Is Email Marketing Still Effective For Business?

There’s been a lot of debate about the effectiveness of email marketing for a while now, and so far, there’s still a divide between those for and those against it.

The truth is, business owners should always focus on what works for them, and if that includes email marketing, then go for it.

[bctt tweet=”Is list building and email marketing part of your marketing strategy?” username=”BygfutSM”]

If you feel email marketing is a waste of time, then I reckon your conclusion is based on experience, via a series of tests and proving the system(s), not hearsay.

Does email still work for businesses today? Yes it does, if used properly.

Unlike what most businesses are doing with email, such as push selling, spamming, and sending unrelated / irrelevant information, email can be a very useful communication tool.

The ‘inbox’ is a very ‘sacred’ place for individuals (not just business owners), and as business owners who are sending out emails, it’s important for us to respect the inboxes of the people we are reaching out to.

Free email service providers such as Gmail have very effective filters, which segments incoming emails into the “primary inbox”, “social inbox”, and “promotion inbox.” This filtering system has caused a lot of emails to go unread, which then makes it feel as if email marketing is not effective.

The best approach to email marketing is to ensure your first email makes a good impression. When someone subscribes to receive emails from you, the first email which goes out to them should carry this format…

• A personalised greeting and the highlight of what they subscribed for
• An introduction of yourself and your business
• What to expect from you (e.g. weekly emails)
• A call to action: tell them to add you to their contacts so that way they won’t miss out on your upcoming emails
• Make yourself easily accessible (i.e. they can reply and ask questions)
• Make it easy for them to unsubscribe as well

With this type of setup, you’re better positioned to connect properly with your subscribers, and also promote your products and services down the line.

“I’ve got social media, I don’t need email” – ever heard that or used that excuse before?

The truth is, there are certain things you can’t do within social media, but with email, you can do it more effectively. Things such as promoting a product or service… blatantly!

But to get to that point, there has to be some establishment of trust. Yes, that can also be achieved on social media, but when it comes to building a database, you don’t really have much control on social media.

Your page fans, twitter followers, etc, are not really yours. Businesses have had their accounts shutdown, and they’ve lost all that data overnight. But with email, you own that data (CSV files, etc), and if anything happens to your service provider, you can always move to another, and maintain your relationship with your subscribers.

All well and good… but, how does one go about attracting subscribers?

If that’s a question you have (or anything similar, such as tools to use, and how to write effective emails), then you can watch a replay of a webinar I did on…

“How To Build A Responsive Email List & Automated ‘Drip Campaigns’, In Order To Acquire New Clients!”

This webinar was designed to show business owners the basics of setting up an effective email marketing system. Having an email marketing tool is one thing, but getting people to subscribe to your list is usually a pain in the neck.

There’s also the technical side involved. How do you setup funnels to ensure everything is automated, so you get to spend time building your business?

All of these issues were addressed, and if you have other questions, then feel free to send them through after watching the webinar replay.

Got a comment or question? Leave it on the comment box below, and remember to share this to your networks 🙂

To your success!