While everyone’s been distracted by Twitter, Facebook and The ‘Gram, email marketing has taken a back seat in the minds of some digital marketers. But are we underestimating the power of email marketing in 2020?
Today we’ll show you the potential of email marketing in 2020, and give you 3 top tips on how to create an up-to-date email marketing strategy that’ll get your customers clicking through
Is email marketing still alive?
Email marketing has evolved almost beyond recognition in recent years. If you’re using your old-faithful marketing strategy from 2012, and not seeing the same results, you might reach the conclusion that email marketing has lost its mojo. But that’s just not the case.
- According to DMA Insights from 2019, every $1 spent on email marketing, returns on average $42, other sources make that figure up to $51.
- Despite the Social Media Boom, a report by Emarsys revealed that 4 out of 5 small and medium-sized retailers use email as their main form of customer acquisition and retention.
- You’re not considered spam to your fans! 49% of US consumers would like to receive promotional emails from their favourite brands at least once a week.
How to effectively use email marketing in 2020
1. Send the right message to the right people
Your customers aren’t like a homogenous glob of beige hummus, they’re more like a colorful mixed mezze platter. Customize your campaigns and use email list segmentation to make your emails more relevant and engaging.
43% of consumers unsubscribe from email lists because the content isn’t relevant to them. To keep that number down you’ve got to get smart and target your campaigns to people who really want to hear about them. Use data such as location, purchase behaviour, and site interaction to speak directly to the relevant subset of consumers.
Use A-B testing to figure out which emails are getting the best click-through rates and adjust your strategy to align with your findings.
2. Get personal
Emails with personalized subject lines boost open rates by 50%. It’s an obvious sign that you’ve taken the extra step to customize your content for them (see step 1.)
The most obvious way to personalize a subject line is to use first names, but you can also use other data points such as birthdays/anniversaries, location, or purchase history to mix it up and keep it authentic.
Abandoned cart emails should also be part of your strategy, helping already engaged customers to complete their disrupted transactions. It’s useful to know that eCommerce marketers who use a succession of 3 abandoned cart emails get the most success: on average they get 69% more orders than those who send just 1 abandoned cart email.
3. Make it mobile-friendly
One of the most ginormous, revolutionary changes to digital marketing over the past decade is….(drumroll)… the ubiquitous use of smart devices (ching!).
46% of all emails are opened on a mobile device, and your email design should bear that in mind.
You’ll need to think about:
- Smaller screen sizes.
- Differing screen sizes (tablets, cells)
- Layout (portrait or landscape)
- Touchscreen functionalities
- Download limitations
You can make simple changes like ensuring your font is at least 14px. Keep files and image sizes small to allow them to download faster. Use large call-to-action buttons that are easy for touchscreen users.
In conclusion, email marketing is alive and well, but in order to make it work for your company, you need to evolve your strategy. Get on first-name terms with your customers, send them emails that are relevant, and make sure that they can open and interact with the email on their mobile devices.
Implement these changes today and you’ll start to see results. You can contact us too if you need help in your email marketing strategy.
