Is Email Marketing Still Effective?
Email has been around for decades now. Though it’s no longer the most ‘fashionable’ way to communicate – social media, instant messaging, and video conferencing hold that honour – it’s still used by four billion of us on a frequent basis. Not even Facebook can get close to that!
Logically, you’d assume based on these figures (and the number of marketing emails that land in your inbox) that email is still an effective marketing tool. And you’d be right.
Just how effective is it?
Compared to other key digital marketing channels like Facebook and Twitter, email marketing can be 40 times more effective. That’s according to a 2014 article from McKinsey & Company, which goes on to suggest that:
- Up to three times more purchases are made in response to an email campaign than a social media one
- The order value of these purchases is 17% higher
Does this mean social media should be cast aside as a marketing tool? Absolutely not – and its effectiveness continues to grow as more marketing tools are implemented and user bases expand. It’s also worth bearing in mind that younger people typically spend more time scrolling through their social feeds than they do their email inbox – you have to consider your target audience when planning a campaign and dividing your marketing budget.
Either way, no matter the audience you’re looking to target, email marketing is here to stay. Unlike social media platforms which can come and go (or at least rise and fall in popularity), email is a constant presence which is proven to deliver results. And it’s still growing too, decades after its introduction.
The choice is yours
Email marketing has plenty going for it – and that’s before you consider the multitude of platforms available for you to use. From Mailchimp to Campaigner, there are countless sites now offering attractive email marketing platforms to suit any business – and some of them won’t cost you a penny.
Social media may find itself in the spotlight more often than email, but when it comes to delivering real results, the latter is hard to argue against.
