Is email marketing taking a back seat to some of your other digital marketing initiatives, like blogging and social media?
If so, it’s time to restructure your marketing strategy and give email the attention it warrants.
Just how powerful is email marketing? A recent report from BlueHornet shows an overwhelming 98 percent of consumers claim that email influences their purchasing decisions; and 78 percent claim that email influences them to make a purchase at least once per month.
What’s more, consumers tend to check their devices repeatedly for email messages which means the likelihood of them engaging with emails in a timely manner is amplified. In fact, 34 percent of respondents check their email regularly throughout the day, the BlueHornet survey shows.
But before you get started, there’s something you need to be aware of: Email marketing—as useful as it can be if properly deployed—can also work against your brand if you don’t take proper quality control measures.
A poorly put-together email, in other words, can easily steer a customer away from your brand. If your customer decides that your email looks unprofessional, or “spammy”, it could be marked as such and forever filtered to the dreaded spam folder.
And once your brand winds up there, it’s very difficult to get back out.
Our advice, therefore, is not to fear email marketing, but to respect its power to influence your customers and take necessary action to ensure that you are distributing professional, compelling email content at all times. Remember that every word in your email marketing message counts—from the subject line (what you see as the description in your inbox) to your preheader text (the first line of your text body) to the final sentence of your email.
Remember also to personalize your emails by using targeted buyer personas, as this will greatly increase the likelihood of your customers taking action and buying your products. According to the research above, 75 percent of consumers expect brands to personalize their email marketing messages using data gleaned from previous purchases. And 71 percent of consumers expect brands to personalize emails based on their general interests.
Chances are likely, however, that on top of all of the other things you have to do today, the task of having to craft a highly-targeted and compelling email marketing message could be enough to push you over the edge. So instead of rushing through the job, take the safe route and consult with a
content strategy vendor who can provide you with professional, finely-tuned email content.
