If you thought that email marketing was falling on deaf ears—or rather, falling straight into a consumer’s spam folder, think again.
In a recent survey taken by McKinsey & Co. it was revealed that email is still far more effective in acquiring new consumers than Facebook and Twitter combined – nearly as much as 40 times more, in fact.
The reason behind this is shockingly simple: 91 percent of all U.S. consumers still use email daily. No shocks there. What is kind of surprising, however, is that studies showed that the frequency at which emails prompted consumers to commit to their product was at least three times that of social media. Not only that, but that the average order value was 17 percent higher.
Now, this doesn’t mean that you should turn your back on all social networking platforms in favor of bombarding your contact list with mindless spam. The study stresses that marketers really need to find the perfect balance between well-targeted email blasts and investing in the right social media platforms.
The study offers a few handy tips for your e-blast strategy:
- While every element of your e-blast is important — from the subject line to the embedded images — marketers should look at customizing their landing pages as well. Make sure the consumer can get to whatever is being marketed or featured in one click. This can increase conversion rates by up to 25 percent.
- For the love of Jobs don’t forget customizing your pages for mobile devices! Google says 61 percent of users are unlikely to return to a mobile site they had trouble accessing. And, even worse, 40 percent visit a competitor’s site instead. Yikes!
- The best emails feel personal — and usually are. Look at tailoring your emails based on past user click-through, browsing and purchasing history. A nice and simple example of this? Birthday e-blasts! According to the survey, one financial institution increased revenue from target segments by 20 percent using life-cycle events to trigger personalized e-mails to existing customers.
So before you think about pouring all of your marketing mojo into Facebook or Twitter, don’t forget that your email client is still alive and well — and still very willing to turn you a profit!