoughtful design.
The Necessary Tools
You can do a good portion of your marketing planning and execution without needing specialized tools. However, a comprehensive email marketing channel will require a feature-rich application that can:
- Provide templates to design emails that look amazing on desktops and mobiles.
- Store files and images
- Track and analyze your results by reporting, for example, on how many clicks, opens and forwards your emails get
- Import your contact list and assist with managing it
- Guide you through how to share your content with your social media platforms
Making Emails More Effective
You might hear some experts say that you need to be sending your marketing emails on a Friday afternoon or over the weekends, but every business’s target audience and message are different and there really isn’t a magic formula. You should try different times and then analyze your results and sales growth with the aid of an email marketing statistics.
Here are some additional ideas to consider:
- Design emails specifically for mobile. An email that looks untidy or cannot be read easily on a mobile device will reflect poorly on your brand.
- Write emails in the way you would speak to your prospects if they were standing in front of you. Think along the lines of old direct marketing content, but about one-half shorter and minus the hard sell!
- The subject line is by far the most important group of words in the entire email. Give it the time it deserves and make it compelling, intriguing, inviting, or humorous, depending on the audience.
- Use email automation to prepare out event-driven emails.
Timing is Critical
Time your emails very carefully. Not in terms of the time of day you’re going to send them out, but rather how often they’re going to pop up in your customer and prospects’ inboxes.
Don’t rush those emails at the start and then taper off. There is a degree of psychology and science that goes into email marketing. Always analyze test data but also include your experience and instincts too.
Don’t Forget to Establish and Nurture Relationships
It is human nature to rely on people you trust, and that’s no different when it comes to business. Use your email marketing to establish and nurture your relationships with customers. Think of your emails as a virtual handshake or even a conversation – it’s the chance to make a personal connection.
Whether you’re wooing new customers or continue to engage with loyal members, email marketing is a great way to build a relationship and enjoy future sales growth.
No Idea Where to Start?
If you realize the importance of email marketing for your business and sales growth, but don’t know where to start, talk to the Valens Point about our online marketing strategies that can help your business improve sales results with email marketing.