A year ago, we discussed the relevance and effectiveness of email marketing by today’s standards—and surprisingly, it’s still relevant! Even with modern strategies such as social media management and internet ads, email marketing remains to be an integral part of marketing.
Surprised to see that email marketing is still popular? If you take a gander at the history and importance of sending emails to prospects and clients, you’ll find out why you shouldn’t be stunned. So let’s ride an imaginary time travel machine and dive into the past of email marketing to discover its benefits and significance.
The Growth of Email Marketing
It all started in 1971 when a computer engineer named Ray Tomlison invented the concept of sending messages through electronic devices; thus, emails were born! However, it was Larry Roberts, who developed the first email management system in 1972. It allows users to pick and reply to emails.
You can also thank Gary Thuerk of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) for sending out the first mass email in 1978 via the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET). From there, email marketing progressed as a form of direct communication with businesses and prospects. The only problem with some marketing emails is that users referred to them as “spam”, also known as inappropriate or unsolicited messages.
Nowadays, we use emails for our jobs and personal lives. But most importantly, they’ll forever play a part in marketing for businesses.
While email marketing seems to be dead these days (no thanks to unsuccessful strategies), it’s pretty much alive. Nonetheless, the effectiveness of your email marketing campaign will depend on proper execution and planning. If so, then now is the perfect time to understand the fundamentals of email marketing.
Let’s look at some of the reasons why email marketing is still relevant today.
Reasons Why Email Marketing is Relevant
1. People Still Use Emails
Billions of emails are sent every day worldwide; that reason alone is why you should consider marketing your business via emails! Imagine the thousands of potential customers you’ll reach if you launch an email marketing campaign?
Your Strategy. To get the best prospects, you should engage with your potential customers first. Fortunately, content marketing is the key to success! By creating quality content for your emails, you’ll improve your level of engagement with your audience.
To create quality emails, you’ll need the following:
- Short, sweet, and simple content
- Illustrations
- Call to action (CTA)
- Comprehensive and readable message
In general, you should appeal to your target audience by keeping your emails brief yet meaningful, and a CTA that will redirect the user to your website or social media page. Making your emails more personal and relatable will result in better engagement with your target audience.
2. Open Rate is Still at an All-Time High
Open rate refers to the metrics that calculate the number of emails being opened by consumers daily. This 2020, we’re expecting to see an average open rate of 25.2% for emails across various industries. These numbers apply to welcome emails, also known as first-time emails for companies making a good impression of their business.
However, sending a welcome email is just the beginning. You need to make sure your prospect will read your message. In that case, you should avoid sending spam emails!
Your Strategy. Spam (junk emails) refer to unsolicited or inappropriate emails. From the consumer’s point of view, it’s easy to spot spam or junk emails. These are some characteristics of junk emails:
- Not safe for work (NSFW) images or videos
- Unknown sender
- Asking for private information
- Viruses
To prevent your emails from getting put into spam folders, all you have to do is avoid the said characteristics! As long as you’re following the law regarding email newsletters, you can rest assured knowing your audience is receiving your messages.
3. Around Half of the Audience are Mobile Users
Who doesn’t have a mobile phone nowadays? Even kids are using smartphones!
Around 46% of receivers open their emails using mobile phones. That’s why it’s a good reason to send emails so you can reach out to your mobile audience.
Your Strategy. The numbers don’t lie; with mobile users nearly amounting to half of your audience, it would be a waste not to incorporate email marketing in your campaign. To do so, you should put search engine Optimization (SEO) and email marketing together like two peas in a pod.
To let SEO boost your email marketing campaign, you need to do the following:
- Utilise keywords and phrases
- Reuse your emails in blog posts
- Archive your emails
- Build a list of subscribers
Conclusion
With these given email marketing strategies, you’ll achieve a successful outcome at the end of the tunnel! Of course, you won’t receive your rewards immediately, but you can bet that sending well-crafted emails will help your SEO campaign in subtle yet significant ways.
Considering email marketing? Call our SEO company in Singapore at +65 6391 0930 if you need any help!
