Marketing Email Is Dead... or Long Live Marketing Email!

The nature of marketing email

Some people may think that marketing emails are automatically directed to spam or trash folders. Isn’t that how it’s supposed to work? After all, nobody wants them anyway and they’re just ignored, right? Well, not exactly. Of course, like any other marketing channel, success is never guaranteed but in fact well-prepared campaigns can achieve impressive results. The numbers involved give an idea of the scale of the opportunities available:

The research shows that we send and receive more emails every year (in 2022 this amount is estimated at 333 billion DAILY). Many of them are marketing communications and, as DMA’s Marketer Email Tracker 2018 report shows, the return on investment for an email increased from an estimated £30.03 for every £1 spent in 2016 to £32.28 in 2017 – impressive results for something you thought went straight to the trash folder.

But is it possible to not get lost in this whole email jungle? And does writing marketing emails make any sense when so many of us have the impression that no one will read them anyway?

Here are some reasons why the answer to this question is still “Hell, yes!”

Why marketing email is… live and kicking!

1. Emails are easy

These days, basically the only thing you need to prepare when creating an email is content. There are many platforms that will help you create an aesthetic form, suggest where to insert a picture or HTML code.

You do not need to seek help from IT departments or create an interesting email experience or prepare a list of contacts manually in excel.

2. Emails are inexpensive

Have you ever wondered how much an advertising on TV costs? On the radio? Or maybe outdoor billboards? Meanwhile, you can send tons and tons of e-mails at a fraction of the cost.

3. Emails are fast

Compare the time it takes to plan, record, edit and perfect an ad that meets the standards required for media outlets against the time it takes to make a great-looking email campaign. What do you think you’ll find? (Hint: Email wins, big time).

4. Emails are measurable

Email campaigns are measurable in real time. Immediately after sending an email, you can check which users opened it, which viewed the attached links, made a purchase using the rebate code, or bought a suggested product, etc. This data is power and allows for continuous development and the optimization of sent campaigns to perfection.

5. Emails allow for personalization and segmentation

Depending on your needs, you can send different messages to clients with different profiles; depending on, for example, their age, demographic data or previous purchases. You can send a particular message only to certain segments with a given characteristic.

This means you can send messages directly to customers most likely to be in interested without bothering everyone else. Score!

6. Emails are engaging

You can add ripped graphics, gifs, links, attachments – whatever you want. This definitely works better at getting attention than a wall of text.

7. Easy to redistribute

Emails come with built-in shareability. If your subscribers like what they see, they will probably want to share good news (eg .about the sale) with friends; thus you will gain brand-advocates who will work “effortlessly” to help you out.

8. You can check to see if they really work

Using A/B test you can check subject lines, links, call-to actions or copy and be sure that the campaign will be effective.

In addition, emails are environmentally friendly (you do not have to print a lot of material, right?) and less intrusive than, for instance, telemarketing (eventually the reader can open a message, when they have time and need).

There are challenges in marketing emails, too

Of course, sending emails isn’t perfect in all situations. If they are badly prepared, they may be treated as spam or they may not be delivered (for example when your subscriber database is out of date).

If you go too far with the number of gifs and images, or with the size of attachments, emails can take too long to load, which will irritate recipients.

Before you decide to send anything, make sure you set up a few important details: 

• Add a “from” email address for your campaign
• Add a “from” name that will be displayed in the customer’s inbox near the subject of the email
• Enter the email address to reply
• Enter the name of the recipient visible for customers who reply to your message
• Set a custom link that allows the user to unsubscribe from receiving the newsletter

Then, think about the content and visual side of your email template, which should match the rules from your brand book. Remember that a nice picture and piece of text is not all you can send by email. There are many other options: 

Product recommendations, links, coupons and pieces of analytics 

Variables – in Synerise, you can add customer attributes, which are available on the business profile. This way, you can personalize the content of the message, for example, by using name or full name of the recipient of the message; 

AI Suite - add product recommendations you have prepared before in campaigns module on our platform; 

If you run several campaigns at the same time, remember to tag them to be able to filter them correctly later (basing on a few conditions mentioned below): 

• Recent – last sent campaigns
• Draft – campaigns that haven’t been sent yet
• Scheduled – campaigns set to be launched on a fixed date and time
• Active – all currently running campaigns
• Paused – suspended campaigns
• Inactive – finished campaigns

Dividing campaigns into groups according to their status will allow you to maintain order and find necessary materials without hassle. 

Wrapping up

As you probably already noticed, marketing email is not dead. It has changed because we, as marketers, have changed it by constantly improving the way email works. We have a huge influence on how they will be received by your subscribers.

We can improve them, test them, segment them and more. In other words, the old boring email King is dead, long live the new, engaging King. God save the cool, Marketing Email Dragon Girl Queen!

P.S. Creating your own email campaign in Synerise is easy as pie. Learn more about Synerise’s email campaign creator and see for yourself!