At its most basic level, email marketing is the use of email to promote your business. It is used to cultivate relationships with potential customers, keep current customers informed and updated on your brand, offer coupons to encourage customer loyalty, and more!
It is a direct form of marketing, similar to marketing through snail mail, but email marketing is much more efficient for your wallet and for the environment since it’s totally paperless!
Some people think email marketing is outdated, but they couldn’t be more wrong. Email marketing has been utilized since shortly after the birth of the Internet. It has evolved considerably since then and is still an incredibly useful marketing tool. In fact, many entrepreneurs argue that email marketing is more important now than ever before. There’s a good reason 85% of U.S. retailers consider email marketing one of the most effective customer acquisition tactics!
Email marketing can be used to build trust with customers over time to turn them into repeat customers. It is also an effective way to keep your customers informed about new sales or promotions you are running. People want to stay informed about your brand, and email marketing is one of the best ways to stay engaged with that audience. In fact, 28% of US online shoppers report subscribing to store or product emails in order to stay informed on brands they care about.
There are tons of software and automation tools out there that make email marketing a breeze. For example, MailChimp and Constant Contact can be used to send out emails and monitor how your subscribers interact with your emails. You can also use email marketing software to track analytics like click-through rates, open rates, bounce rates, and conversions.
Email marketing tends to be inexpensive and easy to track, especially in comparison to other forms of traditional marketing.
94% of Internet users use email. Therefore, marketing through email allows you to reach a great deal of Internet users even if they are not on social media. Furthermore, a survey found that an astounding 75% of adult online users say email marketing is actually their preferred marketing method!