Email Marketing Guide for Your Business in 2022

The term “email marketing” may sound like a traditional, cliched, and outdated method to most marketers. However, they forget that email marketing remains a fundamental and robust mechanism for any marketing strategy. The benefits email marketing provides us are unmatchable. You get to communicate with your existing customers or prospective buyers at their convenience. It is an effective way to generate leads, nurture them, and convert them into loyal customers.

The importance of email marketing is significantly underrated, and only a few eCommerce companies are still investing in this strategy. Having a well-planned strategy in place and conforming to good practices is bound to yield results sooner or later.

The studies show that email marketing competes vehemently with popular marketing mechanisms like social media, SEO strategies, and PPC advertising for a place on the top shelf. It undeniably has intense competition, but it is still a working tool in 2022. Email marketing is sure to emerge as one of the leading methods to market your business this year. Read on to find out how and why.

Understand more about the relevance of email marketing for your business in 2022

Table of Contents

What is Email Marketing?

Email Marketing involves utilizing emails to promote or advertise your brand’s product and services while simultaneously developing a relationship with your target audience. The electronically generated email has several perks. It forms a small part of the internet marketing techniques that include online marketing done via social media, websites, blogs, etc.

Some examples of email marketing are newsletters that carry essential information about the updates on the brand, promotion of products, and exclusive discounts for the consumer. They are also used to convey reassuring messages on the firm’s behalf during emergencies like natural calamities or a scandal.

How Effective is Email Marketing?

Even though email marketing is a 50-year-old technique, it remains highly relevant in the age of social media. A string of statistical data backs this statement up. For example, in 2020, 4 million people worldwide used emails; 60% of customers ranked email as their number one communication channel with small businesses.

Another survey concluded that emails influenced about 59% of consumers’ buying decisions, and email marketing has a 2.3% higher conversion rate than social media. The scientifically derived figures prove that email marketing remains practical and relevant. It will be a loss not to employ email marketing as a part of your overall marketing strategy.

How Does Email Marketing Work?

It requires three primary elements to work effortlessly. These elements determine how effective your email marketing is going to be.

Defined Goals

Email marketing attains objectives listed below.

Boosting brand awareness
Increasing customer engagement rate
Enhancing customer loyalty
Organically driving sales
Generating and nurturing leads

For your email marketing strategy to work, your future goals, email list, and email service provider must align. Decide on the central objective or goal before drafting the content for your emails to make the email marketing strategy more targeted.

Email List

Email list refers to a database containing email contacts of your customers and potential clients who have given consent or are interested in receiving advertising communications from your company. For email marketing to work, you require an active email list, which means the email addresses on the list need to be regularly used by their respective owners. There are many ways to build an email list. Here are some examples.

When a customer visits your website, a pop-up message asks the visitor to share their email addresses to receive exciting news and deals from your brand
Give customers access to coupons by exchanging their email addresses with you

Email Service Provider

Email Service Provider or an ESP is an email marketing platform or software that aids you in managing your email list. You must be thinking, why do I need to pay for an ESP when I am already using regular email platforms like Gmail? Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook are Internet Service Providers or ISPs designed for personal use rather than email blasts. There are no restrictions that you can’t use them for bulk emailing.

But they come with numerous limiting factors, such as a decrease in email bandwidth, email deliverability, and design. Moreover, mass emails sent from ISPs get automatically flagged as spam mails, and in extreme cases, your account might get blocked for suspicious activity. By using ESPs, you can personalize the design and interaction with each buyer, which will lead to a higher engagement rate and conversion rate.

Interested in setting up an email marketing campaign for your business?

Email Marketing Strategies

We present below a few email marketing strategies that will boost the performance of your campaigns.

Curate Your List

Sending unsolicited emails will only annoy your customers and lead them to block your email ID. Ensure that your consumers give you consent by opting to receive your promotional emails.

Adhere to the Rules

A company must follow email marketing rules and regulations to avoid spamming its customers. For one, it should have a clear and non-deceptive subject and provide an easy way to unsubscribe. Also, make sure to include your name and address at the end of the emails.

Follow a Schedule

Consistency is the key to any marketing strategy, which also applies to email marketing. If you are sending out a newsletter, make sure it’s weekly, monthly, or bi-monthly. Sending one email every week will help your customers know more about your company and the benefits it can provide.

