In such a competitive online marketplace, it’s not easy for any small business to find cost-effective marketing strategies that deliver consistently good results. While the benefits of email marketing are clear to most businesses, some small businesses still fail to tap into its full marketing potential.
Apart from social media marketing, SEO, and paid advertising, email marketing is still one of the most cost-effective ways to connect with new customers and retain existing ones.
If you’re new to email marketing or simply wondering whether it should play a bigger role in your marketing efforts, here are ten good reasons why it’s worth considering…
Return on Investment
Most email marketing service providers offer free plans for small businesses that don’t have a huge email list. This means you can send out the same email message to 100 or 1000 potential customers at no extra cost.
If you have a larger list, the charges are low compared to other marketing strategies such as paid advertising. What’s more, email offers a great return on your investment. According to research, email can generate as much as $38 for every $1 spent 1.
Reach Existing & Potential Customers
As well as delivering email content to your existing customers, you can reach beyond your customer base with the right strategies in place. Using your website, social media platforms, and blog posts, you can promote your email content and steadily build your list of subscribers.
Connect with Mobile Consumers
Mobile devices have made consumers even more accessible to brands. People are constantly checking their phones for new emails, even ones sent from businesses. In fact, mobile users check their email three times more than non-mobile users 2.
Build Customer Relationships
Email marketing allows any small business to communicate regularly with their target audience. Sending out regular email newsletters containing useful and engaging content builds your credibility and ensures your brand stays top of mind with consumers.
By including exclusive offers and inserting clear calls to action, you can also significantly increase click-throughs to your website and push undecided potential customers toward a purchase decision.
Educate Your Audience
Sending out regular email content allows you to prove your expertise. It’s a great opportunity to show that you understand the challenges your customers face. Over time, this makes people feel more comfortable doing business with you. There are a number of things you can share:
- Industry updates.
- Company news.
- Expert advice.
- New content alerts.
You can deliver messages to your email list quickly and with no costs other than any costs from your email service provider. The bigger your email list, the more opportunities you have to convert potential customers into first time buyers.
Marketing Automation
As well as delivering regular newsletters, you can also use email marketing tools to automatically reply to customers. Most email service providers allow you to set up autoresponders. This automated process means you can continue customer interactions with no human input from your team. It’s almost like having a 24/7 sales team working on your behalf. Autoresponders can be set up to send welcome emails, thank you emails, order fulfilment details, discount emails, and more.
Targeted Messaging
You can even segment your email lists into different customer personas, depending on your marketing goals. For example, you can target only existing customers that have shown an interest in one of your products or services. This means you’re not disturbing other subscribers who may have only signed up for blog updates, for example.
Most email marketing service providers allow you to personalize emails, so you can address each email recipient by name or job title. This personal approach is a great way to increase engagement and build trust.
Promotional Opportunities
Having a mailing list allows you to connect quickly with your audience when you have a new deal or product to promote. What’s more, your existing subscribers have already shown some interest in your products and services, so they’re much more likely to be receptive to promotional content. In fact, people don’t mind receiving promotional emails. According to one study, 61 percent of consumers enjoy receiving weekly promotional emails 3.
Shareability
Every email you send can be forwarded by customers to their network of friends, family, and colleagues. In other words, your content has the potential to reach a much wider audience organically, with no extra effort on your part.
Analytics
Most email marketing tools give you access to critical data such as email click-through rates, open rates, and more. Having access to this analytics data makes it easier for you to see what’s working and what isn’t, meaning you can adjust future email marketing campaigns to maximize results.
The Power of Email Marketing
If you were wondering whether email marketing is right for your small business, hopefully the above reasons clearly highlight its potential benefits. Email marketing is still one of the most effective strategies to connect with your customers, reach a wider audience, build your brand, and drive sales for your business. What’s more, it’s affordable and provides measurable results.
Sources:
1. litmus.com/press/litmus-research-finds-email-marketing-roi-is-38-to-1
2. hubspot.com/marketing-statistics
3. constantcontact.com/email-marketing-stats/
