What do customers think about email marketing? Many marketers think that email is a forgotten marketing channel, but that may not be true. According to HubSpot Blogs research, customers remember about 76% of the messages they get through email marketing campaigns.
To find out what the customers think about email marketing, we surveyed 1000 customers about their attitudes towards email marketing and the results are pretty interesting. Here’s a quick overview of how customers feel about email marketing and what they do and don’t like about it.
Customer Opinions About Email Marketing
Overall, customers feel that email marketing is a useful tool in the marketing mix (38% agreed, 28% disagreed, and 28% felt it depended on the product or service).
Customers like the fact that it’s an easy and cheap way to connect with potential customers, but they dislike the amount of spam they get through email (43% dislike it and 35% like it).
For B2B companies, email marketing is probably the most efficient way to connect with potential buyers as only 4% like the idea of receiving spam. (For more on B2B marketing trends, check out our blog post about Inbound Marketing.)
Customer Usefulness Of Email Marketing
Overall, customers feel that email marketing is a useful tool in the marketing mix. A majority of 74% say this, but only 6% use it frequently.
For those who use it frequently, emails are mostly used to keep up with marketing-related news and to find out about new products (69%). They also use it as a way to receive special offers (44%).
When it comes to B2B, customers feel that email marketing is very useful (12% use it frequently), especially for lead generation (10%). They also like receiving sales-related emails (9%).
Customer Attitudes Towards Email Marketing
E-mail is a channel that customers have historically disliked. As discussed in the introduction, customers feel that they get a lot of spam and that it’s easy for marketers to collect their personal data. As a result, only 28% of customers like getting e-mails from marketers, while 71% dislike them.
The polarizing nature of email means that customers can either love it or hate it. However, that may be changing. As discussed in the survey, customers are warming up to the idea of receiving emails from marketers (53% feel it’s either useful or interesting, compared to 29% who felt this way about spam).
The good news for marketers is that customers seem to have positive feelings towards a brand if they view it as a helpful and interested party. This is one of the key findings of our email marketing research: customers value your interest in their needs if you show that you’re trying to understand their situation and offer a solution.
Marketing Channels To Keep An Eye On In 2015
In 2015, email marketing is a familiar channel for customers. However, that doesn’t mean that it’s the only marketing channel that we should be paying attention to. In fact, customers may move around a lot of different brands and products before they make a purchase, which is why it’s so important to have a multichannel approach.
To help marketers stay focused while developing strategies for multiple platforms, we’ve curated a list of the top channels customers use, and in some cases, have deleted or ignored. Keep in mind that this is based on customer research and not designed to be completely representative of all purchasing behavior.
Social Media
The first thing that comes to mind when you think about social media is definitely platforms like Facebook and Twitter. In fact, these platforms have replaced message boards and blog comment sections as places for customers to interact with companies.
Customers have a whole digital landscape in the palm of their hands, which makes it incredibly easy for them to find and connect with other people, regardless of whether you have a physical storefront or a website.
Not all social media is created equal, however. While customers have a wide variety of interactions and mechanisms to find content, products, and businesses they like, it’s important to note that not all interactions are created equal. Only 12% of customers feel that their opinions and thoughts matter, while 88% feel that their opinions and thoughts don’t matter at all. While this may seem counterintuitive, it means that customers are more likely to engage with companies on social media that they feel have interest in their opinions and feedback.
Search Engine Results
Another way that customers find content, products, and businesses online is through organic search engine results. When customers type in a query into the search bar of their browser, the engine will return a list of websites that are relevant to their search query. For example, if they’re looking for a new computer and happen to be browsing the search engine results for computer brands, they will see a list of computer stores and manufacturers that they can compare against each other.
When it comes to buying a computer, customers feel that the information on the website is most valuable (35%), followed by social media (26%), and search engine results (22%).
What does this mean for marketers? If you’re looking to advertise on the internet, you should probably try and appear in the organic search engine results for your chosen keywords. When customers find your website in the search results, they will quickly learn that you’re an authoritative source for information on your topic, which may help lead them to trust you.
Online Reviews
In addition to search engine results and social media, customers also use review websites and forums to find information and learn about products and services. While these platforms don’t always provide clearly discernible value to customers, they can help guide them towards trustworthy and high-quality information. For example, TripAdvisor reviews can help customers learn about restaurants prior to visiting the area, and HonestReviews helps customers learn about home cleaning products.
Product Reviews
A lot of times, customers will visit review websites specifically to read reviews of a certain product. This could be because the product they’re looking at is out of stock at the retailer, or because it’s a specialty item and they want to find out what other customers think.
If you’re going to submit product reviews to quality review sites, make sure that they’re relevant to the target audience of your product. The review sites will sometimes choose what product to review based on the reviewer’s qualifications, so make sure that you’re consistent and have plenty of experience in your field.
Paid Ads
Last but not least, we have paid ads. While customers may not always like getting emails from marketers, those who do get them might find them useful for learning about new products or finding discounts and deals. For example, if a company wants to promote a new perfume, they may choose to pay for ads on digital billboards and other online platforms where consumers are likely to notice them (38%).
The downside of paid ads is that they can be expensive, and in some cases there may be restrictions on the type of content that you can run. However, they can still be useful for customers who get a lot of value out of them.
Key Takeaways
Email marketing is a familiar channel for customers. However, that doesn’t mean that it’s the only channel that we should be paying attention to. In fact, customers may move around a lot of different brands and products before they make a purchase, which is why it’s so important to have a multichannel approach.
To help marketers stay focused while developing strategies for multiple platforms, we’ve curated a list of the top channels customers use, and in some cases, have deleted or ignored. Keep in mind that this is based on customer research and not designed to be completely representative of all purchasing behavior.