In email marketing, there are a lot of very fragile lines that marketers have to be careful not to cross, making for a very sensitive marketing platform. However, since it began too many marketers used email in all the wrong ways, and now consumers have reached the point where they often dread opening their inboxes to find a bunch of what appears to them to be the average, everyday spam. For this reason, some would think that email is in store for an ultimate downfall, as consumers begin to ignore efforts from marketers more and more. However, according to an article from ClickZ, which reports data from ExactTarget, a cross-channel interactive marketing provider which in the past dealt in email marketing, email marketing remains the top choice for those looking to spend their ad dollars on the web.
In the results being reported by ClickZ, we see that both marketers and consumers mark email as their first activity on the web for the day. For marketers, 76% said that email was priority one each day, and of consumers 69% said the same.
In the company’s results summary, they included the following highlights;
- 45 percent of marketers prefer to interact with brands on email compared to 36 percent of consumers with a smartphone, and 49 percent of consumers who do not own a smartphone
- 93 percent of marketers and 49 percent of consumers have made a purchase as a direct result of an email marketing message
- 93 percent of consumers subscribe to at least one brand’s email, remaining consistent compared to 2010
The company states in their report,
Marketers must keep in mind that they do just about everything online more than the average consumer, and they must be careful not to apply their professional behaviors to consumers as a whole.
The report also shows that a quarter of marketers feel that brands should be investing more time and effort into email, and a third of consumers feel the same way. When asked the same questions about social media, only about 21% of marketers wanted more investment in Facebook and only 12% of marketers wanted more investment in Twitter. As for consumers, only 22% wanted more investment in Facebook and 5% wanted more for Twitter.
Although there are countless new ways for marketers to reach online consumers, with even more being released every day, consumers and marketers still love the way email marketing works. It is quick, simple, and allows a lot of room for creative technique. Email has always brought in great performance numbers for marketers, and it makes viewing ads an easier and more personal experience for consumers. So, it is easy to see why such interest in email marketing still exists. People have liked the platform from the get-go, and signs point to email continuing to grow in the marketing world. Marketers simply need to learn better techniques for approaching email marketing campaigns in order to better reach the customer and have their efforts not be ignored.
