Have you ever wanted to improve your email marketing success? Chances are, you’ve answered ‘yes’ to this question, and if you aren’t convinced that knowing the right statistics can help, then hopefully this article will change your mind.
This article covers 10 essential statistics that every marketer should know, in order to improve their email marketing success. We will begin by defining email marketing, and exploring the role of marketing analytics in the field.
Email Is Still the Most Profitable Channel
Many people may assume that social media is the primary channel for businesses to promote their products and attract new customers. However, according to HubSpot Blog reader Dan Zarella, founder of Future Agency, that’s simply not the case. In an interview with MarketingCharts, Zarella stated:
“Email marketing is still the most profitable channel. It’s always been the case, and it will continue to be the case in the future. You just have to know how to do it effectively.”
Emails can be an expensive channel to run, especially if you’re paying for every individual that you send messages to. As a result, marketers often resort to less expensive channels, like social media platforms and Google Adwords, to reach their target audiences.
Mobile Email Is On the Rise
According to HubSpot Blog reader Mattan Griffel, director of sales and marketing at Infusionsoft, mobile email usage is definitely on the rise. In fact, his company’s research showed that 55% of email opens now happen on a mobile device.
With fewer people using desktop computers, and more using mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones, email marketers should take this into consideration, and develop their messages accordingly.
Because many people are accessing email on the go, marketers need to ensure that their emails are easy to access and read on mobile devices. To achieve this, marketers need to take into account such things as responsive design, allowing users to access content effortlessly on any device.
Your Email List Is One Of Your Most Valuable Assets
You cannot successfully run an email marketing campaign without a good list of email addresses. Simply put, an email list is like having a whole database of potential customers that you can contact at any time for marketing purposes.
Depending on the type of product or service that you offer, your list might consist of thousands, or even millions, of contacts that you can reach out to at any time, for marketing and advertising purposes.
One of the most important things that you need to do, if you want to be able to effectively use your email list, is to build a solid database of engaged and interested customers. Simply put, you cannot expect your list to do you any good if you are not getting the most out of it.
To achieve this, you need to gain a detailed understanding of your list, and engage with its members on a regular basis. We’ll discuss ways in which you can do this later on in the article.
Email Deliverability Matters
According to HubSpot Blog reader Dan Zarella, founder of Future Agency, nothing is worse than losing a potential customer due to poor email deliverability. In an interview with MarketingCharts, he said:
“Poor email deliverability means that a business’ email messages are not getting delivered to the inboxes of people who have signed up for that particular brand’s marketing emails. The reason could be that the email service provider [that the business uses] is experiencing technical problems, or the person who signed up for the account is receiving too many emails per day and is therefore blocking them all.”
Poor email deliverability is a major headache for marketers. In fact, HubSpot Blog reader Mattan Griffel, director of sales and marketing at Infusionsoft, estimates that only about 10% of the emails that his company sends out make it to the customers’ inboxes. The rest either get flagged as spam, or fall into a black hole, disappearing without a trace.
This is why marketers need to take email deliverability into consideration when they’re designing their email campaigns. In order to ensure that their emails are going to be delivered to recipients’ inboxes, they need to use a reliable email service provider, and develop strategies to increase the chance of their messages being delivered.
Email Campaigns Aren’t As Black And White As They Could Be
If you’re new to email marketing, or if you’re just taking a break from the field, then you may not realize that every email campaign is not created equal. It’s important to understand the different types of email campaigns, and what each one is used for.
One of the most basic differences between the various email campaigns is that of intent. Does the sender want to create a greater awareness of a particular product, service, or idea? Or does he or she want to encourage someone to make a purchase, or take some kind of action?
Understanding the difference between these two types of emails can be a game changer when it comes to increasing your email marketing success. Let’s take a quick look at each type of email, and the role that each one plays in your campaign:
1. Acquisition Emails
Acquisition emails, as the name suggests, are used to acquire new customers. For example, if you’re an eCommerce store, then you might use email marketing to send out orders, confirmations, and other similar emails, to new and existing customers, as they come in.
These types of emails are often used to introduce a new product or service, promote a sales event, or just to thank someone for their interest in your company. They are also sent out automatically, whether an order is placed or an inquiry is made.
2. Commencement Emails
Commencement emails, as the name suggests, are emails that are sent out just after a marketing campaign has started. Typically, commencement emails are used to gradually introduce new products or services, or promote a sales event, to customers who have already shown an interest in your company. They play a crucial role in customer engagement, and allow you to follow up with users, based on their interests, and ensure a higher open-rate.
For example, if you’re running a campaign to promote a new product or service, and you want to ensure that users are aware of the existence of your product, then you might send them a commencement email, containing a few articles about the importance of the product.
Or, if you’re running a campaign to encourage users to make a purchase at a specific store, then you might send them a series of commencement emails, containing limited time offers, along with an affiliate code, or a special link, that they can use to make the purchase. As you can probably guess, these commencement emails are typically shorter in length than acquisition emails.
3. Reactivity Emails
Reactivity emails, as the name implies, are emails that are used to react to a specific event or action. For example, if you’re running a campaign to promote your new product or service, and you want to encourage users to participate in a live chat session about the product, then you might send them a reactivity email, containing a special offer, along with a web link that they can use to enter the chat room.
The main purpose of reactivity emails is to get the attention of users, and encourage them to do something, or to participate in a live chat session about a particular product or service. Depending on the context in which the action took place, the type of offer, and the time of day, you send out the reactivity email, you can determine the ideal content, and landing page, for the email.
Let’s say that you’re running a campaign to promote the New York City Ballet, and someone emails you, requesting information about a performance that they saw on your website. In this case, you might send them a reactivity email, containing a link to the performance, along with information about the upcoming season, and a discount, if they’re a paying customer. You can also send them a summary of their account, and any discounts or offers that they’ve obtained, through your company.
On the other hand, if you’re sending out the reactivity emails to encourage users to make a purchase, then you might want to consider the psychology of getting them to act, and the fact that many people, as a result of social media, already know about your product or service, and are not interested in learning more. In this case, you would want to consider an acquisition email, or a commemmission email, to be your best friend.