Maybe because email has been around longer than the Internet, marketers often look past it because it’s not one of the exciting new toys or tactics.
But according to a Radicati Group study, there will be more than 4.48 billion email users by the end of 2024. That is about half the planet. And it’s all the evidence you need to realize that email is still a dominant form of communication.
The first-ever email was sent in 1971 by Ray Tomlinson, the man who put the “@” in emails. And now, nearly half a century later, millions of emails are sent across the Internet, and many of them fill our inbox every day. Today it’s hard to imagine our life without email.
Businesses can never ignore the power of email marketing. But when it comes to exciting new promotional tactics, let’s be honest, it’s not the first thing that comes to our mind. For many new marketers, emerging social media platforms are the end-all-be-all of digital marketing.
However, any experienced marketer will let you know that there is nothing quite like an email marketing strategy done right.
So, is email still necessary?
The answer is yes.
It’s no secret that email is one of the most effective ways to reach a target audience.
Here are the numbers:
The statistics behind email marketing
There’s a lot of buzz regarding email marketing and its benefits in 2022, here are just a few statistics and data to prove that email marketing is the way forward in today’s competitive and ever-evolving times:
- In just 2021, roughly 4 million users globally use emails and are expected to increase to nearly 4.5 billion by the end of 2024.
- In 2020, more than 300 billion emails were sent every day worldwide and expected to top 376 billion by 2025.
- More than 43% of users prefer to open emails on their smartphones.
- For every $1 spent on mail marketing, one can expect an average return of $42.
- Nine out of every 10 marketers (about 87%) use email marketing to distribute content organically.
- Roughly 80% of small businesses rely on email as their main channel for customer acquisition and 80% for customer retention.
Despite the emerging competition from other digital marketing avenues, such as social media, messenger apps, web push notifications and blogging, email marketing remains strong and continuously grows.
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Why is email marketing still important?
Because it works!
The next time you are having drinks with your social media manager or digital marketer, drop this factoid – there are 3.8 billion email accounts in the world. These numbers leave Facebook and Twitter in the dust. The fact that millions of people use it every day is a clear indication of an email’s credibility. What’s more, thanks to rapidly evolving smartphones, people actually carry their email accounts everywhere they go.
In case you need more convincing, here is why your business should stick with email marketing:
Personalized content
Email marketing allows marketers to tailor their message according to their customer’s buying patterns, behavior, needs and other factors. Further proving my point, a study by Yes Lifecycle Marketing, personalized email boosts open rates by 50%.
Moreover, data trackers and analytics can determine customers’ interest and create personalized email content to capture their attention and increase your sales.
Higher return on investment
Another significant factor in evaluating the advantages of a marketing medium is assessing its return on investment. Even in 2022, where marketers have access to multiple digital advertising channels like social media advertisements, Google paid ads, etc., email marketing still records the highest return on investment. Its metrics are higher when we compare it with other marketing tactics.
A study revelated that for every $1 invested, email marketing has the power to generate $38 to $42 in return.
Besides this, another survey by eMarketer stated that email marketing recorded a median ROI of 122% compared to 28% ROI for social media advertising and 25% for paid search ads.
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Lower marketing costs
Compared to traditional marketing channels, email is unquestionably cost-effective and straightforward.
For starters, you don’t need a huge marketing budget to advertise, produce or print. Subsequently, you end up avoiding the associated expenses of hiring a digital marketing company.
Additionally, when it comes to email, it’s worth mentioning that people expect to receive marketing messages (discounts, offers, loyalty rewards) directly in their inboxes. The same report also highlights that 82% of marketers spend 0 to 20% of their total marketing budget on email marketing and still reap its fruits.
An efficient email marketing requires a professional graphic designer to create visually appealing graphics and a content writer to write exciting promotional pieces.
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Enhanced brand loyalty
Building customer connection and brand awareness is a breeze with email marketing. All you need is an attractive email with a personalized subject line to create awareness regarding the brand’s products, mission, and values.
When your potential customer relates to your brand, chances are they will engage and connect with it much better. Hence, to establish a steady connection with your target audience, employ consistent, long-term email marketing strategies to keep consumers anxious for the upcoming email.
Final note
Without a doubt, as technology continues to advance and new communication mediums emerge, digital marketing will witness more unique advertisement trends. Regardless of these more recent developments, one thing is for sure; email marketing continues to dominate the market.
Certainly, email marketing offers economically-friendly ways of building relationships, communicating products’ unique features, creating user engagement, generating leads, and building brand reputation.
Before diving into email marketing, be sure to have a robust email marketing plan in place. Make sure yours has visually appealing graphics, attention-grabbing subject lines, strong calls to action, integration with social media accounts and alignment with landing pages.
