Social media has really taken on a life of its own when it comes to businesses utilizing it for their marketing strategies. With so many companies focused on created profiles on as many social platforms as possible in an effort to attract new business, they forget about the one form of marketing that still has the highest return on investment of them all. Email marketing, despite the boom of social media, is still the one form of marketing that gets consistent results if you do it properly.
In a recent Forbes article it was shown that even though many businesses are focusing most of their efforts on social media, those potential customers simply do not go to the company website unless they are prompted to by email. When a potential customer receives an email from a business, they are much more likely to visit the website and spend their money shopping. Email marketing continues to be one of the best ways to acquire new customers even though social media has flooded the web.
Email marketing is all about doing the things that will consistently attract new customers and turn them into loyal customers. When you use social media in your marketing campaigns it is nearly impossible to measure the results. You basically have no idea what is working and what isn't. With email marketing you can setup some simple tools that will allow you to watch the click through rate, what links were most productive, bounce rates, and open rates. These measurable metrics help you to better sculpt your email campaign so you improve areas that are weak and continue what is getting you the highest return.
With email marketing you have the ability to look at the open rate and tell exactly who opened your email and what action they took. You can tell if they opened it and unsubscribed, or if the email got them to go your website where they took advantage of a sale you had running. The biggest benefit to email marketing is once you understand how many people are opening your emails, you can employ different strategies to see what actions are getting the best results. These actions range from requesting quotes, completing different forms, downloading catalogs, or simply making a purchase from a sales promo. By tracking your conversions you can apply laser focus on these areas and ramp them up to increase the ROI on your efforts.
One change that has affected email marketing is that more people are now using mobile devices to access their email. With over 85% of all mobile users checking their email each and every day, you have to make changes in the format of your email so that it is more appealing to the mobile users. The call to action buttons and links need to be above the fold and your headline must grab their attention instantly. Shorter headlines and calls to action get these readers to act instead of trashing the email. Simply find a way to solve a need, tell them why your product will solve that need, and give them the link to take action. It is a tried and true formula that works; you just have to condense it for mobile devices.
Email marketing might not be getting all the attention anymore because of social media. This is a perfect opportunity for your business to stand out in the crowd by utilizing a marketing method proven to get results.
