Email Marketing isn’t sexy, but it works

24/01/202301/01/2023 by Pepper Advertising

Email Marketing has been around for a while

According to HubSpot, “the first marketing email was sent in 1978, and resulted in $13 million in sales, and kicked off what has become one of the most highly used marketing channels even to this day.
Given how long it has been around, email isn’t as sexy as some newer channels like messaging and social, but it is an effective way to build an owned audience that gets results.
Many people begin their customer journey from search engines like Google, where they search for information about the products or services they are interested in for the best deals and or product reviews. Consumers are now better equipped when it’s time for them to make a decision. The availability of information along with the variety of products and services that can be accessed via the internet has encouraged another shift in the marketing landscape from selling to serving.
Before trying to sell any products or services to prospects, you must first earn their trust by building a relationship with them. Building and nurturing relationships is where e-mails come in handy since it provides a one-to-one form of communication. Thus, it facilitates the personalization of messages and the entire customer experience by extension.
Serving your prospects involves content marketing, whereby you provide relevant information about a problem that your product or service can solve. But instead of ONLY telling them about your products/services, you provide the relevant information which educates them and helps them to make an informed decision, while simultaneously presenting your product/service for consideration.

Email works

Based on our own research in the Trinidad and Tobago market: 10 Things About Email, email is the preferred marketing channel by which customers receive and view offers and updates about their favorite brands/products.

Here are also a few email marketing stats from HubSpot that you may find interesting:

“Email marketing revenue is estimated to reach almost 11 billion by the end of 2023. (Statista, 2021)” https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/email-marketing-stats

“77% of marketers have seen an increase in email engagement over the last 12 months. (Not Another State of Marketing, 2021)” https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/email-marketing-stats
“41.5% of brands say that email marketing is very critical to business success, compared to 78% in 2020. (Litmus, 2021)” https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/email-marketing-stats
“37% of brands are increasing their email budget, and just 1.3% are making cuts. (Litmus, 2021)” https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/email-marketing-stats

Email delivers huge ROI

For businesses email’s value can be summed up into three letters: R–O–I. According to Constant Contact, for every $1 you spend on email marketing, you can expect an average return of $42! That is easily the highest ROI of any marketing channel. And even if we cut that return in half, it’s still a superior performer compared to other channels. And as if that’s not enough, here are a few more reasons why email should be an integral part of your marketing communications plan:

It allows for interactive and personalized communication with consumers
It encourages the consumer to actively participate in conversations about things that are relevant to them
Low cost to implement
Marketing automation facilitates relevant and timely emails
Owned audience

How can email benefit your business and your customers?

Business benefits:

Helps to capture valuable insights.
Facilitates constant communication to help usher prospects further along the sales/marketing funnel.
Helps drive and maintain website traffic.
Facilitates data-driven analysis (via first-party data).
Build stronger connections via a more human experience through personalization.
Better ROI

Customer benefits:

Timely and relevant information about topics, products, and services they are interested in
Empowers the consumer by use of permission-based emails – they control what they see

Email is your reliable team player

Email marketing is a team player. It is another important cog in the marketing communications wheel and plays an important role in the customer journey. Social media, Email, Google (Search & Display) and Websites/Landing Pages should all come together to complete the big picture – a digital marketing masterpiece. The design and content of each channel should all complement each other to provide a consistent and coherent user experience. It should facilitate a smooth transition of acquiring and nurturing leads and converting them into customers and brand disciples.

Don’t miss out! Preview and download our whitepaper: 10 Things About Email

Stay tuned for our next blog post where we’ll discuss the different types of e-mails that can be used in e-mail marketing!