Email marketing has been around for more than 30 years, and yet it still tops the return on investment (ROI) tables for various marketing strategies. Why is this? What is it that makes email so valuable compared to, say, social media or paid ads?
Direct audience ownership
Direct audience ownership is the number one reason why email continues to dominate marketing return on investment. Instead of renting space on a platform, when you have an email list you can speak to customers directly and bypass the algorithm. You can essentially say whatever you want, as long as you don’t get flagged as spam by Google or any of the other major email clients.
With social media, the story is different. You don’t own the audience, and the platforms are constantly monitoring you to make sure you’re adhering to their guidelines. This can make it challenging for you to really stand out or do anything different from your competitors, turning everything you create into slop.
More personalization
There’s also an argument to be made that email marketing leads to more personalization. Email is inherently personal, and these days there are all sorts of tools that you can use to make it even more engaging.
For example, let’s say that you want to create urgency in a marketing email you send to your prospects. Previously, you would have done this with writing alone, but now you can get a countdown timer for MailChimp. These timers tell customers how long they have left before a particular discount or sale will end.
Psychological triggers
Another reason email marketing dominates ROI is the psychological triggers associated with a person’s inbox. Many people see this as a curated space, so when they sign up for your newsletter or email marketing sequence, they’re essentially giving you permission to enter their sacred space. This opt-in process creates a level of trust. They know they’re only receiving marketing emails from you because they previously signed up, presumably because there was some sort of value in it for them.
Cost-effectiveness
On top of this is the other side of the equation: cost effectiveness. Email marketing sequences essentially cost nothing to send, making them completely different from paid ads or even regular social media posts. Yes, you may have to pay somebody to create the marketing emails to a high standard in the first place, but overall costs tend to be lower. Once you have one email, you can send a million of them.
Action-oriented design
Finally, emails have an action-oriented design compared to passive posts on social media. When somebody receives an email, there’s often an expectation that they will reply to it because that’s something they’ve been trained to do over the years when receiving regular emails from other people. Furthermore, when you include things like a quote, a “Read more” link, or a coupon code, it automatically incentivizes action. Many people will click simply because they’re curious.
If you want to achieve a high ROI with email marketing, always make the value proposition clear in whatever you’re presenting.
