Q: Is email still relevant in 2019?
A: Yes.
Well that was easy! See you all next week, folks.
… Alright, I guess I should go into more detail. It’s easy to defend email as a lasting power when email marketing continues to be one of the marketing channels with the biggest return on investment. Email allows you to reach people in a place they visit every day, and because you’re reaching them in a place that they’ve actually invited you – the inbox – email feels more personal than a public forum like social media. And it’s this personal nature that makes email so effective. After all, 82% of consumers check their email at least once per day.
It’s easy to get swept up in the hype of the coolest new technology, but email has great staying power for many reasons.
It’s Personal
The largest way email stands apart from other forms of online marketing is that, done right, it feels like a one-on-one connection with your customers and potential clients. You can more easily tailor your emails to match where your contacts lie on their buyer’s journey. For example, a realtor can send a message highlighting upcoming classes to first-time homeowners or send tips for staging to sellers only. These sort of focused emails show your customers that you treat them as individuals and see better results – personalized promotional emails receive 27% higher unique click throughs.
It Keeps Leads Connected
Once someone fills out a form or takes another action on your website, emails are a fantastic way to continually stay in touch. Studies show that nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads. Emails make it simple to follow up – like sending an immediate thank-you email after a lead takes an action, then a follow-up email a week later providing more value and giving them ways to connect with your brand. (Psst – this is part of a strategy called Inbound Marketing. Check out our What is Inbound Marketing and Why You Should Care blog to see how it works).
It’s Easy
I’m a big fan of anything that looks complicated, but is actually easy. Email marketing doesn’t have to take a lot of time. You can streamline your emails by using automated marketing. In the last section I mentioned sending follow up emails after someone takes an action – the beauty in that sort of strategy is that you can make it all automatic. You can write emails in advance and simply schedule them to send when you want them to, for every lead that takes a specific action. You can even personalize emails using a tool like HubSpot. For example, let’s say you have a form on your website. You could set different emails depending on what someone selects. To go back to our realtor example, a relator could set different emails for someone that selects “I’m selling my home” or “I’m buying a home” when they fill out a form.
Email truly is a wonderful tool that’s easy to mold for many purposes. Email will continue to be important in 2019, and likely for many years to come.
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Google Webinar: Drive Business Growth with Email Marketing
Learn how to turn website visitors into meaningful contacts through the use of dynamic forms, email automation, and personalized content. We’ll discuss email strategies to help you build brand love and turn one-time visitors into loyal customers.
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