Is Email Marketing Dead?

In the face of push notifications, website pop-ups, and onsite messages, email marketing can feel less immediate than the more integrated options. A well-timed push notification can prevent an abandoned basket, for sure. But, a well-written email marketing campaign is what will get your customer to your website in the first place. 

Email marketing technology has advanced steadily over the years, making it one of the most versatile and engaging marketing tools available. Automation, and data integration means you can build email marketing campaigns that consistently deliver value.

Email marketing is still one of the most cost-effective and efficient ways of communicating with your customers. In fact, for every $1 spent on this channel, you can expect $42 in return. That’s a 4,200% ROI.

Email is an incredibly useful tool for driving engagement and conversions. It’s still as relevant as ever. But customer expectations have changed in line with personalisation elsewhere in the digital landscape.

The personalisation and use of data to target users for other campaigns doesn’t stop when it comes to email. These aspects are just as important when it comes to creating email campaigns.

But, like any other campaign, success doesn’t just happen overnight. There are plenty of things to keep in mind when building out your email campaigns.

Running a Successful Email Campaign

A successful email marketing campaign is one that is planned out. Like with any campaign you put into action, one that is well thought through will deliver better returns. 

It doesn’t have to be overly complicated either. As long as you set out your goals and follow your process there’s no reason it shouldn’t be a success.

When it comes to advertising through email marketing campaigns, there are some best practices you should observe to yield the best results.

Customer Data

Your data and the way you use it is intrinsically linked to the performance of your campaign.

The quality of the data you use will influence the level of personalisation your campaign can have. Consolidating this data and understanding your customer on a deeper level means you can build campaigns that are specific and relevant. 

You can use a variety of different types of data to inform your campaign. Breaking down the data at your disposal and applying it to your campaign can be incredibly beneficial. Using demographical, behavioural, or transactional data to build your customer profiles for your campaigns makes for a richer experience.

The more insightful your data is, the more personalised your email marketing can become. Personalised emails are far more likely to lead to a successful campaign.

Segmentation

Segmenting your audience per campaign is more important to driving results than you might think. You need to make sure what you’re sending is relevant for the customer, and segmentation is important to ensure this.

In fact, segmented email campaigns can lead to a 760% increase in revenue. 

Following on from using different types of data for your campaigns, segmentation is where you can identify what group you target. One campaign does not fit all. Sending an irrelevant campaign will have a major effect on your engagement rates for that particular promotion.

Not to mention annoy your customer base.

Define an Objective

People will swiftly click away from your emails if your campaign isn’t relevant  to them. Generic messaging under performs simply because it will only appeal to a fraction of your audience. This will cripple any hope you may have of driving meaningful engagement..

The purpose and content of your campaign should relate to the segment you are targeting. 

An abandoned cart campaign, for example, has a very clear objective; to re-engage customers who left your site without purchasing. This means everything in your email should concentrate on reminding them of what they could miss out on. 

The language you use, the images you show them, and even the subject line you use should all be cohesive. With this in place, you stand a better chance of winning back that abandoned cart.

There should also be a purpose, or action, required of the receiver too. Emails that don’t have an ask of the customer to do something, will not garner a high level of interaction.

Ask, and you shall receive.

Be Noticeable

The email inbox is a battlefield where businesses have to fight to get noticed. Only those who command high customer loyalty or can make themselves stand out have a chance of victory. Being plain and simple in your approach won’t get you anywhere. You have to get creative.

Subject lines catch the attention of the customer. It’s the first thing they’ll see from your email and will use it to decide whether they are interested or not. Catchy or direct subject lines and the use of emojis often work in grabbing their attention.

When it comes to the body of your email, don’t drag it out. People react best to snappy headlines and text. It helps if you can create a sense of urgency too. No one spends that long reading their emails, so get to the point as quickly as possible.

Making your email exciting for the customer to read will only ever have a positive impact. They will come away from it enjoying the experience they have had with your business. So, even if somehow they don’t act on your email, at least you’ve left them with a good impression for the future.

Make it Relevant

Relevance is everything when it comes to customer communications. It shows that you understand your customer’s wants and needs. It can be obvious when a brand doesn’t know their customer as well as they should.

Users are fickle and time poor and will quickly phase out businesses or products that no longer seem relevant.. Conversely they are far more likely to engage with something that interests them. So it’s important to use your customer data and identify what they have engaged with in the past.

Use Images and Dynamic Content

Relevancy holds a lot of weight when it comes to increasing interaction rates. Of course, there are plenty of things you can do to improve your email marketing performance. The use of images and dynamic content can be deployed to your advantage here.

Visual media is a great way of drawing attention. With the use of images, you can show someone exactly what they left in their basket. Or, even show them other products that compliment what they have just purchased. There are numerous ways you can use images in your campaigns.

Dynamic content makes your campaigns far more personal. The days of “Hi there” or “Dear customer” are long behind us. It’s not engaging. Transaction rates increase by up to six times through this type of personalisation.

A/B Testing

Getting your messaging right will have a direct impact on your bottom line. However, it’s not always clear what your customers will respond to.

A/B or split testing allows you to test different messaging to determine which is more effective. A/B testing will not only help to make that campaign more effective but future campaigns too.

The more iterative your processes the better you will understand your customers. Refining the message builds trust and boosts sales. 

You should make testing different variations of your emails part of your campaign design. Remember, what works for some people won’t work for others. Understanding different elements that work well for your campaigns means that you can take this information to improve them in the future.

What to keep in mind

Stand Out from your Competitors

When building your campaigns, you must keep in mind that your email will be part of a stuffed inbox. 

People receive hundreds of emails a day, so make sure you’re doing what it takes to get noticed over others.

Taking on board the best practices will get you on the way to an increase in engagement. You’d be surprised at how many email marketing campaigns still lack some of these aspects.

You need to stand out in every part of your email. A catchy headline alone won’t drive conversions. It will help, but the main body of your email should entice the receiver to take action.

Overall, approach your campaigns as if you were going to receive it and make sure it’s something that you would click through.

Deliverability Issues

Maintaining high campaign performance is a constant battle, especially as customer data can become stale very quickly. 

Linking your customer data to your email campaign should minimise this issue. You will be able to filter out the dormant users and focus just on those customers who shop with you.

Those lapsed customers can receive an entirely different campaign to get them re-engaged.

Maintaining a healthy database is essential to the success of any digital marketing campaign, not just email marketing.  

Investing in your marketing communications in this way will give you the best chance of engaging with your audience and driving conversions.

Email Marketing Lives

Email marketing is not dead. It is very much alive, well, and one of the most effective marketing channels available to you.

Investing in the right platform, and combining it with reliable, actionable data, will help you to create email marketing campaigns that convert.

To learn more about how email marketing and marketing automation can help your business, get in touch with the team to request a demo.