No, email marketing is NOT dead. Email marketing is still a goldmine in today’s digital world.
It is still the most effective and efficient way to target the right audience at the right time with precisely targeted content (thanks to marketing automation).
Yes, many businesses are reporting that they have been receiving fewer email opt-ins but here’s what they don’t know… At times when email marketing has been perceived as being dead; more people were using email than ever before!
And today is no exception.
Statistics are showing that as of 2021 there are over 4.3 Billion email accounts worldwide with a little less than half being business/corporate email addresses (1.87 billion) and another 222 million of those are live, working business domains!
Not only that but the total number of emails sent and received per day has been steadily increasing over the past few years, and the projected growth is expected to continue for the next few years.
The Big Email Marketing Statistics & Trends Report 2021
According to a recent report by EmailToolTester, more than half of the global population now uses email.
There are approximately 306 billion emails sent daily, and it is expected to increase to over 376.4 billion daily emails by 2025. Additionally, email has seen higher click-through rates than social media. (Statista)
Email Marketing For Beginners
According to the DMA, 84% of retailers use email to connect with their customers.
It’s easy to see why since it ensures that a business has its content directly in front of its potential customer instead of somewhere else on the internet.
Because of this, email marketing has been the main focus of many marketers.
Making sure that they’re sending out newsletters, promo emails, and other types of email marketing campaigns consistently.
Unfortunately, many businesses have been disappointed with their email marketing efforts for several different reasons.
Ranging from low open rates to unsubscribes by customers who don’t find the content relevant or what they’re looking for (which can lead them to find a replacement product/service).
This could easily leave your business in a very precarious situation if you don’t have an email marketing strategy to get back on track.
But, it’s not all gloom and doom… It’s possible to turn things around by taking the right steps that will increase your open rates, click-throughs, and conversions.
How to improve your email open and click-through rates?
One of the biggest issues with email marketing is that businesses are not taking into account the different preferences of their customers.
There’s a big difference between what one customer wants to read and what another customer wants to read.
Simply put, if you’re sending out newsletters and other types of promotional emails that don’t match your customers’ interests; then they’re likely to unsubscribe from your list.
This means that you’re losing potential customers who would otherwise be interested in your product/service.
At the end of the day, it’s all about what content goes into your email marketing campaigns.
If the content doesn’t match a customer; they will not be interested and are more than likely to unsubscribe.
In Email Marketing, Content is King
The content of your email marketing campaigns is vital to the success of your business.
You should always be focusing on creating high-quality, interesting, and relevant content for your audience (this also applies to blog posts).
This way you’re building up a relationship with customers who will be more likely to open and read your emails since you’re providing them with content that they want.
On the other hand, if you just slap things together and don’t care about the quality of your content; then it’s likely that more people will unsubscribe because you’re wasting their time with low-quality newsletters.
However, another important thing to point out is that not all content needs to be boring and dry.
How to improve your email marketing engagement?
There are ways of making your emails fun, engaging, and showing your customers that you care about their interests.
This will make them more likely to open the emails that you send out because they know that you’ll provide them with the relevant information that they want.
Tweaking Your Email Subject Line To Increase Engagement
Your email subject line is probably one of the most important parts of your email marketing campaign.
It’s what gets your potential customers to open it and read the content that you’ve provided.
It’s worth spending some time tweaking this part as much as possible so that it catches the customer’s eye.
This will help increase customer engagement from the start.
It’s worth noting that there are several ways to do this:
- Make sure that your subject line is clear and concise with no spelling errors and easy to read
- Use words that show the customer exactly what they’ll be getting if they click on your email (words such as “FREE!” are very popular)
- Make your subject lines relevant to the content that you’re sending out (or at least in the right tone).
For example, if you’re providing a list of information about ‘how to use a new product’, then the email subject line shouldn’t be something like “win a free iPad!”.
Instead, it should be something along the lines of “How to use our new product better”.
