If you think the potential to reach customers via email isn’t a relevant marketing strategy any longer … I’ve got news for you! Email marketing is one of the top tools you can use to reach your customers this year. As 2019 was coming to a close, my research showed me it’s clear that email marketing is far from dying.
In fact, if you’re willing to spend some time and money to change up your email marketing strategy for 2020, you could see some big dividends in return.
According to Statista, in 2019, there were more than 293 billion emails sent per day, and that number continues to grow. In fact, Statista is predicting that number will increase by nearly 20%, and more than 347 billion emails will be sent each day.
Obviously, as the battle over space for your clients in-box increases, it’s going to become more and more challenging for your business to capture the audience you want, and stand out among all the other messages that they will see on a daily basis. The competition is going to be stiff, and you’ll have little to no room for error.
Social media still holds the spotlight when it comes to digital marketing, but in terms of return on investment for small business owners, there’s no other form of digital marketing that can take the place of, and deliver results like, a creative email campaign can.
A recent report from Campaign Monitor found that Retail has some of the highest competition of all industries, which can lead to low open rates. Despite seeing lower open and click-through rates, 38% of US consumers report having been driven to action due to email.
Although Retail emails experienced lower open rates in 2019 than the previous year (13.9% this year, down from 14.98% last year), the click-to-open rate of 15.2% remained higher than the 14.3% average. This means the people who open Retail emails are likely to visit their site.
The low cost and readily available metrics are a great way for small businesses to measure how their email marketing efforts are panning out. Lane Harbin, director of marketing at Campaign Monitor, explains this aspect of email marketing by saying, “Marketing has evolved to become a data-driven discipline, and marketers need to actively measure the effectiveness of their campaigns and programs.” Adding, “Savvy marketers can use this information to quickly double down on areas where they are excelling and determine where they need to make improvements in 2020.”
So what do you need to do to put some simple, forward-thinking strategies into place that will grow your email marketing, generate sales, and bring customers back to you again and again? I’ve got three simple steps to help you get started.
#1) Know your audience and grow your list. Did you know your email list naturally degrades by about 25% every year? It’s true. Imagine losing 25% of your customer base every year and not doing anything to replace those customers. In less than 4 years time, you would be totally out of business. The same is true with your email marketing list.
Start growing your list today to make up for those lost subscribers with strategic campaigns designed to increase your email list numbers such as telemarketing campaigns, Call to Action (CTA) campaigns, creating exclusive, email only offers, or creating a private Facebook Group that only email subscribers can access.
#2) Make sure your email campaigns are created with mobile-first optimization. It’s predicted that the number of mobile phone users will reach 7.26 billion in 2020. Yet, only 20% of email campaigns are optimized for mobile devices. What happens when your customer opens an email that isn’t mobile-optimized on their cell phone? They hit the trash button and move on.
Today’s consumer is using their phone to help them save time and solve problems on the go, and this includes everything their emails to making purchasing decisions. Approximately 61% of all emails are opened first and read on mobile devices, and 79% of mobile users say they have made an online purchase through their device in the last 6 months. Your customers want to learn more about your products. If you make it easier for them with a mobile-optimized “show and tell,” then you are going to turn more lookers into buyers when it’s time to “show and sell.”
#3) Integrate offers and brand messaging with your social media. The biggest part of branding is carrying your message across all channels. That means keeping the colors, fonts, slogans, logos and other “brand-identifies” that you use, consistent in each market place. Many retailers miss the importance of this message, and don’t carry it through as consistently as they should with their social media.
Take the extra time to make sure your social media graphics and message reflect what is going on in your brick and mortar location. Don’t let social be an after-thought in your marketing message. Statistics show that one out of every two people who conduct a local search visit a store the day of the search, and 76% of people who search for something “nearby” on their smartphone will visit a related business within 24 hours of that search. Whether the search results lead them to your Facebook page, website or Google my Business page, they are finding and seeing you first in a social media setting. Don’t let old, stale ads or offers, or worse, no ads or offers, drive them away.
For 2020, email marketing done right can be one of your most effective sales tools. All it takes is a great plan, and a firm commitment (in terms of time and money) and soon you’ll be flooded with sales and product inquiries because “You’ve Got Mail!”
Want to know more about how you can profit by changing up your email marketing strategy for 2020, have questions about this article or want to suggest a topic for me to cover in future blogs? I’d love to hear from you! Email me at Ann@JewelersSuite.com today!
