57% of email subscribers spend 10-60 minutes browsing marketing emails during the week. – ChoozOn
We were asked recently whether we thought email marketing was still relevant, to which we responded: abso-freaking-lutely.
What makes email marketing so effective, even in the age of social media, is that people are still choosing to open emails- each email open is a validation to that company that says “This person is interested in what I have to say.” To us, this is even more impactful that someone viewing a social media ad or a search ad. Opening an email is allowing the company to continue this conversation with you.
So what makes email marketing so effective?
In today’s world, automation is everything. No longer can companies send out a one-size-fits-all email campaign. Here’s what makes an email campaign effective:
Personalized content.
Using platforms like Hubspot or Pardot, marketers can leverage what we call “dynamic content” in email campaigns, which means whomever is receiving that email is seeing content unique to their customer journey. For example, we can build an email campaign and distribute to thousands of users, but we might insert a piece of dynamic content that tells our platform to show the last product that user viewed on your website. This way, we’re tailoring the email to their exact behavior, which greatly increases our chances for getting that customer to click through and convert.
Keep it simple.
Gone are the days of long-winded email newsletters, sent once a quarter. Today’s consumer has an attention span of 8 seconds, and they’re viewing so much content on a daily basis that they’re not actually retaining most of the information they’re seeing. This means that marketers have to send out short, succinct messages to users at a higher frequency to even compete. All pertinent information needs to be “above the fold”, or rather, a user sees everything they need to see without scrolling.
Design your campaigns to nurture, rather than sell.
One of the most effective marketing tactics in 2019 is the email nurture campaign. This type of campaign leverages marketing automation platforms, like Hubspot or Pardot, to build out email campaigns that are triggered based on a customer’s engagement with your content and their unique journey. Using dynamic content in each email, marketers can send customers on personalized journeys which educate and engage customers in a lengthy conversation, without the marketer ever actually having to send an individual email. Email automation platforms are changing the way consumers think about brands, as they provide such a personalized experience for each user that these nurture emails feel more like personal conversations than canned marketing emails.
So, what have we learned?
Email marketing, when done right, is more impactful than ever. Think of email marketing less as a platform from which your company is shouting your latest news; instead, think of email marketing as a conversation that you’re continuing with each unique customer, based on their wants and needs. Once you start looking at your email campaigns with this mindset, we can guarantee your customers will feel “heard” and thus become more engaged with your content and your company.
