5 Reasons Email Marketing is Crucial

… for your online (or offline) business.

Email Marketing – to some small business owners these are words tainted by images of unsolicited junk mail and tacky sales promotions. A digital version of the postal printouts we throw away after they drop through our letterbox. But when Email Marketing is done right, it’s in fact one of the best tools at your disposal. You’ll quickly wonder why you didn’t start earlier.

If you need some convincing on this though, here are 5 excellent reasons that email is crucial to your e-commerce marketing campaign.

• Encouraging repeat business and loyalty.

The best use of Email Marketing is to keep your name at the tip of tongues in your particular niche or industry. This means you’ll be the first port of call when a customer needs to re-order, or has been deliberating a second purchase. Furthering customer loyalty is key in todays tough markets. It’s very easy to see exactly who your best customers are with email marketing. Your advocates will read (and probably click through on) each and every mailer you send out!

• An excellent and quick way to qualify leads and convert sales.

With the power of todays advanced email analytics, it’s very quick to filter down your campaign results to see who in your email list is interested. Email is a much quicker way to qualify potential sales from a subscriber database than to phone each one, for example. Converting sales online can be a cinch too as opposed to other direct marketing methods. You can’t buy from a leaflet for instance, but you can click through and buy from an email. It’s fast and painless, and the client is already online and hopefully engaged with your content.

• Obtaining real and immediate results to your marketing.

As effective as they can be, there’s only so much feedback you can get from posters, leaflets and fliers. Email Marketing gives you immediate analytical feedback, so you can quickly tell what works. You’ll most likely want to drill down and see your campaign’s Open Rates and Click Through Rates. A/B testing is pretty easy in most modern email software. This means you can test what works well, what doesn’t, and how to adjust your campaign for better results next time.

• Email can be personalised to each of your users.

Assuming your email database is kosher, and you’ve gathered your customer information sensibly. Your email campaigns can be personalised to each individual recipient. Compare this to the likes of a generic leaflet and the advantage is obvious. If Jane reads “Dear Jane”, she is much more likely to engage with your content. This of course isn’t possible with many other forms of direct marketing, so is likely to lead to a higher conversion rate, and therefore a better return on your investment.

• Extremely cost effective vs. traditional methods.

When you take into account the typical cost of designing, printing and posting leaflets. Email is a much cheaper way of communicating with potential or existing customers. That’s not to say it’s free though. You’ll need a reliable email service provider (a couple to note are Email Blaster or Mailchimp) to make sure your messages reach your customers inbox. Email also presents a better value option; it’s not only cheaper, but you get more feedback and better results for your money in most cases.