How important is industry benchmarking to email marketing?
Simply put, it’s very important.
You need to know how well your email marketing is doing in comparison with other companies within your industry.
Take the time to work out what is considered normal and then try and beat that figure every single month or quarter (whatever period you want to target).
At first, this may seem daunting but once you start to get a hang of the system, it will be easy and second nature.
The one thing that you have to remember is that you’re not just competing with other companies in your niche but rather every business out there that is sending out emails.
This means that the standards for email marketing engagement are much higher than ever before.
What’s the difference: Email Marketing vs Marketing Automation?
There are several things that separate marketing automation and email marketing:
Email Marketing is usually used for direct communication between a business and customers.
Marketing Automation can also be used for this.
However, the term “marketing automation” is more often applied to automated processes within an organization (eg, lead management system for that company)
Marketing Automation is more likely to use customer relationship management (CRM) software and usually involves some form of A/B testing.
Email Marketing doesn’t necessarily require a CRM or a complicated system that you have to build yourself.
In short, the difference is determined by what you are using it for but also how in-depth you want to get with your campaign.
What email marketing trends are going to be “hot” over the next few years?
Sending out newsletters that have a sense of humor will become more and more popular.
It’s not just about being funny – it’s about standing out from the crowd and showing customers that you’re willing to put in the effort to make them smile.
People like to feel connected with a business and if they know that you’re putting a lot of effort into making your business happy, then they’re more likely to become clients for life.
This is especially true for younger generations who are constantly bombarded with information and advertising every day.
They don’t want to be told what to do, how to think, and how to live.
Instead, they want you to present them with an option, make it seem appealing, and then let them decide if they like it or not.
This is just one of the many reasons why email marketing is set to become more and more popular.
How to measure the effectiveness of an email marketing campaign?
The effectiveness of your email marketing campaign can be measured in several ways.
However, the most important thing that you need to do is establish what success looks like for you.
For example, if your business isn’t making any money from email marketing then it’s probably time to re-evaluate.
More than likely there is something in your process that isn’t working or some vital statistics are missing from the process (ie, open rates).
You wouldn’t start baking cakes if you didn’t know how to read a recipe.
Similarly, you shouldn’t begin an email marketing campaign until you know how to track it and make the necessary changes.
So what are the main email marketing stats that you should be looking at?
Open rate – This is one of the most important statistics for any email campaign. If your open rates are low it means that your content isn’t interesting enough or you’re not sending the message to the right people.
Either way, you need to change something if you want better results.
Click-through rate – This is one of those statistics that can be manipulated so it’s always advisable to look at other factors besides the overall click-through rate.
For example, if you’re sending out an email to a lot of people then your statistics are likely going to increase even though your campaign might not be as popular as you thought.
To get better results from this statistic look at your conversion rates and customer retention rate.
Conversion Rate – The conversion rate is the number of people who have clicked on your email and converted it into a client/customer.
A high conversion rate is good, but it’s not always that clear-cut.
For example, if you’re offering discount codes then a high conversion rate will be expected, but if that same statistic drops when you start sending out content marketing emails you know there might be a problem!
Customer Retention Rate – This is one of the most important statistics when it comes to email campaigns.
In a nutshell, this statistic tells you what percentage of emails your clients or customers open and how many they click on.
You can then analyze whether these ‘unique’ individuals are clicking on any links in the email, whether they click on any subsequent emails, or whether they unsubscribe.
Conclusion
In the end, it’s all about improving your email marketing efforts and effectiveness.
If you can show that your emails are getting a better engagement than even the biggest companies in your industry; then people will start to take notice and this could be the beginning of a very successful business venture for you.
People are always more likely to buy from you if they know that you care about them as an individual so always remember this simple fact.
Good luck!
Ali is a digital marketing blogger and author who uses the power of words to inspire and impact others. He has written for leading publications like Business2Community, Inc. Magazine, and Marketing Profs. When not writing, he enjoys spending time with his family.