Email has come a long way. The evolution of this media channel over the past 42 years has turned email into one of the most cost-effective methods of direct marketing. However, the evolution of email still leaves people with misconceptions about this tool.
Fallacy #1: Email is not as effective as social media.
While social media has become the shiny new object, revenue from email traffic still outperforms “likes” from social media followers. In some instances, email is significantly more effective when it comes to reach. Over the past few years, the organic reach has declined to reach about 6% of your fan base according to a 2014 study by Social@Ogilvy. This means if you send 3,000 emails and also have 3,000 Facebook fans, only 180 Facebook fans will see your post, whereas 651 people will open your email.
With the decline in organic reach through social media platforms, companies are spending more and more on paid advertising to get their content seen. Email traffic is not only more affordable, but it also offers an impressive 4400% return on investment or $44 for every $1 spent.
Fallacy #2: Consumers don’t like promotional emails.
It’s true that email marketing is widespread and consumers are increasingly leery of promotional emails. However, MarketingSherpa conducted a study and more than 91% reported they liked receiving promotional emails from companies they do business with. They also reported that 61% said they wanted to receive these types of emails at least once a week.
Remember that your customers have given you their email address, which suggests that there is something about your business that interests them.
Fallacy #3: The best day to send email is on Tuesday at noon.
You may have read or somewhere that Tuesday afternoons are the best days to send emails. Or maybe it was Thursday mornings or Wednesday afternoons?
Although there has been a lot of research done in this area, there is no magic day or time to send an email because it all depends upon your industry and audience. Understanding your subscribers and reacting to their preferences will help you define your best day and time along with testing and optimizing your campaigns – not by applying what best practice you heard or read about on the internet.
Conclusion
As you can see, you can’t believe everything you hear or read. Every business is different and therefore, there’s no one way of doing email marketing. Base your email marketing strategy on your audience, the message you’re trying to get across and your past experience.
By Rebecca Felker, PR & Branding Coordinator, Madrivo
About Madrivo
Madrivo is an integrated online media firm that has quickly gained recognition as a leader in email advertising, affiliate marketing and lead generation. Madrivo offers an unparalleled value proposition to both advertisers and publishers.