The Email Marketing Decision

Our Love-Hate Relationship with Email
As consumers and as marketers, most of us have a love-hate relationship with email.

As recently as 2009, studies showed that it was the most popular online activity, favored by 87% of North Americans as their primary online communication tool. As marketers, email is a quick way to communicate directly with customers.

And it's affordable. Paying a few cents to send an email beats the cost of direct mail. In fact, research from inbound marketing company Hubspot noted that business' cost/lead/channel with email marketing is 49% below their average cost/lead/channel.

As consumers, though, we're also familiar with the hate. The newsletter from the company you've never heard of. The sale email from the store you haven't shopped at since the existence of the Internet. And then there's the spam: Rolexes, stock tips, and other unsavory offers.

As a marketer you're able to see the benefits, but as a consumer you see the faults. So, what's a company to do?

Want to find out how we can help you effectively market via email? Learn more about August Ash's Internet marketing and Minneapolis web design services. Not sold on email marketing yet? Read on.

And the Survey Says... We're Feeling the Love
Data from Epsilon, the world's largest permission-based email marketer, suggests email marketing is seeing a renaissance, and it's impacting more than just online activity.

An Epsilon survey found that email marketing impacts both offline interactions and customers' impressions of a company. Data from that survey included:

• 57% of consumers have a more positive impression of a company when they receive email from them.
• 40% of consumers said receiving a message positively impacts their likelihood to purchase from a company.
• 50% of consumer said they're more likely to buy products from companies that email them, either online or at their place of business.

As far as consumers seeing your email messages, another Epsilon report shows this aspect is getting better, too. The report noted an increase in email open rates, click through rates, and deliverability.

Ask and You Shall Receive
Don’t forget the most important part about all of this positive data: It relates to permission-based email marketing. Sending unsolicited messages does more than make your customers angry. It can also get you blacklisted – meaning you won’t be able to send email to certain addresses, or in severe cases, at all.

Obey the Golden Rule
Treat others as you’d like to be treated. This statement definitely holds true for email marketing.

The positive data in recent reports is thought to be a result of more careful, strategic decisions from marketers. When planning email marketing, put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Think about these questions:

• What value or benefit will they get from the information you’re sending?
• What types of messages catch your eye? What makes you stop and read them? The sender? The subject line? The offer? The length of the message?
• When are you going to send this message? How often have your customers requested to hear from you? (Ask this question when they sign up to hear from you.)

Get Started
If you ask permission and follow the unwritten rules of effective email marketing, it might be a smart choice for your business. Not sure where to begin? That’s understandable. With spam laws, lists to build, and templates to design - there’s a lot to think about.

We can help.

Email marketing is an affordable, quick addition to your Internet marketing, one that August Ash can create for you. And best of all, once it’s set, it’s easy for you to manage on your own.