Email campaigns provide businesses with more opportunities to build lasting relationships with larger, targeted audiences, and at only a fraction of traditional media's cost, thereby maximizing return on investment.
For small businesses, choosing where to invest money is not an easy decision to make. Attracting new customers is essential, and you know that you need to keep the clients you already have, as well. However, investing resources and time into campaigns that do not deliver is simply unaffordable for most. Email campaigns are cost-effective, and they reach people where they go daily – in their inbox.
Scientific data proves the benefits of email marketing. According to Forbes, 91 percent of consumers in the United States want promotional emails from companies they trust and use. It is also 40 times more effective at acquiring new clients than Twitter and Facebook combined. Why is this?
Consumers do not do business with those they do not know, trust, and like. If you use your email campaign to provide people with problem-solving, informative content, they will value your expertise and share it online. You will slowly gain a credible, trustworthy reputation.
Boosting sales is much easier when targeting people already interested in your business. If they want to receive updates, content, promotions, and more from you, then they are already half way down the sales funnel and need only the right discount, special or service to make a purchase.
For any marketing strategy to succeed, you must know how it is performing. One of the biggest benefits of email marketing is the metrics it provides for these insights. You can use analytics to scrutinize every aspect of your email campaign, helping you understand your audience and market intelligently to them.
Communication is pivotal to building strong relationships with customers. Email marketing offers you an effective tool to do this. It allows you to get your message to those who matter most, keeping you in the forefront of their minds and engaged with your company at all times of the year.
People are opening almost two-thirds of all emails on mobile devices. Mobile technology is growing in popularity and it is crucial for businesses to make themselves mobile friendly. Your small business email strategy can take advantage of mobile demand by sending emails directly to these devices.
The impact of every order, appointment, or sale can be significant for small businesses. A good email campaign will give you immediate results and help you track the performance of each aspect of it. Results can be instant: If you need to trigger profits, simply devise a new special or promotion.
Newsletters look professional. Even the most basic templates are visually appealing. Even so, you can customize email templates by inserting your own content, and changing colors and logos to match your brand and enhance its image.
Although not everyone on your email list will sign up for services or buy a product immediately, you will be able to capture and keep their attention, while using informative and valuable content to build relationships with them. Interested people sign up for newsletters. It is seldom long before they convert.
Besides communicating with your email list exclusively, you can also attract new people to your company by using your own social media profiles to share announcements, newsletters, products, discounts, specials, and more. If you offer what people want, they will share it with their networks too.
Keeping people's attention is never easy, particularly for service businesses. During quiet times of the year, their minds may wander from your products or services. Email allows you to keep them interested in what you offer, without bombarding them with irrelevant information.
Of all the benefits of email marketing, its versatility is perhaps the most advantageous. Campaigns range from extremely basic to very complex. According to Forrester Research, 85 percent of businesses believe their email campaigns highly effective for customer acquisition. Consider personalizing with several tactics. Use the reader's name, a unique message of welcome, and even email reminders.
If you already have your own small business email strategy, then let us know in the comments below how it is working for you. If you want to enjoy all the benefits of email marketing, then subscribe to our newsletter for tips and tricks to start your own success story.