Email Marketing: The (e)Mail, the Myths, the Legend
Intro
I’m already worried that my Rick Flair reference in the title hasn’t landed… Anyway.
Ah… the email. Since its conception in 1971, this digital form of dialogue has dictated the digital space with direct dictation that... too much alliteration?
Alright, seriously. Emails have been being sent out for over 50 YEARS. A lot has transpired in the digital space since then:
- The first cell phone was developed in 1973
- Online shopping became available in 1980
- The first laptop was created in 1981
- Color Plasma displayed in 1992
- iPod released in 2001
- YouTube launched in 2005
- iPhone is released in 2007
- iPad released in 2010
The list goes on and on. And here we are, in beautiful 2024, graduating in our communication from Sanskrit to Slack messaging, having every available opportunity to engage in conversation from our phones to our laptops and every device in between. Emails have played a pivotal role here.
The (e)Mail
Before emailing, people participated in a fascinating activity:
Writing. Letters.
Yes, they would write letters, talk more on the phone, and even SHOW UP TO EACH OTHER’S HOMES. Can you imagine?
Moreover, the sales/advertising world was much more tangibly engaged, with newspaper advertisements, TV ads, telemarketing, and the age of door-to-door selling being rampant.
It wasn’t until 1978, only seven years after email communications were developed, that a corporation sent some e-marketing material to over 400 contacts, boasting over $13 million in sales for the company (not bad).
At that moment, they changed everything. Over the next 20 years, not only would people market their products and services via email, but the public's access to computers would become more remarkable and more significant—with computers becoming the next television, one in every home.
Today, just about everyone has an email address, and just about everyone checks it every day.
A poll in January of 2022 estimated that 92% of the US population alone actively uses email as a form of communication. So, how do they interact with promotional material?
- 60% of users prefer to be contacted by brands via email.
- 59% of consumers say email marketing influences their purchasing decisions.
Now, you can’t argue with those stats. So, this brings me to my point:
Email marketing is not dead.
Your perception of it OR your strategy probably is.
Email Marketing: A 50-Year-Old Strategy That Still Works
In 1978, just seven years after email was invented, a company sent marketing material to over 400 contacts and generated $13 million in sales. This moment marked the dawn of email marketing.
The Myths
You can’t argue with data. So, why does email marketing continually get a bad rap?
As you probably experience yourself on a minute-to-minute basis, we are continually being mentally smacked upside the head with information.
Worse than that - opinions.
Social media’s spectacular rise over the last 20+ years has created a vast toilet bowl of people’s preferences and unrequested thoughts on politics, relationships, religion, and everything, including marketing.
Even worse, 90% of the information has no actual backing or data-related support (like that stat I just made up).
Let’s see some examples:
1. Millennials don’t subscribe to email marketing.
- Okay, I am personally offended by this one. Says who? According to Statista, millennials and Gen X (plot twist) check and use their emails more than any other age group. Even boomers.
2. You need an extensive list to be profitable
- I’ve personally seen small email lists make a significant impact. Where most businesses fail to see results is in lack of segmentation. The more you understand your audience, their needs, and how you can specifically solve their problems, the more impact you can have on their purchasing/decision-making behavior.
3. Email marketing is too complicated and too expensive
- On the contrary, email marketing can be one of the most simple and efficient ways to boost your customers' revenue and ALV (average lifetime value). Sure, it takes time, but with a comprehensive setup and someone behind the curtain helping the machine run, you’ll make back in revenue what you’ve spent in time.
- Additionally, email marketing is inexpensive. From a platform subscription to a (free) Canva account, you can build email campaigns that excite your customers to open your emails.
Simply put, most people’s perceptions of email marketing aren’t founded in facts - and the facts point to the reality that email marketing is overall BENEFICIAL to any business or entrepreneur. So, now I want to show you what makes it so great.
The Legend - Email Marketing
Email marketing continues to benefit businesses, but the number of people incorporating email marketing services into their business practices is rising. In a recent study, 4 out of 5 marketers said they would rather give up social media marketing than email marketing. That’s because, on average, email marketing brings a positive ROI of 4,200% nationwide.
But why? Why is a tool that seems so outdated continually relevant and effective? Because with email, you’re accomplishing three goals:
1. You’re targeting a particular audience: With social media, commercial advertising, and even PPC, in some ways, you’re scatter-shooting an audience that may be looking for you but isn’t bought into your brand, your services, or your identity. With email marketing, someone somewhere has picked you and bought into your brand. This makes 50% of your job as a marketer or business owner essentially done.
2. Time and money: As I said before, email marketing platforms are cheap and easy to use. Many, from MailChimp to Klayvio, are free or inexpensive. Additionally, building out campaigns and email flows doesn’t take much time. Unlike social media marketing, where you constantly have to make graphics videos, edit content, write copy for posts, etc., emails can and should be simple.
3. Personal connection: The ability to personalize an email cannot be compared to any other marketing strategy besides having a physical location (i.e., storefront, restaurant). Most people find email marketing annoying or pushy because brands need to know their customers, their needs, their problems, their stories, and how to answer those problems uniquely. Nobody likes to get another email with graphic blasts, colors flying everywhere, and HUGE SAVINGS blinding across the screen. We live in a society that is hungry for personal connection. A simple “Hey, there” will suffice.
(and don’t you dare say, “I hope this email finds you well.”)
Conclusion
Simply put, email marketing isn’t going anywhere. As I said before, we need to change our strategies. Remember, our culture is overrun with flashy information, dolled-up celebrities, and dazzling advertisements. We’ve learned to see through the smoke and mirrors. Suppose you genuinely want to be successful in your email marketing initiatives. In that case, you must be more personable, smarter with your content, and more intentional with what you’re sharing with your audience.
If more businesses focused on those simple points above, not only would they be more profitable, but their customers would stick around more. So, think about what you want for your business; maybe email marketing is the answer. The only way to find out is if you do it right.
