A study conducted by Radicati Group Inc, a market research firm, shows that there are 3.8 billion email users in the world as of 2018. This number is expected to increase to over 4.2 billion by 2022. This study shows the increased use of email across the globe for both business and personal purposes.
Thus, for companies, email plays a significant role in connecting with the customers and in boosting their business. Email marketing is, therefore, a very powerful tool that companies can use to reach their customers.
Here are five reasons why companies should adopt email marketing for boosting their business
1. Highly effective: Email marketing is considered to be more effective than any other marketing tool in getting the recognition of customers. Since emails reach customers in real-time, they are more likely to engage with it. A study conducted by Getresponse.com shows that the open rates for email are anywhere between 20- 45% all over the world. This high open rate makes email marketing more effective than social media and other marketing tools.
2. Greater penetration: The organic reach of posts in channels like Facebook is dwindling day by day. Unless you pay for an ad campaign, people are less likely to see your posts. When compared to this, customers are sure to view and respond to emails because it lands right in their inbox. Thus, the penetration rate for emails is much higher. Moreover, you can reach people anywhere in the world through email marketing.
3. Reaching the right people: People who have given their email address or who have subscribed to your email newsletter are people who are genuinely interested to know more about your business. Thus, they are more likely to enjoy your email provided your emails have interesting content.
4. Cost effective: Through email marketing, by spending a relatively lesser amount, businesses can reach a large audience in no time. This is particularly beneficial for small companies who may not have the budget for traditional means of marketing like TV ads.
In the case of print ads, businesses have to spend an exorbitant amount for printing and postage which may or may not be effective. When compared to these traditional means, drafting an email and sending it to customers hardly costs any money. In an email, you can create the same image and text at a fraction of the cost.
5. Convenient: There are various email marketing tools available that let you frame a template and send email at regular intervals. Thus, a customer who has newly subscribed to your mailing list will receive a welcome email first and subsequent emails after a set interval.
6. Customizable: Unlike social media and other traditional forms of advertising, it is possible to customize emails according to the recipient. In email marketing, customers are segmented into different categories, and each group is sent a specific email according to their demographics. For example, you can create two categories; one of new customers and the other of old customers and send two separate emails to them. The first mail should be tailor-made for new customers and should be catchy enough to attract them and the second one should convert existing customers to repeat ones.
In email marketing, it is also possible to address each recipient by his/her name which makes the email more personalized. When you adopt other forms of advertising, you are addressing the audience as a whole, and hence there is a lack of personal touch.
7. Better analysis: It is possible to analyze your email marketing campaign and make the necessary changes as per the result. You can measure the open rate, click through rate and conversion rate which helps in deciding whether the email marketing was effective or not.
There are email marketing software packages that offer A/B testing facilities as well. This will help you to change the subject lines of an email and then decide which subject line draws the maximum number of click throughs. This analysis helps you in deciding whether your email marketing is paying off or not.
8. Real-time: Nowadays, since people are using their mobile to check their emails, the response is real-time. They do not have to access their laptop or computer to open your mail. Customers can work from their office, or have a cup of coffee in the nearby café and still access and open your email.
Not using email marketing is not a healthy trend for businesses as they miss out on an important channel for reaching customers. Though there are other attractive means to reach customers, the power of email marketing should not be underestimated.
You can start step-by-step from setting a goal to slowly building a database, and you are sure to grab the attention of your customers in no time.
