We have all heard the hype surrounding Email marketing. If you’ve missed it, here are some numbers to give you a general idea of the email’s awesomeness.
- Among top performing marketers who reported exceeding their revenue goals, email marketing was cited as the #1 most effective tactic. /Forrester/
- Email institute found that triggered email messages average 152% higher open and click-through rate than any other marketing message. /Email Institute, Epsilon/
- 85% of marketers cite email as the most effective lead-generation tactic. /B2B technology Marketing Community/
I don’t want to bore you with any more numbers, but you can see the trend. Email is often cited as the single most powerful and efficient marketing tactic any business can employ for their sales and marketing strategy. And rightly. A lot cheaper than other marketing tools, if used correctly,email can not only more than pay for itself, but completely revamp your idea of successful marketing.
But enough about that, I’m here today to tell you about The Good, The Bad and The Ugly side of email marketing and this is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
The Good
There are many things that are good about email marketing. It is relatively cheap and that’s one of the main reasons hundreds of thousands of businesses chose email as their ‘weapon of choice’. Even small one-man-show businesses on a shoestring budget can afford as much as $9 a month and some of the vendors even offer a free version!
Another good thing about email marketing is that it is really easy to use. Who can’t send an email these days?
Unlike Google Analytics, SEO and other digital marketing solutions, email is fairly user-friendly and easy to navigate. More often than not, you just have to follow the instructions on the screen.
Lastly, email marketing is multidimensional and it can very easily tie with other aspects of your marketing campaigns, like Social media and specific promotions. Email is not only compatible with virtually any marketing strategy, but it could actually amplify the effects and maximize the results!
The Bad
The bad thing about email marketing is that some people still get it wrong. (Refer to this article for more information on the cardinal sins email marketing). From sending group emails without segmenting your audience to as small a thing as bad spelling, there are many things you can get wrong. But don’t worry! It’s not the end of the world. It’s a learning curve. There are many pieces of content out there to help you!
The Ugly
See, I find it disturbing when people say lies and spread rumours about email marketing. Something I hear too often is ’email is dead’ . Is it thought? The majority (if not all) successful businesses use email marketing in one form or another.
There are over 4.1 billion email accounts. This figure is predicted to reach 5.2 billion by 2018 which is a growth of more than 26%. /Radicati Group/
There are 2.5 billion email users worldwide, including both business and consumer users./Radicati Group/
So the ugly truth is that unless you are investing (time, resources and effort) you are missing out on thousands of potential sales!
Read more: