Today, it is pretty common to hear statements like "It's obvious that email marketing is dead" and "Email marketing? Email marketing is a waste of time". This couldn't be further from the truth. There are 2 major misconceptions about email: 

1. People believe that email marketing means spam. 
2. People believe that email marketing is old school. 

Just because you utilize email marketing doesn't mean you are spamming people. Targeted email marketing can be very powerful for both your business as well as your potential customers. Email marketing may be considered "old school", but old school isn't necessarily always a bad thing. Email marketing has changed a decent amount since its inception and if you know how to harness the power of email marketing effectively, it can be one of the best ways to interact with your potential customers and move them through the buyer's journey. 

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Misconceptions about Email Marketing: 6 Reasons why Email Still Works

 Email marketing isn't dead. It is alive and well. 

Reason #1: 2.5 billion email users send 205 billion emails every day worldwide.  

According to the Radicati Group, 2.5 billion email users send 205 billion emails everyday. 205 billion email messages per day means almost 2.4 million emails are sent every second and some 74 trillion emails are sent per year. Wow... that is a lot of emails as well as a ton of daily activity. Try to find another medium that you can interact with your target/potential customers with that kind of daily activity. It is unheard of. Think about it, that averages out to 82 emails per user/day!

Obviously, the average email user isn't sending 82 emails/day but still, this is a great example of how powerful email marketing can be. Email marketing has the potential to give you access to billions of active users that could fall into your target market. 

Reason #2: 91% of consumers check their email daily. 

According to Kyle Lacy of SalesForce Marketing Cloud, 91% of consumers check their email daily. Kyle states:

"In fact, email is not only alive - it's the number one direct channel in terms of daily use and consumer preference for both personal and marketing communications. Email is thriving thanks in large part to the channel's familiarity, flexibility, and universality."

Think about it... if 91% of consumers check their email daily, that means that there is a 91% chance that your prospect will see the email that you sent them (as long as your email hasn't been marked as spam). Can you think of the last time that you picked up the phone and knew that you had a 91% chance that the prospect that you are calling would pick up the phone? I am sure I speak for everyone when I say, there is absolutely no way that your prospect answers the phone 91% of the time when you give them a call.

Reason #3: Email is a channel that you own. 

Email is great because it is basically the only communication channel that you own with your customers and your prospects. Everything else is pretty much rented property. Facebook is great, so is Twitter and LinkedIn but only if you understand that what these platforms are good for (example: gathering contact/demographic information for email lists).

Email is a much more intimate way that you can communicate with your prospect or customer. On top of this your prospects/customers are probably much more used to having exploratory and transactional conversations through email. This is common practice for most businesses where having these types of conversations through social may be foreign and uncomfortable. 

Remember, for the most part people go on social to see photos, find relevant and or funny stories, nad interact with friends and or celebrities. Basically entertainment value and relationship building. People go to email for intimate conversations and to purchase good and services. 

Reason #4: 72% of consumers prefer email for marketing communications.

According to a study by MarketingSherpa, 72% of consumers prefer email for marketing communications. Quality communication with your prospects and customers can get you closer to people actually looking forward to the message that you deliver to them. Across every demographic, email was the most popular channel, and it wasn't even close. 

Consumers prefer email marketing over all other major marketing mediums including social media (Facebook, Twitter) TV, Radio, and of course direct mail. So what does this mean for you and your email marketing efforts? Although the effectiveness of social media marketing has increased over the last few years, email is still the workhorse of interactive marketing and continues to be the preference of consumers when it comes to marketing communications. 

A great quote from an email summit back in 2006: 

"It's not the tired email-is-dead 2003 anymore. Junk mail didn't kill email the way most experts expected. Instead, the struggle to stay afloat in an ocean of junk made permission emailers much, much stronger." 

Reason #5: Email marketing lets you be highly personal. 

No one really enjoys feeling like they are being marketed to. When it comes to email marketing, the best way to make this possible is through personalization. Email marketing is one of the only marketing mediums that allows you to be highly personal. Personalize your emails based on information you know about your prospects and customers. Personalization really drives results: 

• Leads who are nurtured with targeted content produce a 20% increase in sales opportunities. 
• 40% of consumers buy more from retailers who personalize the shopping experience across all channels. 
• Personalization emails improve click through rates by 14% and conversion rates by 10%. 

A few quick personalization tips: 

1. Be sure to send emails from REAL PEOPLE... not your company. Sending an email from a real person adds a personal touch and puts a name with the message that is being delivered.
2. Add personal information to the body of the email. Whenever it makes sense, you should use personalized information inside the email. 
3. Use a real reply-to email address. The whole reason you are sending a prospect an email is to engage them and get them to respond so why would you use noreply@company.com as reply address in your emails? Using a real persons name like johndoe@company.com will not only help make your emails more recognizable and credible, but it will increase your open rate and also make your email feel more personal. 

Reason #6: Email has a marketing ROI of 4,300%.

According to a report released by the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing yields an average 4,300% return on investment for business and brands across the US. That means for every $1 you spend, you get $43 in return.

To get this type of ROI out of your email marketing efforts, be sure to optimize all of your emails for mobile devices. As of an August 2015 report, 68% of all emails were opened on a mobile device with 52% of those being opened on a smart phone. To optimize your email for mobile devices, be sure to: 

1. Use responsive templates. 
2. Remember, bigger is better. 
3. Use clear and concise messaging. Mobile users will not take the time to read long and drawn out emails. 
4. Avoid using tiny fonts. 

Mobile compatibility is a key to success when it comes to email marketing. Your emails need to be mobile friendly to have success with email marketing today. 

Thanks for reading our post Misconceptions of Email Marketing: 6 Reasons Why Email Still Works. I hope this post has helped you realize that putting your time and effort into email marketing is worth your while. Looking for some SEO tips and tricks? Be sure to download our free eBook 10 SEO Mistakes to Avoid by clicking the link below!