Think how far the internet has come since the advent of email. It’s easy to forget it was once the prime communication method (remember chain emails?). Now we are in an era of microblogging (Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, etc.) and instant messaging (SnapChat, WhatsApp, etc).
It’s very easy to look at email as an old-fashioned thing of the past. Big mistake…. The reality is email marketing is widely considered by marketers to be the most crucial communication method.
Every wondered why email marketing is so effective? It is partly because you need an email address to do most things these days, from setting up user accounts to applying for a job. Pretty much everyone has an email address, and unlike social media, people tend to use it consistently.
When you sign up to a website’s newsletter, that’s email marketing.
When you click “send me details of future offers” after making a purchase or signing up to a service, that’s email marketing.
When you scribble your email address on your local band’s beer stained sign up sheet, that’s email marketing.
It is an inescapable thing in this day and age.
How can it benefit my business?
Let’s take a look through some of the main ways email marketing (or emarketing) can benefit your business.
Most companies believe that email marketing generates a return on investment (ROI) of 119%. It is an essential way to nurture customers from their initial curiosity in your company to that first purchase, then to their second purchase, and so forth. If you are interested in finding out just how much email marketing can make you, check out this email marketing ROI calculator!
Brand awareness
A customer presumably signed up to your email list at an early stage of research into your brand.
They may have an understanding of your product or service, but they want to know more. Emarketing is your chance to endear your company to your potential customers.
Never ever assume that your new subscriber knows everything about your business. Utilise your e-marketing capabilities to introduce those potentials to your brand, your vision, and it is fascinating where it can lead.
Customer retention
So, even though you’ve gained a customer, there’s an entire world of competition out there. Once you’ve converted someone into a customer, you need to keep them loyal to your brand.
Marketing tactics aren’t that dissimilar from the ones you might use on a date. You have one chance to catch their curiosity and cultivate it into a relationship.
The customer lifecycle
Any ideal customer will progress through a cycle of consumer behaviour in relation to your brand, which varies depending on the product or service that you sell.
Knowing how a consumer purchases, how often they purchase, and even what they purchase on can compliment any emarketing campaign, and marketing campaign for that matter.
Lifestyle marketing can be broken down into three fundamental steps:
Attract: Bring potential customers to your brand via various marketing channels.
Sell: Present the customer with the info and motive they need to seal the deal.
Wow: maybe the hardest part… guaranteeing the patrons get an excellent experience that will win their ongoing loyalty to your brand.
Harness the power of lifecycle marketing by creating email campaigns that target customers at each phase of the lifecycle. Campaigns can be taken even further though, this is just a snapshot into the world of campaign planning.
