When we talk about investing, most people immediately assume the conversation is about cost, but it’s also possible to invest your time to save money. The thing to consider is whether it’s more important to save money or to save time, which is a subjective decision.
You can invest time and manage your own email marketing or you can invest money and hire a professional to manage it for you. Both answers are the right answer, it’s just a matter of which answer is right for you.
The question then, is why you should invest your time or money in email marketing. There are many reasons you should invest in email marketing, and we’re going to discuss 5 of them.
1. Email is effective, and relatively low-cost
There are several options for software to automate your email marketing for a fairly low price. Most are priced based on the size of your list and many offer SMTP services, meaning they send the emails on your behalf to tell spam filters they should not mark your emails as spam.
When emails have been optimized for high engagement and conversion rates, an entire email marketing campaign can run virtually on auto-pilot, guiding your readers to the next step in your sales process.
2. Email is easy, when you do it right
The key to doing it right is letting people go when they want to leave. It’s counterintuitive because it feels like you’re losing something, but really it’s a best-practice to honor requests to unsubscribe, and make it easy for them to leave if they want to. It’s also helpful to manage bounced emails to unsubscribe misspelled and outdated email addresses from your list.
These best-practices are not only the most ethical way to manage your email marketing, but also the legal way because you want to be in compliance with (ICANN??) policies.
Don’t take it personally if someone unsubscribes. Simply acknowledge that these people are not a good fit for you, and move on. Focus on the people who stay on your list, the people who read your marketing emails, and the people who buy your products and services.
3. People actually like getting emails… yes, seriously.
When someone willingly signs up to receive emails there is usually something motivating them to allow those emails. Delivering the opt-in through email all but guarantees that the first email will be opened, making it an effective canvas to hook your readers and convince them to continue opening emails.
When the content provides value and focuses on the reader’s needs, readers are motivated to continue reading more of the content you send. That’s how to keep readers coming back.
4. You can sell more than once to people who buy, and try again with those who don’t
People who buy have proven themselves as “buyers” (people who buy things) so you can up-sell your other products and services to these people. They have proven that they put their money where their mouth is, which makes them more likely to buy other products and services form you. Sending an email to market more products and services to your existing satisfied customers can earn you more revenue over the lifetime of your interaction with that person.
If you segment your list you can send emails that address specific situations, you can send buyers follow-up emails and send non-buyers reminders to buy. Things like abandoned-cart notifications can also increase your sales.
5. Your email list is an asset you own
Ownership is the most valuable and most important thing about email marketing. If you have an email list and a website then you have a safety net that just isn’t available when you rely on other platforms to serve as a middle-man between you and your audience.
Imagine that you have a massive social media following, your audience engages constantly, you make your living off sales to those people and you build an empire based on that method. Now imagine that your profile gets hacked and gets your account disabled and your page removed because the hacker posted things that violates their policies.
You might get it back, but you might not. Either way, it can take days or weeks, and your business is bleeding dollars for each hour that your profile is down.
Now rewind that scenario and let’s say that some percentage of your followers are also on your email list. The hacker gets your profiles shut down and you keep making money through your email marketing.
Build a list and treat them well, and email marketing can be a huge asset to your business.
This article was originally commissioned by Onslow Creative. Due to technical issues a link to their website is currently unavailable.