Email marketing is the most effective way to promote a business, and it is not just an opinion. This is what statistics say, and we will get to know about that. But first, let’s learn some necessary details.
What is Email Marketing?
Email marketing is sending commercial emails to a company or agency’s previous customers or a bunch of new potential customers. It is one of the most compelling and engaging ways of getting in touch with people. Email marketing is used to send various commercial messages such as offers, advertisements, new products or services, etc. Some main targets of email marketing are to build loyalty, trust, and brand awareness among their customers.
Email marketing is not a new concept. In 1978, Gary Thuerk of Digital Equipment Corporation first sent a mass email to approximately 400 people, and since then this marketing strategy has started to grow faster and become more reliable.
Some Forms of Email Marketing
There are many kinds of email marketing emails such as
1. Information Emails: These kinds of emails mostly consist of various offers product details or news regarding a new product.
2. Digital Newsletter: These types of emails are sent regularly (weekly or monthly), and they contain content regarding one particular topic.
3. Product Update: These types of emails are straightforward, and they have content regarding a new product or any update on a product that already exists.
4. Transactional emails: These kinds of emails are sent to one customer at a time regarding any action such as payment details or confirming a purchase. Etc.
How to do Email Marketing
If you want to start an email marketing campaign, then there are some things that you have to do. First, you have to select a goal. You need to have a clear vision regarding what you want to achieve through email marketing. Then you must make an email list of customers to whom you will send the emails. In this case, you can use various email marketing tools or email marketing services to send emails as there are so many email marketing tools available to speed up your work and they will also help you to develop better emails. HubSpot, Sender, Sendinblue, etc. are some best and free email marketing tools that you can use. Then you have to decide what kind of campaign you want to send. It can be any of the above. You can use some email marketing strategies such as personalizing emails for every customer, segmentation, making emails mobile friendly etc.
Now let’s know about some important statistics that prove that email marketing is one of the most essential and vital medium for promoting a business or making a business grow effectively.
1. Email is the most used and trusted medium:
People use emails a lot. Emails matter more than social media ads. Emails are more professional, and it’s more engaging when it comes to one-on-one engagement. Surveys found that in 2019 there were almost 3.9 billion email users, and within 2023 the number of email users will grow to 4.3 billion. (Statista, 2020) Also, in the year 2019, almost 293.6 billion emails were sent and received, and by 2022 the number is expected to grow to nearly 347.3 billion. (Statista, 2020) It is also expected that the global email marketing industry to hit US$!7.9 million by the year 2027. The global demand for email marketing valued at US$7.5 Billion is in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis. A revised size of US$17 is expected to exceed 5 trillion in the year 2020. That’s huge, right? Moreover, in email marketing, the return on investment is enormous as well. For every 1$ you spend, you can expect a return of approximately 42$. (DMA, 2019) So it can be said that email marketing is one of the best mediums that can be made the best use of and should not be abandoned.
2. Opening and Click Rates:
Customers always prefer clicking through a link on email rather than on social media. In a survey done by Mailchimp, it is shown that the average open rate on all non-labeled accounts is 22.71% and the average click rate is 2.91%. For agriculture and food services, the average available rate is 23.31%, and the average click rate is 2.94%. For art and artists, the average open rate is 26.27%, and the middle-click rate is 2.95%. For computers and electronics, the average open rate is 19.29%, and the average click rate is 2.08%. For entertainment and events, the average open rate is 20.51%, and the average click rate is 2.36%. There are a lot more categories in their survey. In all the categories, the average unsubscribe rate is below 1%. For all the categories combined, the average open rate is 21.33%, and the average click rate is 2.62%. So the number says it all.
Also, people engage more with emails that contain beautiful images, and emojis. Furthermore, welcome emails have a higher open rate. Welcome emails generate 4X more open rates and 5X more clicks than usual emails (invest), and they generate 320% more revenue on a per-email basis. (Wordstrem, Mention)
3. Email marketing for B2B businesses:
Email is the most used content distribution medium for B2B companies. It is considered the third most influential source of B2B audiences. Almost 93% of B2B marketers use email to distribute their content, and 83% of them use e-newsletters as a part of their content marketing program.