Reasons Why Email Marketing is Important

Drives Traffic to the Website

eCommerce businesses face cut-throat competition and difficulty increasing organic traffic to their website. You can directly send customers to your site by adding an inbound link with email marketing. These links can be attached to CTAs or Call To Action, a prominent marketing tool to persuade customers to buy from your brand.

With the suitable CTA, you can entice your customers to visit the sign-up or download page, which will tempt them to take action and engage with your site. For example, if you send out a promotional email, you can send users to the ongoing sales page of your brand.

Widening Your Target Audience

An increase in traffic means an increase in your reach, which leads to more customers coming in contact. These potential customers have untapped possibilities that you can harness to widen your consumer base and boost the company’s sales. Reaching out to your target audience is critical as it is one of your first personal contacts with the customer. They will form their first impressions and opinions about your brand based on this.

By approaching the customer appropriately, you can persuade them to purchase from your brand. Companies also add referral codes in their emails to encourage customers to refer your brand to their friends and family to reap several benefits.

Inexpensive

Marketing and advertising are high-income industries, and some businesses can’t afford their services. However, eCommerce business owners should remember that the expensive method is not always fruitful. Email marketing is one of the most budget-friendly marketing strategies there is. Employing this strategy for your brand will save a considerable amount of time and money, better utilized elsewhere.

ESPs and employees to generate content for your emails are the only two necessary investments you have to make to kick-start your campaign. While other paid features will add to the never-ending list of perks, they are not required to boost your email marketing strategies.

Offering Customer Service

Reliable customer service is the sign of a successful brand. Customers trust businesses with direct customer service channels like email addresses, phone numbers, and live chat. Generally, consumers use emails to get in touch with your brand. After a shopper places an order, they get emails about the product’s tracking, shipping, and delivery. Customers are also free to write you an email if they have any queries.

Your customer support team can quickly resolve them by sending an email with the valid information. You can make your consumers happy and pleased with your brand by rapidly settling queries. Furthermore, this also makes them feel prioritized and valued by your company.

Timing

Timing plays a significant role in determining the efficacy of a campaign. For instance, social media apps like Instagram and Facebook have specific times during the week when the engagement rate is at its peak. By posting during that window, you can boost the results of your digital marketing strategy. Emails have a more flexible timing schedule. Not everyone will check their social media notifications, but they will check their email notifications.

Young working adults aged 18 and above are constantly checking their emails not to miss vital opportunities, which makes it easier for you to reach them. People also use multiple devices like laptops and mobile phones to use or check emails, thus ensuring that you can get them at any place and any time.

Personalized Content

Personalization is a driving force that leads to a higher conversion rate for your business. Email marketing is one of the few marketing techniques that allow you to curate customized content for your customers. It will ensure that you flawlessly cater to every one of their needs. For starters, adding the customer’s name at the beginning of the email content is a memorable way to personalize them.

According to research, emails that include the customer’s first name have an increased CTR or click-through rate than the emails that don’t. You can also send personalized coupons for extra savings with your next purchase. For example, new customers can get a 50% off on their first purchase, and loyal customers can get coupons and membership benefits by subscribing to your emails.

Boost Your Sales

Email marketing has a high potential to increase your sales. You can use an email to pass any information about purchases, discounts, products, services, or other promotional activities. You can also attach your products or services images with an appropriate CTA and description to tempt customers to purchase them.

Small businesses and large enterprises have adopted email marketing techniques to increase profits and sales. Another reason why email marketing is crucial for business is because it lets you implement abandoned cart recovery plans. Sometimes the consumer might not follow through with the purchasing process for diverse reasons. In such situations, you can send them reminders via emails to prompt them about the products in their shopping cart. It will aid in completing the buying process and increasing your sales.

Feedback and Suggestions

The consumer is the King when it comes to business. The scope of improvement for a company comes in through customer feedback. Every company wants to know the general opinion of consumers about their products or services. Their experience with your brand plays a predominant role in determining if they will repurchase and recommend it to other people. You can monitor these experiences and collect feedback from your consumers through short survey links attached to your emails. It will help you understand what aspects of your brand can be modified to suit your target audience’s needs.

Improves Brand Awareness

Emails aid in enhancing your customer’s overall understanding of your brand. Talking about your company’s goals, vision, mission, and brand value will help customers align their goals and vision with your products and services. They will have a relatively better comprehension of the foundations of your company.

