Did you know – 306.4 billion (as of April 2021) marketing emails are sent and received by people each day? And rising.
Studies show that by 2025, the volume is expected to reach 376.4 billion daily, with email users reaching a whopping 4.6 billion, globally. Furthermore, post-Covid, there’s been a 27% increase in email marketing with a higher open rate than before.
Contrary to the popular belief, email marketing is still alive and kicking. Despite the increasing popularity of other marketing channels like paid ads, social media marketing, chat apps, messengers, etc. email remains a significant channel of communication. Research has also proven that emails have a higher click-through rate than social media and are ranked as the most effective marketing channel.
Long story short, email marketing is on the rise. And building an effective email marketing program is more beneficial than ever. But one has to do it right to stand out in this infinite ocean of emails.
Here’s a handy guide to help you understand how to leverage email marketing for your brand.
Be honest and open
Customers now want more direct, honest, and straightforward messaging from brands. A recent study by Gartner shows that 78% of the top 10% of emails are all informative. For eg. Since the pandemic, customers expect a more empathetic approach, want to know how involved brands are, how the situation affected them and their people, and so on.
Here’s a good example of Chase Bank. This email encourages people to install their mobile banking app by laying down their current workforce situation.
Image Source: Sendgrid
Pull, don’t push
For most marketing channels, including emails, marketers have used push strategy so far. But it’s time to change that course of action and pull your audience towards you than pushing communication out to them. Creating an engaging email is not just about forcing promotions on them, but adding value to their lives. This also helps to cut down unsubscribes or spam.
Think creative, suitable content for a different audience. Mix sales messaging with valuable information for them.
Promote your products through offers and discounts but also ensure that your customers have something relevant to their needs of the hour. Here’s an example of an online nursery, which encourages a healthier indoor environment for WFH, by offering free plants.
Pay attention to visual aesthetics.
An effective email rides a lot on good design. Simple design is pleasing to the eye and easy to read. Focus on color theory and how it connects to the message/content of the email. Colors that speak your brand’s character, coordinated with colors that stimulate the right emotion, can say more than words in an email.
Bright, warm colors used for food products, or calming colors for wellness products, trigger a feeling of happiness and positivity. Using too many visual elements can confuse people.
Set realistic expectations
A thumb rule of good communication is to follow through with what you promised. Whatever expectation you set for your customers at the start of your email marketing, will become the norm. Whether it’s the tone, frequency, or even product features, make sure that there’s consistency. Give them all necessary information at the very outset, so they know what they can expect.
On the other hand, brand owners should also have realistic expectations. Measurable returns on emails don’t happen overnight and take time. Inundating your customer’s inbox every day will not radically boost your conversion. Instead, it would make your customer frustrated and lose interest. Rather, a slow and steady email exercise, like three, useful emails over a month, can be more effective.
Create a workflow
Communication is more efficient when there’s a hierarchy of messaging. Create a structure for the content and frequency of the emails that you plan to send. You can also run a drip campaign to test the success of previous emails. Using the results, you can strategize future messages. This is where email automation becomes very useful. It creates triggers that will determine what emails to send next. Triggers can be opening/not opening the email, clicking/not clicking the link, opening within a specific time period, and so on.
Focus on the frequency
We have learned over time that keeping your email communication warm is essential to keep your customers engaged. Too long a gap between emails can make your customers forget you easily. Sending regular, emails, with useful information can keep your email list warm. If your customers/subscribers/leads go cold after a while, you can always create a re-engagement campaign to get their attention back.
Why Emails?
One of the best things about email marketing is that you can own these audiences. You have no dependency on search algorithm changes or on the relentless spending on social channels or PPC campaigns, and you reach your audience directly. Having said that, brands still struggle to get email marketing right. The increasing volume of emails per day is both a challenge and an opportunity for brand owners. Customers are constantly bombarded with endless emails in their inboxes. Most of them, are often unnecessary or irrelevant. And, your email becomes only one in a million (literally) and not in an encouraging way.
Connect with our team and we can help you navigate the current minefield of email marketing and make your brand heard.