In every industry, myths grow greater as time goes by, starting as a mere kernel of truth and sprouting into a mighty oaks of exaggeration. Email advertising and marketing is no different.
Highly focused on fine-tuning and optimizing their campaigns, email marketers seem to always be looking for small ways they can tweak specific elements of initiatives and appease the “Email Gods”, leading to quirky mindsets and responses being misconstrued into industry best practices. But it’s crucial to remember that what works for one business, may not work for another, and not to confuse myth with fact.
Here are three myths about email advertising fit for Homer’s chronicles:
1. Consumers are Drowning in Hundreds of Email Messages Daily
In general, advertisers are using a broader range of communication channels to engage their customers on a daily basis. Social media, mobile messaging, television, email – these are all commonly used platforms in advertising campaigns.
But despite this ubiquitous approach across all channels, there is an idea permeating the industry that email marketing is the worst culprit, drowning consumers in a storm of emails, leaving them lost, confused and cursing the heavens.
However, most consumers still only receive a few emails per day. One report from Marketing Pilgrim found that 60 percent of customers received less than six promotional emails daily, of which 40 percent received fewer than three. This means that email advertising remains a high-value avenue brands can use to engage customers.
2. Consumers Ignore Branded Emails
Is there any greater fear marketers house than that of being branded as “SPAM” and ignored by customers. This has many companies carefully monitoring how they choose to engage consumers – they devote a lot of time and effort into ensuring they don’t send too many emails and trying to find a “magic number” with their frequency.
But the idea that consumers are stuffing their ears with wax to ignore the Sirens’ call is false. The fact of the matter is that consumers appreciate consistency, and the chances of a customer actually opening a message doubles when brands send four messages a month instead of one. People trust familiar brands, so companies shouldn’t be afraid of being ignored unless they go too far overboard.
3. Email Provides Less Value in a Mobile/Social World
Perhaps the most erroneous of the myths floating around the industry is that in an increasingly mobile world, email is about as useful as a Cyclops with a sword in it’s eye.
On the contrary, email is actually more valuable in today’s ever-connected digital world. In fact, according toExperian Marketing Services’ (EMS) Quarterly Email Benchmark Study Q2 2013, 50% of unique email opens are mobile, a number which is only expected to grow.
Email is also often the primary re-engagement tool for major social sites, as well as a way to drive people to other digital destinations. It can even be social fodder in and of itself, if publishers add sharing widgets. According to iContact, 64 percent of businesses use email with other types of advertising to maximize their reach.
Want to continue your Odyssey into the legends of email? Click here to learn more about why email is no longer about sending email.
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