Do you ever wonder if email marketing is still effective or is it dead? The short answer is a resounding NO, it's not dead. Not by a long shot. In today's, “Ask your email marketing consultant” I’m going to give you some food for thought, with hope that you will not only see the value of email but actually decide to use it more.
It makes sense to believe Email Marketing is dead
It makes sense that people think email marketing is dead or dying. Everywhere you turn you hear about the next big thing. Social Media is growing. Facebook is the 10,000 pound gorilla and Google is the new kid on the block with Google Plus. Everyone is talking about how you will fail if you don’t do this, that or the other marketing idea of the month. And the common thoughts are that email is old school and probably isn’t effective any more. We also think our customers might feel frustrated by our marketing efforts. But what do the numbers say?
The Truth is in the Numbers
It turns out that email marketing is considered one of the best if not the best forms of direct marketing you can find. The DMA, Direct Marketing Association, says the average ROI from email marketing for every $1 invested is $40.56. Can you believe that? Have you looked at your social media costs and measured that ROI there?
In a survey reported by the Message System, 63% of marketers cite email as the channel that offers the best ROI. Do you see what is going on here? The numbers and the experts are all saying that there is an incredible amount of potential here when you use email marketing as part of your overall process.
But that doesn’t make sense
Email marketing has been around a long time. (Have you ever noticed how computer years and dog years are similar?) As long as the personal computer has been around we have been using email to communicate with each other. In fact Ray Tomlinson sent the first email to himself in 1971.
We get junk email mixed in with all the other email that shows up in our inbox. We get email for work. We get email from blogs we follow and companies we buy from and several email a day that are just trying to get us to buy something. So how can this actually work? You might also be asking the same thing one of my clients recently was concerned about. Won’t this just bother or harass people? If that were the case then none of us would ever want to use email marketing. That’s not what you and I are about. So what about the other kind of email marketing; the good, non-annoying kind?
The Happy Kind of Email Marketing
We are annoyed with it at times and overwhelmed by it at times so it makes sense that we think everyone else is and that everyone else is like you and me. So how could it be effective? How could it work?
It turns out that you and I not only get emails we don’t want but we get emails we do want. When we get those we are happy and not annoyed. We ask people to remind us about stuff. We find it easier sometimes to just have someone email us the documents instead of just telling us something. And when we get those emails that we are expecting or are welcomed then we just move on with our day and don’t give it much thought.
We also get emails that are relevant to our business and our interests. I love to get emails telling me there is another video posted by my favorite online teachers. I like getting a sales email from the camera company B and H when they have a special or new camera in stock. I can’t buy it usually but I love to look at what’s available because that is part of my work and one of my hobbies. And that is email marketing that I like.
What about Email Marketing Manners?
Don’t get me wrong. These emails are only good up to a point but if they come too often or become irrelevant to my life then I don’t like them. It’s no different than how people operate in the real world, face to face. There is a balance between being helpful and becoming a pest. With email marketing you can be helpful or a pest it’s up to you. It turns out that email marketing isn’t good or bad it’s the email marketer that develops a reputation. You don’t have to be that way.
Conclusion
Do you see how valuable email marketing can be? Can you see how our perceptions can be misleading? One of my customers has a great saying when it comes to evaluating things. “I need other people's opinions because, as it turns out,one person's opinion isn’t statistically viable." As an email marketing consultant we look at a lot of different evidence and we also have experience. I see it working and I want it to work for you.
So remember, the ROI on email marketing is great and 63% of marketers think it’s the best ROI out there. My experience tells me that it should be part of your overall internet marketing strategy.
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Don't Be a Spammer! Advice from an Email Marketing Consultant
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