In 2021, roughly 309.6 billion emails were sent and received daily across the globe, and that figure is anticipated to exceed 333 billion in 2022. We cannot conduct business without communication, which is one of the many reasons email marketing continues to hold a bright future in the marketing arsenal.
For the uninitiated, what email marketing is, and what makes it so powerful is the subject of this blog. Grab a coffee and read on to get the inside line…
What is Email Marketing?
Email marketing (or e-marketers) is one of the oldest forms of direct marketing and is essentially a direct approach (via email, of course) to a customer or potential client. Subject matters of the communication generally range from special offers, updates or newsworthy alerts and various other information. POPIA has served to improve the level of accountability and protection of information in email databases, but this has not dampened the enthusiasm around Email Marketing in any way or form.
Email marketing tends to be graphically constructed using mailing software to ensure a visually interesting read for the recipient.
What is the Purpose of Email Marketing?
The sole purpose of email marketing is (as the name indicates) to conduct marketing by email, having the ability to broadcast messages in bulk. What adds shine to the purpose is that thanks to the fact that it is purpose designed and built, it presents a variety of opportunities that we, as marketers, can tap into.
For example:
- Interesting developments in your business
- New product launches
- Upgrades of existing products through the addition of new features
- Client service announcements (which are particularly popular in industries where there is competition for the share of the consumer wallet).
- Targeting of slow-moving inventory with special offers or product bundles.
- Helpful hints or insights
When used with purpose, email marketing can give rise to untapped brand awareness possibilities!
Does Email Marketing Have a Future?
The short answer is: “But, of course!” It is a tried and tested solution and one of the few marketing tools that has survived the arrival of social media. Plus, it holds a solid foundational standing because it is deployed through a communication medium that is one of the cornerstones in business communication – email!
To give your email marketing that equally bright and shiny future, here’s what you can do to add punch:
- Less serious, more fun! Your customers are receiving email communications from other vendors too, but you want them to be hanging on for your next mailer, so make it fun for them to read. Why? Because humour leads to laughter and laughter triggers the brain’s emotional reward centre, delivering a huge helping dose of dopamine and mood-enhancing serotonin. It’s invaluable within the overall circle of your customer relationship to tickle the customer funny bone every now and again!
- Resist the temptation to always be selling. Customer success stories, helpful hints and other meaningful shares of information will show that you care about them and that their business matters to you.
- Don’t drown your customer in boring material! If your emailers are fun to read, you can send them as often as you like, but be warned of the converse – nobody likes 62m tons of boring emailers!
- Learn from the best – don’t be shy to sign up for newsletters from brands or businesses that you admire to learn the tips and tricks of the best.
If email marketing is on your radar but too daunting to try, this is a service that we offer to our clients. With bespoke design mailers, told with unique copy and a storyline fitted to each mailer objective, our creative team is standing by to go wild with ideas to take your e-marketers from drab to fab.
To see our work, click here.
