The Importance of Email Marketing

A few months ago at JMU612’s email marketing event, guests heard from local experts Jennifer Kaplan and Aaron Weiche on the importance of email in your online marketing strategy. Social media has become the darling, the bright shiny object to which we tend to gravitate towards BUT email marketing is still king. If you think about most companies and where their attention seems to be focused in their online marketing efforts, social is the main focus. From blog posts to twitter followers, social is the hot topic and many organizations tend to ignore the importance of email marketing.

While Twitter and Facebook are great for connecting with customers, email inboxes are by far the most personal social channel. Email is a private, personalized and efficient way to make an impact. Aaron and Jennifer shared some staggering statistics with the group that will make you rethink your online strategy:

• 94% of online users interact with email, while social users amount to 61%.
• 2.9 billion active email accounts today, which is 3 times more than Twitter and Facebook, combined.
• Email marketing has the best ROI track record overall.
• There are over 160 billion emails sent a year

Email clearly still matters
Aaron and Jennifer emphasized its importance and how incredibly personal you can make emails by incorporating emotion that you can’t necessarily get in a social outlet like Twitter. You’re able to personalize subject lines, names and content for your customer’s inbox. Also, social is a time sensitive platform, if your customer isn’t on Twitter at the specific moment you post, it’s unlikely they will ever see your posts. Whereas emails can be saved in an inbox until the customer wants to view it or has the time.

Email and mobile
Aaron also emphasized the mobile aspect of email marketing. How many people do you know that constantly check their emails on their phones? Almost everyone with a smartphone. Your customers can be reached when they are on the go and not at a computer. It’s a dynamic channel that a lot of online marketers are forgetting about because of the spotlight on social right now.

Get Creative
Email marketing is also an arena where you can be creative. Content, subject lines, time of day, call to actions, really anything can be played with to get the best results possible. “Don’t be afraid to play or be unique, be the voice of the brand and don’t be afraid to take it to the next level, email doesn’t have to be serious” says Jennifer. Email allows you to take risks and learn from what works and what doesn’t. With all of the marketing outlets that have popped up in the last few years, it’s clear that email can still make a huge impact in your marketing efforts and should not be ignored. Aaron Weiche said it best, “give your email marketing a hug.”

Looking for an email marketing expert to add to your team? Call us today!