Deciding which marketing strategies you should use to grow your ecommerce business is no easy feat. Ecommerce merchants hear a lot about all the things they should be doing, but sometimes it simply isn’t feasible to do all of it. Yet despite the abundance of strategies competing for decision-maker attention, 81% of SMBs rely on email as their primary acquisition channel.
Are you a part of that 81%? If not, what secrets have other businesses uncovered about email marketing and its ability to convert? This post will provide an overview of the key benefits of email marketing so that your business can take advantage of this powerhouse strategy too.
Email Marketing Works
Let’s get straight to the point: email marketing works. For every dollar you spend on email marketing, you can expect a $42 return on your investment.
On top of that, unlike more intrusive forms of advertising like TV ads or website pop-ups, people actually like receiving marketing emails. Over 60% say they’re happy to receive weekly promotional emails from the companies they do business with.
Why does this strategy work near-universally? Because everybody uses email. And, within a small range, we all use it in roughly the same way. Our habits on other corners of the internet may ebb and flow according to trends and individual needs or tastes, but we check our emails on a consistent, habitual schedule. In fact, 21% of emails get opened within the first hour of being sent. That makes it a reliable strategy to invest time and money in, even as the landscape evolves.
Email Marketing Is Versatile
While many marketing strategies require extensive technical know-how, email marketing does not discriminate. Drag-and-drop templates and other out-of-box email marketing platforms make newsletters easy to produce, send, segment, and measure. From your end, all it takes is a flair for great content, a willingness to stick to a schedule, and an understanding of what your customers want to read.
Perhaps that’s why this versatile strategy has paved the way for so many different types of business communications, from lead generation to customer loyalty, at both B2B and B2C businesses. At a B2B business, for example, email marketing might be focused on nurturing leads and providing the information that will help prospects make an informed decision. B2C companies, on the other hand, will focus on engaging the community and enticing customers with sales and promotions.
Email Marketing Fosters Connection
Even if a customer loves your website the first time they visit, it’s easy to slip from their mind without a friendly reminder every now and then. How do you stay top-of-mind when you don’t have a big-brand budget? By reaching out to connect with your customers between their visits to your website.
Email marketing gives you a way to show up in your customers’ inbox on an ongoing basis, without interrupting them or being obstructive. This helps foster a consistent, lasting connection between you and your customers: a critical ingredient for every successful ecommerce business.
Email Marketing Helps You Close the Sale
81% of shoppers use the internet to perform advanced research on their options before making a purchase. To put that another way: many of your visitors will leave your site the first time without making a purchase, and it won’t be because of anything you did—it’s simply a natural part of the way people shop.
To get those visitors to make a purchase, you’ll need to keep them engaged and thinking about your products. This gives you a chance to convince the customer over time, entice them with an offer, or simply stay top-of-mind when your customer is ready to make a purchase.
Conclusion
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the sea of digital strategies available, and you might find yourself asking one question often: “Can I afford this?” With the ease and affordability of email marketing and its proven track record for conversions and sales, though, you might begin asking yourself a different question: “Can I afford to skip this?”