As an email marketing automation platform we are strong advocates of the strength of email marketing but we are fully aware that not everyone is as convinced as we are that email is the way to go. In the very far past, Email marketing previously had a poor reputation, it was perceived as a last-ditch attempt to directly target recipients with sales messages, often discarded as pure Spam. Emails marketing in recent years has undergone a complete transformation and has made a spectacular come-back. Email marketing has revolutionized the way eCommerce companies communicate with potential and existing customers and is hailed more often than not as one of the top revenue drivers for any eCommerce site.
In this article we are going to take a look at the strengths of email marketing and find out why more and more eCommerce companies are turning to email as this main source of marketing.
What makes email marketing so unique?
Email marketing is unique in style and ability to attract, maintain and convert leads. Let’s take a look at the top three reasons why email marketing is the marketing strategy of choice for eCommerce businesses:
1:Size of Audience Reach
Over the past few years Email has become an increasingly popular communication tool Worldwide, replacing letters, faxes and in some cases even telephone conversations. According to the Radicati Group study from January 2017, it is estimated that there will be over 3.7 billion email users by the end of 2017 that will collectively be sending and receiving, on average, 269 billion emails on a daily basis. If you can imagine that approximately half of the World’s entire population uses email, then you will begin to gauge the importance email has to your business.
2: Personalization
Email is the only mass communication tool that enables you to connect directly with an individual on a personal level. Emails can be personalized to reflect the recipient’s on-site behaviors, giving you the ability to directly target each individual’s personal needs and wants. Not only that, email automation will trigger a campaign to capture the individual at the very moment intervention is required with relevant personalized content.
3: Cost effective
There is no other tool available that gives you the ability to reach a large audience on a personalized level for the cost of email marketing. Statistics show that email is not only the most cost-effective way to promote your products, communicate with your customers and reach your business goals, it also delivers an impressively high 3800% ROI, a figure that no other marketing strategy can compare to.
The cost benefits of email increase with the ROI as you continue to nurture your email lists and build relationships with your audience members. The more you maintain healthy email lists, maintain constant engagement and build further personalization into your email content, the lower the cost per unit gets.
4: Call-to-Action
Email doesn’t play games. There are very solid call-to-actions set within the content of each and every email sent. An email is an automatically transactional message that drives the recipient to complete an action. A call-to-action gives the recipient the clarity of what is expected from them; click to receive a discount, reply, sign-up etc.
How does email marketing compare to other online marketing methods?
Email marketing is not the only online marketing method for eCommerce businesses, but how does it size up to the others?
Social media marketing
Social media is certainly amongst the top trends in the marketing world and quite rightly so. This medium is a fantastic way to interact with your customers on a massive scale and strengthen your relationship with them. What social media doesn’t do that email marketing can, it does not target the individual with personalized content. Your ultimate goal is to convert; so whilst you should use social media as part of your engagement and lead generation strategy, the personalization of email is where your conversions sit.
PPC
Although PPC (pay-per-click) has the ability to target a vast audience, we are unable to specifically target qualified leads and this reduces the ROI of PPC dramatically. PPC can be very costly from the outset, and added to the equation the number of unqualified leads you are targeting you could find yourself spending a huge chunk of your budget for a relatively small profit. Email marketing is almost the opposite of PPC because you are only targeting those that have opted in to your communications.
Content marketing
Content marketing is a strong inbound marketing strategy that aims to populate the world with content that will attract qualified leads to your website. It is considered as one of the best tools to create brand awareness and convert website visitors into leads. What content marketing doesn’t do, it doesn’t build personalized relationships or create loyalty that will bring someone back to the website for more. Loyalty is vital in the eCommerce sector as it lowers churn and increases repeat business. Retention is up to 7% cheaper than acquiring new leads.
Whether or not you decide to use email marketing as your sole marketing strategy or choose to combine it with another online marketing strategy, we suggest that you always follow the following basic rules to help you establish a successful customer relationship:
1: Be consistent – Once you have a communication link with an audience, don’t let it go. Consistency build loyalty and trust
2: Highlight your unique selling points – You want to stand out from the rest so make sure you build a personality into your communications and highlight your unique selling points
3: Build reputation – Use your audience to build your reputation by building in a referral system into your email campaigns. This can be in the form of reviews, social media sharing or referral incentives
4: Segment your audience – Ensure that your content is directed to the right target audience you should ensure that you segment your email lists.
Email marketing can take your eCommerce business to the next level. Maybe it is time for you to see Remarkety in action. Come on over for a Demo or free trial today
As an email marketing automation platform we are strong advocates of the strength of email marketing but we are fully aware that not everyone is as convinced as we are that email is the way to go. In the very far past, Email marketing previously had a poor reputation, it was perceived as a last-ditch attempt to directly target recipients with sales messages, often discarded as pure Spam. Emails marketing in recent years has undergone a complete transformation and has made a spectacular come-back. Email marketing has revolutionized the way eCommerce companies communicate with potential and existing customers and is hailed more often than not as one of the top revenue drivers for any eCommerce site. 
What makes email marketing so unique?
