For years, email marketing has been the go-to way for entrepreneurs to connect with their current clients and reach new prospects. Email gave business owners a cost effective and quick way to spread news and establish a reputation as an industry leader, building their circle of influence and driving additional revenue.
Did Email Fall Out of Favor?
Many entrepreneurs set email marketing aside in recent years as new advertising channels became more popular, affordable and readily available. Content marketing, social media and pay-per-click all took marketing teams by storm and as a result, businesses began to rely less on email and increasingly on new outlets.
But it appears many teams may have been too quick to turn away from email marketing and shift their strategies towards newer, trendier ways to build a client base and brand awareness. Research shows email is still an effective way for businesses to reach clients and prospects and could be even more useful than the latest techniques marketing teams have used to generate interest. Not only are clients still excited about getting emails, this technique may be even more effective than trendier marketing strategies.
Clients Still Open to Receiving Emails
Epsilon’s new “Q1 2013 North America Email Trends and Benchmarks” report indicates that even though many business leaders assumed clients became indifferent to the company email and instantly deleted marketing messages, this may not be the case. The research showed email open rates have continued to rise, hinting that recipients are still interested and engaged when it comes to receiving updates from companies they do business with.
The report showed most emails are making it to their destinations, which indicates prospects are providing legitimate emails and interested in receiving updates. Non-bounce rates came in at 96.4%, and open rates were also high. The number of emails opened by recipients jumped 13.5% quarter-over-quarter and 18.6 percent year-over-year, resulting in an overall open rate of more than 30%.
“Email open rates rose to 31.1% in Q1,” said Judy Loschen, vice president of digital analytics at Epsilon. “This is a notable increase over previous quarters and years. We expect to continue to see increased open rates as more consumers check email and manage their inbox on-the-go via mobile phones and tablets.”
Clients aren’t just interested in opening emails – they also appear to be more interested in their content. The research showed click-through rates jumped to 5.1%, and this performance hints entrepreneurs may be including more enticing messages in their emails and convincing clients to click for more information.
Email Helps Businesses Acquire Clients
Even though email has seemingly fallen out of favor among marketers in recent years, evidence shows it’s still a vital tool for entrepreneurs looking to enhance their client rosters and establish their influence among potential leads.
Research from analytics firm Custora revealed email remains one of the most productive channels from which companies can bring in new clients. In fact, the company’s “E-Commerce Customer Acquisition Snapshot” showed client acquisition via email has quadrupled over the past four years, making this technique more effective than Facebook or Twitter.
Social media platforms have played an important role in advertising strategies in recent years, but they may not be doing the trick when it businesses are trying to increase the number of clients they serve. The Custora report indicated companies now acquire 6.84% of their clients from email marketing, as opposed to the 0.88% seen as recently as 2009.
This number is quite significant when compared to the 0.17% generation from Facebook and less than 0.01% from Twitter. Companies that rely on email to connect with clients also expect higher future profits from these individuals, when compared to firms that rely primarily on social channels. The report deemed those individuals reached by email are worth about 11.81% more than average leads, a number that stands in stark contrast to the worth of clients reached through Facebook (1.31% higher than average) and Twitter (23% lower than average).
As email continues to prove a more effective marketing tool and as many people use their mobile devices to check their messages frequently, the importance of email advertising will only increase. As these trends continue to develop and disrupt marketing strategies, it will become essential for advertising teams to take into account the high client acquisition and open rates email messages can provide and how these can help further business interests and build a client base. With these solutions offering more perks to entrepreneurs, email marketing may once again prove essential for organizations.
