Why Email Marketing is Important for Small Businesses

With all the talk about artificial intelligence, videos, and chatbots, it almost seems like email is taking a backseat. Some even say that email is past its prime.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The benefit of email is undeniable. You can see this when you open your email and see many marketing emails in your inbox every day.

Email marketing is as strong as ever. It’s powerful and super effective. Email newsletters will continue to be a powerful marketing tool for online businesses in 2020 and for many years to come.

At the same time, email marketing can be challenging. At first, marketing using email looks easy and straightforward. After all we all familiar with how to use email. The chances are we’ve been using email for many years. However, using email and marketing through email presents a different set of challenges we need to master.  

So the question we want to answer today is why is email marketing still relevant to your online business. Find out the advantages of using email marketing to grow your business compared to other marketing channels.

Why is Email Marketing Still Relevant?

Email is still an extremely effective way to market your business and generate leads. Email marketing most likely will be here with us for a long time. Unlike new technologies people are adopting, email has been with us for a long time and it’s the default channel for people to communicate.

Small businesses need to embrace email marketing and take advantage of all the benefits it offers. Below are some of the reasons email marketing can be extremely useful for growing a business if done properly.

It Beats Social Media When it Comes to Customer Acquisition

I know what you’re thinking. How dare I belittle social media?

Don’t get me wrong. Social media is great. I mean what can’t you do with social media? Nothing! However, email is still king when it comes to customer acquisition.

According to Statista, 85% of adult internet users are on email. That’s 22% more than social media and 15% more than search engines. Now, while these numbers are not exceptional, it’s clear that email marketing is the way to in as far as increasing conversions is concerned. This is why it is important now more than ever to ensure that you have a successful email marketing campaign.

It’s Cost-Effective & Offers Best ROI

Yes, you have to spend money to make money. But when it comes to picking a suitable marketing channel, you want one that is both cost-effective and still generates extremely high ROI (return on investment)

One of the reasons why email is still so effective is because it is more affordable than most traditional marketing channels. Not to mention it also comes with great returns.

According to the Direct Marketing Association, for every $1 spent, email marketing generates $40 in ROI. And together with the fact that it is more powerful and vibrant, it makes sense to adopt email as your marketing channel.

It is Personal and Customizable

Your customers are humans. They’re all looking to be social and make personal connections. They want to feel that you care about them and that you are looking out for their needs.

While there are many ways to humanize your services, one of the best ways to build a bond with your customers is by using email marketing. That’s why it’s important to segment your email list and tailor your message to appeal to your subscribers. By personalizing your emails you will build trust and build a loyal following.

With social media, it’s much harder to create a personal connection. Your message appears only for a few seconds on top of the feed and then quickly disappears. People are much more likely to notice and replay an email than social media posts.

Importance of email personalization

Based on statistics, segmented and targeted emails generate 58% of all the revenue. And marketers that use segmentation in their marketing campaigns have seen a 760% increase in revenue. And as if that’s not enough, 74% of marketers say that targeted personalization increases customer engagement. As we have seen, personalization works. And the best thing about it is that you don’t have to struggle with how to go about it. There are relatively simple ways to personalize the experience for your audience.

Emails are Action Oriented

One of the main reasons why marketers love emails is because emails prompt action. When you first receive an email, and it’s relevant to you, you’re much more likely to click on what’s inside. And if it’s useful, you’ll probably reply or forward it to others. You might even purchase it right away.

Email is very transactional in nature and so you get to see results right away. However, for your email marketing campaign to work, you need to get people interested in what you have to offer. You also need to make sure you incorporate and use calls to action to make it easy for people to take action.

It is Measurable

You are not running an email list just for the fun of it. You want to get more engagement and maximize the results. Fortunately, with email, there’s no guesswork. You can track exactly how many people opened your email, which links were clicked, and the number of subscriptions.

This will tell you if your email marketing campaign is performing well. You can then use these results to make adjustments to increase engagement levels.

Users Constantly Check Their Email on Mobile Devices

According to Daily Mail, we check our phones 85 times a day. And about 80% of millennials say that their phone is the first thing they check when they wake up.

People are always on their phones either checking their email, browsing the web or chatting with their friends. According to ExactTarget, 91% of people use smartphones to access their emails. This beats the 75% who use their phones for social networking.

VIDEO: Email Marketing Secrets For Small Business

Types of Emails Small Business Must Send

Once you have built your email list, it’s time to start sending emails to your subscribers. Here are five types of emails that small businesses can send to engage with their audience and drive conversions:

Welcome emails

Welcome emails are the first email that subscribers receive after signing up for your email list. They are a great opportunity to introduce your brand, set expectations, and establish a relationship with your subscribers. Welcome emails can include a personal message from the business owner, a special offer, or a call to action to follow the business on social media.

Promotional emails

Promotional emails are sent to promote a specific product or service. These emails are designed to persuade subscribers to take action, such as making a purchase, signing up for a trial, or attending an event. Promotional emails can include discounts, limited-time offers, or free gifts to encourage subscribers to take action.

Newsletters

Newsletter emails are sent regularly to keep subscribers up-to-date on the latest news, trends, and promotions from your business. These emails can include blog posts, industry news, new product announcements, and more. Newsletters are a great way to build brand loyalty and keep subscribers engaged with your business.

Abandoned cart emails

Abandoned cart emails are sent to subscribers who have added items to their cart but have not completed the purchase. These emails remind subscribers of the items in their cart and offer incentives to complete the purchase, such as a discount or free shipping.

Re-engagement emails

Re-engagement emails are sent to subscribers who have not interacted with your emails or made a purchase in a while. These emails can include a special offer or discount to encourage subscribers to re-engage with your brand.

Common Small Business Email Marketing Mistakes

While email marketing can be an effective way for small businesses to engage with their audience, there are common mistakes that can hurt your email marketing efforts.

One of the biggest mistakes is sending too many emails. Bombarding your subscribers with too many emails can lead to them becoming overwhelmed and unsubscribing from your list.

Another mistake is not segmenting your audience. Segmentation allows you to send targeted emails to specific groups of subscribers based on their interests, behaviors, or demographics.

Not optimizing your emails for mobile devices is also a mistake as more than half of all email opens occur on mobile devices.

Personalizing your emails is also important as it can increase engagement and conversion rates.

Finally, ignoring unsubscribe requests can hurt your reputation and lead to your emails being marked as spam. By avoiding these common mistakes, small businesses can improve their email marketing efforts and build stronger relationships with their audience.

Conclusion

If you are a business owner, using email campaigns should be a top-level priority. It is engaging, action-oriented, and a lot more effective than most other marketing channels. It’s also measurable so you can track your results to see how successful it is.

In this post, we listed some of the top benefits of email for small businesses in 2020. Email will continue to be a huge part of marketing. Because of its many advantages, all small business owners should consider using email marketing for growing their business.

Kate Lynch is a business and digital marketing blogger who spends her entire day writing quality blogs. She is a passionate reader and loves to share quality content prevalent on the web with her friends and followers, keeping a keen eye on the latest trends and news in those industries. Follow her on twitter@IamKateLynch for more updates.