If you’re not convinced that email marketing is still important today, read on. We’ll also share some tips for improving your email marketing campaigns.

Should we still use email marketing in 2020? Or should you ditch the idea, move on, and start using a different, more up-to-date marketing method?

If you’re thinking about these questions right now, chances are you’ve read somewhere that email marketing is dead. Well, I’m here to tell you that email marketing is far from dead. In fact, it continues to bring significant results – and revenue – to businesses.

In this guide, we’ll talk about the importance of email marketing in 2020 and some tips and strategies to improve your small business email campaigns.

Overview: What is the benefit of email marketing?

First, email marketing is profitable. Messaging platforms are often free or at very affordable prices.

Second, email marketing campaigns are very easy to implement. With the help of email automation tools, you can run email campaigns 24/7 without your direct involvement. Just do the initial setup, and everything pretty much works on its own from there.

Finally, it is very profitable. Email marketing consistently delivers substantial returns, as you’ll discover in later sections of this guide. It is a proven business investment that yields amazing results.

7 Reasons Why Email Marketing is Crucial to Your Small Business’ Content Strategy

Email marketing can take your company’s content strategies to the next level. By adding email marketing to the mix, you can connect with your audience directly through their inbox.

Below are some of the reasons why you need to incorporate email marketing into your content strategy.

1. Email generates better results than most marketing channels

Among marketing channels, email marketing offers the highest return on investment (ROI) in the last 10 years. It also has the highest conversion rate (66%) for purchases made in response to promotional messages.

For every dollar spent on email marketing, you can earn up to $44, with nearly 4.3% of buyers buying from these campaigns. Additionally, compared to social media, email is said to be 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers. You’re also more likely to get clicks from email marketing than tweets.

Get better results from your email marketing campaigns by using these tips.

• Use email marketing software with optimization and performance analysis features. This allows you to make data-driven adjustments to your campaigns.
• Track your key performance indicators regularly. Experiment with tactics to see which ones work and continually improve them.

2. Emails Help Engage and Retain Customers

Connect with your customers by collecting their emails and gaining their consent to include them in your email advertising campaigns. Promotional emails are perfect ways to educate your audience and present your offers without being too pushy or intrusive.

Remember these tips when contacting your customers using email marketing.

• Your email marketing content needs to pack a punch. It must be loaded with value if you want to retain your customers. You can share tips and tricks, how your product solves their problems, its features and best uses, etc.
• Email content with interactive formats and diversify. Insert videos, infographics, GIFs and different newsletter layouts, for example.
• Keep your subject lines concise and simple. Be direct or ask questions that arouse their curiosity. This will increase open rates.

What Boden did is a great example of email marketing. Its subject matter is catchy and consistent with its short and easily digestible content. With the subject “New season? New wardrobe,” this is what Boden’s email looks like.

Share relevant emails with different content formats and catchy subject lines. Image source: author

Boden included a GIF showing the same striped pattern in various outfits. Below is a short text describing the set, as well as photos of printed, plain and other pattern garments, among others.

3. Emails compel your audience to take action

Use marketing emails to get your audience to take action on your offers. Suppose you sent an email with a video tutorial of your product kit. At the bottom of your email, tell your subscribers to click the “Buy Now” button to purchase your product.

You can even sweeten the offer by offering a massive discount to anyone who clicks your call-to-action (CTA) button and makes the purchase on the same day.

Apply these email marketing strategies to make your emails more compelling.

• Make your CTA buttons stand out with contrasting or bright colors. Also, keep your text short and actionable.
• Make sure your CTA buttons lead to a landing page, rather than your homepage.
• Perform split tests to determine which email versions bring the best conversions, clicks, opens, and other desired actions.

Check the email sent by Flourist.

Add CTA buttons to make it easier for your subscribers to take action on your offers. Image source: author

Fleurist has added several clickable links throughout the newsletter. It briefly describes each corn or zucchini dish and provides the link to the whole recipe.

After sharing multiple dishes, he displays a “View All Recipes” button with a light gray tint complementing his brand color. The button guides Flourist subscribers on what action to take after reading the entire email.

4. Emails improve brand awareness

Use email to improve your customers’ understanding of your brand. By talking about your values, your mission, your products and services, etc., your audience will better understand what you do. As your buyers’ brand awareness increases, it’s easier for them to advocate for your business because they understand you better.

Boost your brand awareness by considering these tips when sending emails.

• Always insert your logo and company name to increase brand recall and association.
• Make your posts memorable and unique.
• Maintain consistent branding in your emails to increase recognition and attract customers.

5. Personalize your content

Instead of sending generic emails, create content tailored to your recipients’ interests, buying activities, customer journeys, and other relevant factors. Get clues about their interests by looking at the products they’ve viewed, blog posts read, items purchased, and items added to their carts and wishlists.

Also, study your email marketing funnels to send appropriate content to your customers based on where they are in the buying cycle. You can do this by using email automation software that lets you send specific messages based on customer activity.

For example, set up your email software to send welcome emails to every buyer who signs up for your newsletter. You can also send abandoned cart emails to people who have added items to their shopping carts but haven’t completed their purchase.

Setting behavior-based triggers allows for effective email communication because your subscribers feel the content you sent is tailored specifically for them.

6. Email can drive a lot of traffic to your website

Let’s face it: even your most loyal customers don’t visit your website daily. It’s not that they aren’t interested in your content; they just have other things to do.

This is where email marketing comes in.

Use emails to remind your audience of your brand and show a preview of your website content. Submit summaries of your new blog posts, for example, as ezpz has done below. It displayed thumbnails and summaries of its website and social content. Customers can click on the titles to read the rest of the content.

Display snippets of your content to invite customers to see the rest on your site. Image source: author

7. Emails integrate seamlessly with your other marketing channels

Emails help amplify other channels in your integrated marketing campaign, such as social media marketing, webinars, and content marketing. Place clickable social media icons on the footer of your newsletter and embed your social media posts in your emails.

This way, your customers can follow your social media profiles.

You can also add “Pin it” buttons to your designs to allow followers to save them to their Pinterest accounts. This strategy works wonders if your products and services are heavy on graphics and images.

Emails are also great for promoting your webinars and sharing more information about them. Whatever marketing campaign you’re running, you can almost always use email to reinforce it. That’s how versatile the chain is.

Keep these tactics in mind when using email marketing to bolster your in-app marketing campaigns.

• Be consistent with your brand image across all your channels.
• Insert social media buttons and website links to keep them engaging on other platforms.

Start growing your business with email marketing

Email marketing is still important in 2020. It has the firepower to bring you lots of sales, improve your customer engagement, establish your brand image, and more.

Do not hesitate to invest in email marketing. By using the tips presented in this guide, you are sure to see the positive impact email marketing can have on your business.