Email marketing is one of the oldest forms of digital marketing, and it continues to be one of the most vital parts of digital marketing. However, you’re most likely going to stumble upon articles that say email is no longer important. Here’s my favorite, “RIP email marketing.” It’s kind of humorous in a way, but it’s completely fictional.
Email marketing is not dead or six feet under, or whatever other description you might see out there. It’s alive and well, and if anything, it’s thriving. Let’s take a look at a few reasons why.
Simplicity
In it’s simplest form, email marketing is easy, effective and inexpensive. That’s it, right there. I mean, anyone who owns a business is looking for those 3 qualities and they all fit the bill for email marketing. An email marketing campaign can be simple for anyone to use and it can reach a huge number of consumers at a low cost. I could end this article right here on this point. Of course, I won’t, because there are many other reasons email marketing is effective in today’s digital world.
Easy to Target Mobile Users
We’ve mentioned before that mobile use is on the rise — roughly 52 percent of US cellphone owners access their emails from their phones — which means you have to adjust your digital marketing plan for mobile users. Many times that means purchasing new software or technology, which can get awfully pricy. Thankfully, that’s the not the case with email marketing. Email makes an easy transition to mobile devices, and an extra bonus is that it costs consumers nothing to access their email account from their mobile devices.
The RIGHT People
One of the biggest debates you might see why email marketing is declining or “dead” (still laughing at that one) is because of social media and it’s ability to deliver content in real time. While social media does have that advantage, it’s difficult to select who is receiving your content. Email marketing, on the other hand, is very effective when it comes to targeting the right people. You can create email lists from past or potential customers who have subscribed to your lists. You can be confident that a majority of the people that make up your email lists show an actual interest in your brand because they took the time to subscribe. And if there are people within your list that are not interested in your brand, a simple unsubscribe link allows them to be removed from that list.
It’s All About the Numbers
It’s hard to argue that email marketing is dead when the number of people with email accounts continues to climb. In 2013, the total number of worldwide email accounts grew to 3.9 billion and that number is expected to increase by another billion by the end of 2017. Business email accounts in 2013 reached 929 million, and that number is expected to increase to over 1.1 billion by 2017. This means that email marketing not only has a large market for B2C, but also B2B.
Wanted Dead or Alive
The debate will always continue whether or not email marketing is dead or alive, but the numbers show a thriving form of digital marketing in email campaigns. And it could vary from business to business, depending on what you are trying to market. But if you’re not sure, give it a try. Like I mentioned earlier, it’s easy, effective and inexpensive.
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