There are rumors floating around in some circles that email marketing is a dead practice. The truth is that this is not necessarily so.
Not only is email marketing something that has been around a long time, but it is still alive and well. In fact, it is one of the most effective forms of communication on the Internet.
However, there is some merit to the rumor. The “batch-and-blast style of email marketing is not a practice that anyone wants to engage in nowadays. It definitely saw its demise long ago, making room for current email marketing methods that reflect the changes in online society. Today, consumers are better informed and they know how to opt out of email communications that they don’t want. If they see bad marketing, they are not going to want anything to do with it.
The challenge for the Internet marketer is to understand the consumer and reach them with the content that they want. They want content that is going to speak to their individual needs and not the entire demographic. We have reached a time where people do not like to be lumped in with the whole. If keeping it old school is the chosen way to communicate, the email is either going to go to their spam folder or their trust in the brand is going to be shot to bits. Without trust, a company doesn’t have a chance with its target audience.
The Unread Email
Ignoring the basic metrics is what tends to result in the dreaded unread email. If click rates are only 3 percent, then that means 97% of the audience is not being engaged. This is a clear sign that something is terribly wrong. Even a 25% click rate is not that good because 75% of the audience is not being engaged by the content.
This is something that can be fixed with more engaging content. Then again, the email list could be weak.
Decimating the Weak List
While opt-in marketing has always been deemed the preference, but many individuals are not always aware that they provided their email address or they simply didn’t know what for if they were signing up for something completely unrelated to an email campaign.
An engaged list has to be constantly cultivated without the shortcuts, such as investing in third-party lists or submitting to the throes of the data vendor. Using opt-in methods that are clear will give you a strong list, which means better click rates and better conversions.
The Repetitive Message
Blasting out the same message to everyone can create a problem. Personalized messages are what will get attention. Email blasting may seem easy and cheap, but it can have a negative effect on the brand and your reputation.
The most effective email marketing does or looks like it came from a human being. The personalization in itself solves a problem, while making sure there is educational content within.
These simple metrics will make an email marketing campaign successful. What’s more is that there are affordable outsourcing solutions to ensuring it is done correctly if you do not have the time to do it yourself.