Suppose, if you are a company that sells eco-friendly sunglasses, then talking about the sustainable goals and measures taken to protect the environment will help consumers grasp the cause your company represents. It will also appeal to them to switch to your brand and be more environmentally conscious.

One of the benefits of email being an old technology is that everyone has one and knows how to use it. Even though social media’s popularity is increasing rapidly, not all consumers use it. Interestingly enough, you need an email account to sign up for various social media platforms. It tells you that the two platforms are invariably linked. Additionally, one cannot deny that social media’s power is crucial for any digital marketing campaign. But when compared to email marketing, it fails to match the same advantages.

Learn more about how you can set up a new marketing strategy to boost your sales

Email Remains Popular and Relevant

It’s a common misconception that email is dead and no one spends time using emails. Nonetheless, email marketing experts know that this strategy isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Email marketing will grow and thrive as one of the most avant-garde techniques in 2022. 83% of the total global consumers prefer emails as a medium to receive communication from businesses. Email marketing eliminates the need to invest in costly and complicated marketing strategies with unreliable success rates. You must regularly read up on several future email marketing trends to modify your existing plan and optimize for a higher success rate.

Hassle-free and Easy to Design

Unlike other marketing techniques, emails are considerably easy to design. You can build an email marketing strategy from scratch in a few days. That’s not to say it doesn’t require any effort. Email marketing requires meticulous research and planning, but it is easier than other digital marketing alternatives. With a significant amount of knowledge and experience, you can optimally benefit from the opportunities of success and grow your consumer base by using email marketing. Learning email marketing, especially as a start-up business owner, is a valuable investment.

Advance ROI Rates

Email marketing has higher ROI (Return of Investment) rates when compared to other forms of marketing techniques. Targeted emails leveraged with chatbots will yield massive ROIs, which means an email marketing campaign will offer you more money than your initial investment. Heading into 2022 makes it vital to know which type of strategy works effectively in different situations. If you want to promote a product or service through mail, then a well-timed email with an attractive discount code could motivate customers to purchase.

Customer Engagement and Retention

Respect your customers’ privacy by asking for their consent to be included in your email marketing campaigns. It makes your brand seem thoughtful and trustworthy to the customers, thereby increasing the chances of customer engagement with the emails. Promotional emails are ideal for both customer retention and engagement.

Your emails need to have an irresistible ‘WOW’ factor in making an unforgettable impression on the reader. Appeal to their human emotions by adding hacks, tips, and tricks to your emails. Mentioning the uses and benefits of your product will assist in retaining the customer. Make your emails look attractive by using interactive designs, formats, infographics, video content, and so on.

Emails Integrated with Other Marketing Channels

Not only does email marketing offer you unique perks and outstanding results, but it also amplifies other marketing channels. Social media marketing, content marketing, and webinars are different marketing channels that greatly benefit from email marketing. For instance, place a clickable social media platform icon of Instagram on the newsletter’s footer and embed posts from your social media account on the email. It helps your customer conveniently access and follow your social media profile.

Stay in Touch

One of the ways to maintain a solid relationship with your customer is to stay in contact with them constantly. Sending emails every week will remind them about your brand presence. Furthermore, staying in touch becomes critically important if the customer has bought from your brand before. This stage in the buying process is known as after-sales services.

Check up on your customer to see if they are satisfied with the product or require any extra assistance from your company. It ensures that the customer is valued, which increases the chances of shopping from your brand again.

Easy to Measure

Readily available email marketing tools allow you to track the success of your email marketing campaigns. You can track metrics: delivery rate, click-through rate, unsubscribe rate, open rates, etc. These statistics help you understand what aspects of your email marketing work optimally and make it more efficient. The measure of success will vary according to your target audience and industry niche. A simple trick to raising the numbers of these metrics is to cater to your customers’ needs.

Customizable Through Segmentation

You can get a general idea of the customer’s expectations, needs, wants, and desires by collecting data from leads and subscribers. You can collate data from third parties like other platforms, mobile integration, etc. The gathered data can segment your audience and generate highly targeted emails. Segmenting your email marketing allows you to connect deeper with the audience and individually cater to their needs. It will increase the relevance of your brand, lower the rate of unsubscription, and supplement the conversion rates.

Responsive for Mobile Phone Users

The number of mobile phone users continues to grow every year, and as a result, companies are focusing on making their eCommerce business and marketing techniques mobile-friendly. Your brand should utilize this opportunity to generate leads by sending emails to your audience. Each time the notification rings, people feel compelled to check it out and engage with your email.

