The age of the internet, with every click and engagement systematically recorded, gives entrepreneurs a lot of options for marketing. Everything from social media to PPC is out there. But there is one approach that is particularly time-tested, reliable, and inexpensive: email marketing. This article explores whether email is actually a profitable marketing tactic, and takes readers through an ‘email marketing audit’ to see if it’s working in their campaigns.
The Cost of Email Marketing
If we want to know whether email marketing is worth it or not, we first need to understand the costs and ROIs. In addition to the upfront cost of software and tools, email marketing consists primarily of labour-related costs associated with content, design, and reporting. As with many forms of advertising, they are relatively inexpensive.
The vast majority of businesses can easily utilize free email marketing services such as Mailchimp, Constant Contact, or Sendinblue, ranging from free starter plans to advanced packages for larger businesses. Now, why is email marketing potentially so affordable?
High ROI: According to the Data & Marketing Association, email marketing generates an average return of $42 per $1. That’s an astonishment considering other forms of marketing, such as social media, whose yield is variable and infrequent.
Convenient Targeting: You can segment and target individuals with e-mails. Companies can track subscribers’ actions, interests and demographics so that messages go to the right recipients. This narrowing down leads to a higher click through rate, thus improving the possibility of conversions without incurring too much overhead.
Automating: Email marketing services provide automation features that allow businesses to create timely relevant messages based on user behavior. This removes manual effort and labor cost, allowing marketers to pursue strategic efforts and continue to chemically nurture leads.
Low Cost of Entry: Unlike physical mail or print ads, which require material, shipping, and potentially trashed costs, email is virtually free of overhead. There are no additional costs when creating a campaign and sending it out to subscribers.
The Email Marketing Audit: Finding Cost-Effectiveness.
For an analysis of whether email marketing is cost effective for your business, consider running an email marketing audit. This thorough analysis will enable you to figure out if your current tactics are working well enough and how you can improve in the future.
Step 1: Review Your Email List.
Your email marketing success directly correlates with the strength of your email list. An organized, interactive list will perform better than a massive inactive database. Check your email list for these:
Quality vs. Quantity: Are your subscribers truly interested in what you’re offering? You might want to weed your list and purge the users that don’t respond as well if your engagement is declining.
Segmentation: Do you use segmentation to personalize your emails? A well thought-out segmentation plan will ensure that subscribers receive only the content that’s most important to them, thus improving open rates and conversions.
Step 2: Analyze Engagement Metrics
Email Marketing Campaign Metrics are the soul of any email campaign. The following metrics will help you understand how successful your campaign was:
Open Rates: Check your open rates against industry norms (usually between 15% and 25%, depending on the industry). An low open rate indicates your subject lines aren’t good or your readers don’t read what you have to say.
CTR: The Click-Through Rate is a measurement of the number of people who opened links in your email. An extremely low CTR can also indicate that your message or CTA is not appealing to your audience.
Rates of Conversion: Conversion is ultimately the focus of email marketing. Are your emails driving sales, subscriptions, or other actions you’d like? Otherwise, check your email subject line, offer, and design.
Step 3: Evaluate Your Content
Email marketing is all about content. Email writing will set your brand apart and get you more clicks. Evaluate:
Relevance and Value: Does what you are writing give value to your readers? Stick to offering hints, discounts or tips. The more valuable your emails are, the more likely you will get attention from your audience.
Design and UX: Is your email visually appealing and intuitive? An uncluttered layout with a prominent CTA can lead visitors to take action.
Timing and Frequency: Are you sending too many emails or not enough? You must balance it: you do not want too many emails for your subscribers to unsubscribe, and you don’t want too few for them to lose interest in you.
Step 4: Review Your Methods and Methods.
It all depends on the tool you choose to use for email marketing and how cost-effective it is. Check your existing tools to see if they fit your requirements, costs and objectives. Consider:
Automated Tools: Are you using automation tools? Automated campaigns can save time by providing your audience with timely, relevant information.
A/B Testing: Are you A/B testing your subject lines, content, and CTAs? A/B testing allows you to adjust your methods based on real data to make your chances of success more realistic.
Responsive Design: As mobile users are growing, it’s important to ensure that your emails are responsive across all devices. Many of your subscribers will read emails on their smartphones and you don’t want your conversion rate to be hurt by a bad mobile experience.
Step 5: Calculate Your ROI
After completing your audit, you’re ready to determine your ROI. Check how much revenue you make from email campaigns versus what you spend. This estimate will help you know whether your email campaigns are well worth the effort or need to be adjusted.
Conclusion:
In sum, email marketing is a highly effective platform that can provide significant benefits to businesses of any size. Used properly, and targeted and systematically optimised, it can be one of the most effective marketing tools available today.
Email marketing audits are not only a source of inefficiencies but a potential for growth and improvement. Email is still an important and powerful channel, but with companies continually wrestling with the challenges of digital marketing, you can see unprecedented opportunities for return on investment much beyond the upfront investment. So don’t hesitate to test and optimize, email marketing might be the treasure you’ve been waiting for.
