Lure Creative is a full-service marketing company in Kansas City. We help small to medium-sized businesses Get Found & Be Known. In our adventures, we’ve found that many small to medium-sized business owners have questions about marketing, marketing budgets, and just what it takes to grow their business in this digital/online world. We have answers! So we decided to try to answer some of those questions in an ongoing series of blog posts. In part 4 of our Small Business Marketing Questions Answered series, we’re focusing on a common question: Why do I need email marketing?
Email Marketing Remains Effective
Email has been around for a long time, but unlike many mainstay marketing tools that have lost their effectiveness, email marketing remains extremely effective. Email marketing statistics show that email marketing is an essential tool for attracting and retaining customers. In fact, email has actually gotten better with time! Average email open rates across industries have actually increased by 7% in 2020.
Everyone Uses Email
The good news is, despite all of the other digital distractions, email remains popular across all age ranges, income levels, and devices. In the U.S. alone, more than 99% of people over the age of 15 check their email every day! Because smartphones are so ubiquitous, most check email multiple times a day. The fact that teenagers, who traditionally drop today’s technology for tomorrow’s like a hot potato, are still using email says a lot about the tool as well. Bottom line – no matter what age group you are targeting or where they are located, email remains a great way to reach your audience.
Emails Can’t Be Ignored
The average person receives 4,000-10,000 marketing messages a day. That’s a staggering number. These messages are coming from many places, from traditional media including TV, radio, billboards, magazines, etc. to digital media including streaming platforms, social media, online ads and more, we are bombarded by messages. We’ve all gotten pretty good at ignoring marketing, but the great thing about email is that we can’t ignore it. We must engage. We must at least acknowledge it in order to decide whether to read it, trash it, or save it for later. That fact alone is one of the biggest advantages of email. Yes, people can opt out of receiving our emails, but while they are on our lists, they must engage with the messages.
Email Marketing Reaches the Intended Audience
People engage more with email compared to other forms of marketing. For instance, the engagement rate for the top 3 social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) isn’t even .6%. By comparison, email’s average open rate is 22.86% and its click-through rate is 3.71%. Emails reach most of the people they’re intended for, so email marketing remains an essential part of your marketing strategy. Keep in mind that these numbers are actual open, clickthrough, and conversion rates and they will vary widely based on industry and execution, but they are good benchmarks to use when evaluating your email marketing strategy.
Your Email Message Must Be Relevant
If you want your emails to be effective, you must know what your audience cares about. For instance B2B audiences, typically made up of business professionals, are going to be looking for information. You should include things like tutorials, webinars, product demos, etc. B2C marketers have a wide variety of goals, so their email messages may be selling items, creating customer loyalty/retention, increasing brand awareness, or educating customers about their services. Strategies like welcome emails, birthday deals, and introducing new products/services may work better for these types of email campaigns. Emails that aren’t relevant to your audience will end in people unsubscribing altogether, so it’s critical to know your target and what they care about.
There is much more to learn about email marketing than we’ve talked about in this blog, but the main question we hear is: “Why do I need email marketing?” We hope this information has convinced you of the value of email marketing especially when compared to other marketing tools. Marketing budgets are always too small, so make sure you are using the tools that will get you the most bang for your buck.
Whether you want to nurture leads, drive conversions, increase customer loyalty, or make your brand stand out as a leader in your industry, email is an effective tool when the correct strategies are used. We would love to help you create a strategic email marketing campaign or provide any other type of marketing services you need. If you have questions, please feel free to contact us at Lure Creative. We’d like to be your marketing partner and help you Get Found and Be Known.
