Are Email Marketing Campaigns Dead?

The words “You’ve got mail” has always got me excited in the past, because email was more personal in those days.  Nowadays emails have been connected with spam, Nigerian princes, and other shameful scams.  How are companies even able to get their emails past the junk/spam filters and land in the inbox?  Or have email marketing strategies have finally keeled over and just went away?  You’d be very wrong to think email marketing has become obsolete.  Very wrong.

Email marketing campaigns may be an old marketing technique, but still provides one of the best ROIs and cost-effective marketing strategies (done right of course) for any business.  Another beneficial note is the ability to become more “personal” with your followers/customers/readers and thus become more transparent and informative.

Lately, emails have more spam and scams than anything really useful to the average user.  To get people to place emails in the inbox instead of disregarding them, emails need to be more creative, thoughtful, informative, and/or engaging.  Since emails have been much harder to get people’s attention, the creative marketing process has since evolved into something much greater and more effective than ever before.

Audience

Who is your target audience?  Not aiming for your main audience and trying to broaden your audience is a huge tactical mistake, especially in the beginning.  You want to gather as much of your target audience in the beginning.  Getting loyal customers/readers will soon create a word of mouth campaign with their friends, family, co-workers, etc., etc.

It is critical to get the attention of the very people you are trying to write/sell for.  Sending emails to the senior community about skateboarding most likely net you zero new followers or at best an insignificant amount of people.  More users will keep an email from a trusted source.  It would be a terrible waste of time sending emails to those who are not remotely interested.

Opt-In

Having an option to opt-in on the main webpage can create more contacts for your email base to grow.  When your target audience is interested in your website, they are most likely to follow and join your mailing list.  Social media is another way to gain more subscribers.  Make sure you describe what subscribers are expecting from subscribing to your site.  Explain what they get out of subscribing to your website.  It gives a more personal touch and gives subscribers a reason to trust your emails.

Create

Creating the actually email requires some work.  First off, is the subject line itself.  The subject line should grab the attention of the readers.  Sometimes one word works or maybe a whole sentence.  It’s how you put the whole package together.  The subject line can smoothly transition to the preview line or into the email itself.

The next part is creating the actual content of the email.  Some have pictures and others will have mostly words.  Simplicity is key.  Emails are being read on mobile phones more than ever before.  Having an email that can easily transition from computer to mobile will be another reason why people may retain your emails compared to others.  Graphics, words, and pictures can do a lot for an email, but not putting them together can really hurt the presentation and overall have people ignoring your emails.

Looks are going to important, but so are the content.  Content is the reason for sending out the email.  Is it an offer?  A newsletter?  Whatever the email may be, the content should only relate to what the reader is trying to read.  If an online bookstore sent an offer for a bicycle; everyone would either think it’s a joke or just be scratching their head trying to piece the two together.

Track

Tracking is key to making sure you are getting your messages across to your subscribers.  It also will determine the overall look of the email marketing campaign.  The metrics you can view are important as it can determine the open rate, CTR, conversion rate, etc., etc.  It can revamp your marketing strategy and gives you an insight on what people want and do not want.

DON’T SPAM

Enough said.

Email marketing campaigns are stronger than ever.  Some disregarded email campaigns and believed it would be a dead tactic a few years ago.  However, email is gaining more ground than in the past.  More companies are looking into email marketing campaigns and finding new strategies to reach out to their current and potential customers.  Don’t waste an opportunity which can lead to more clients and more business.