4. Email marketing for B2C businesses:
When it comes to B2C companies, 80% of business professionals believe that email marketing increases customer retention. (Emarsys, 2018) 59% of marketers claim that email is their most significant source of ROI. (Emma, 2018)
5. Personalized Emails:
Customers want to be treated as individuals, and in this case, a personalized email is the best thing to go for. Customized emails ensure more engagement than usual emails. These personalized or custom email messages boost 14% click-through rates and 10% conversions. (Campaign Monitor) Emails with personalized messages had an open rate of 17.6% while the open rate for emails that were not personalized had an open rate of 11.4%. (HubSpot) It has 29% higher unique open rates and 41% more unique click rates compared to non-personalized emails. (Active Trail) Furthermore, subject lines that are personalized increase email open rate by 26%. So we can see how effectively personalized emails ensure more public engagement.
6. Segmentation:
Segmentation in email marketing is considered the most effective method for email personalization, and it generates 58% of the entire revenue. 51% of marketers claim that segmentation is one of their most successful email marketing strategies for email personalization. (HubSpot, Forbes) Email marketing campaigns that are segmented get 14.31% more email opens and 100.95% more clicks than campaigns that are not segmented. (MailChimp) Unsubs and abuse rates are 9.37% and 3.90% lower in segmented campaigns compared to non-segmented campaigns. (MailChimp) Also, its bounce rate is 4.65% lower compared to non-segmented ones. (MailChimp)
7. Business Growth:
Email marketing helps a lot in the growth of a business. For any business, email is considered the primary tool for customer retention and acquisition. 81% of SMBs still depend on email as their primary tool for customer acquisition and 80% on retention. (Emarsys, 2018) Research finds that emails are way ahead of social media when it comes to the actual growth of the business as it ensures more one-on-one engagement. It can’t be said that social media doesn’t have any impact, but email marketing is much more beneficial than social media.
8. People end up purchasing:
People love getting promotional emails, and surveys show that 60% of people end up buying something from a promotional email. It’s only 12.5% when it comes to social media. (OptinMonster) So email marketing proves that it is way more beneficial in this case. Even sending abandon cart emails to customers is also very beneficial because in this case, a lot of people end up buying what they kept in their cart. Sending three abandoned cart emails outcomes 69% more orders compared to a single email. (Omnisend, 2018)
9. Optimized for mobile phones:
Almost everyone owns a smartphone these days, and it is not unusual at all for someone to check his email via a smartphone or tablet. Mobile devices reported at least 50% of email readings. Google claims that 75% of Gmail users use their phones to check their emails. People check their emails on smartphones doesn’t mean that they don’t check their emails on desktops. 23% of people who check emails on their smartphones again check their emails on desktop and these types of customers have a higher chance of clicking through. On the other hand, 42.3% of people will end up deleting the email if it’s not optimized for mobile phones. However, there are some email marketing tools or email marketing services that provide unique templates that will make your message more appealing to any device. So optimizing emails for mobile phones is a must, but it can’t be said that it will surpass desktop users.
10. People want to hear from companies:
Customers usually love to get promotional emails from companies regularly. Statistics show that 49% of customers like receiving promotional emails weekly. So it can be said that email marketing is a useful tool when it comes to getting more engaged with customers.
Tips:
Now let’s talk about some short yet valuable tips that you can use to gain maximum positive results out of email marketing.
1. Welcome emails generate more public engagement than usual emails.
2. Emails containing emojis ensure people’s attention.
3. The best time to send an email is between 10-11 AM.
4. Emails containing images ensure more people’s engagement.
5. Having a mobile-friendly design.
6. Offering something valuable.
7. Put the reader first.
8. Make it simple, clear, and straightforward.
9. Writing a fantastic subject line.
Conclusion:
Email marketing is one of the most useful ways of making a business run and getting connected to customers in a much better way. It is relevant and trustworthy. The statistics presented above indeed prove how engaging, profitable, and useful email marketing is. So what are you waiting for? Get into email marketing and make your business grow.