Automated Process

Email marketing doesn’t face any issues when it comes to automation. While other digital marketing processes don’t offer your automation, you can fully automate your email marketing technique from start to finish. It means you don’t need to pay more than the required amount of attention to monitoring its execution.

Using trigger actions, you are allowed to send automated emails to any customer who visited your landing page without taking any further action. You could contact prospects who left your site without purchasing products or with products still sitting in their shopping carts. The emailers can also include shoppers who failed to finish a sign-up process or form on your site.

Get to know how to generate public interest in your products

How Do You Measure Email Marketing Success?

There are several parameters used to measure email marketing success. We have listed a few of the metrics below.

Delivery Rate

This metric is used at the beginning of your email campaign and monitors the strength of your curated email list. A high score on this metric means you seamlessly reach out to your intended audience, while a low score means you need to build a healthier subscription list.

Open Rates

This metric involves your subject line. It plays an essential role in ensuring your subject opens the emails. One way to enhance open rates is to use the customer’s name in the email to get their attention.

Click-through Rates

Your emails should prompt the customer to take action once they open them. One way to guarantee that is to write relevant content in your emails. If your brand’s strategy is to send one email to the entire list, your CTR will be drastically low.

Conversion Rate

This metric involves the number of consumers from your email list who ended up buying products from your site. Marketers use CTA and discount codes in their emails to entice customers to buy from their site.

Email Marketing - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Is email marketing still effective?

Email marketing remains one of the most effective ways for any business to reach out to customers directly, unlike social media pages where you have to post something and hope people visit it. Email marketing allows you to send something directly into each person’s inbox, where there is a high chance they will see it.

How should I grow my email list?

A fantastic way to grow an email subscriber list is to provide your target audience with an incentive in exchange for signing up to receive your marketing emails. You place this offer on your website, social media pages, or on the website’s landing pages to create a buzz about your brand.

How often should I send marketing emails?

The correct answer depends on your marketing strategy and target audience. It is generally advised to send marketing emails as often as you can. Consistency is the key here. However, you shouldn’t send the emails too frequently either. It leads to people unsubscribing from your list and reporting it as spam.

Is social media marketing taking over email marketing?

Social media marketing is wildly prominent, and its usage is only growing every day, but it is not replacing email marketing any time soon. For example, with Facebook, if you were to make a post to reach your followers, it will only contact a small portion of your users as it can get lost in their feed. However, if you have users who opted to join your email list, everyone will receive the message.

How can I make sure my emails don’t end up in the spam folder?

There are specific hard and fast rules of email marketing that you should follow if you want to avoid your emails ending up in the spam folder. These rules include avoiding inappropriate terms, writing in all caps, etc. Spam filters have become more advanced and sophisticated now than they were, giving you more flexibility in writing your email content.

Can I buy an email list when I start with email marketing?

It is tempting, but you better not buy an email list to kick start your email marketing campaign. The only ethical way to get an email subscriber list for your company is to build it organically. Firstly, many ESPs don’t allow you to use purchased email lists. Secondly, the email addresses found on purchased lists are not high-quality leads.

Do I need to send an email newsletter?

It depends on the business and the industry you are working in. For some companies, a newsletter is suitable. For other enterprises, a different approach might work better. Newsletters feature several unique pieces of content, like blog posts, recent updates about your brand or the industry, and current specials.

What is the best day and time to send my marketing emails?

Once again, the suitable answer to this question varies from business to business. Companies implement state-of-the-art testing methods to determine what timing works best for them. Weekends and mornings are assumed to be the window when people open more emails. Your audience may have a different habit. It is best to find it out through testing.

Should I use HTML or plain text-based emails?

You will only know the answer to this question after performing A/B testing, even though some people may try to convince you that beautiful, eye-catching HTML emails work better than simple text-based emails. The truth is, there is no accurate answer. It all depends on your target audience and their preferences.

How long should my emails be?

Research states that an average person will only spend approximately 20 seconds reading an email, so write your email using this data as a guideline. Nevertheless, if your email takes longer than 20 seconds to read, then make sure to add crucial information, call to action, and links, near the top, where they are visible.

How is Email Marketing Relevant for Your Business in 2022 and Beyond?

What is Email Marketing?

How Effective is Email Marketing?