There is no doubt that email marketing is effective for business. In fact, a recent study by Adobe, found that Americans check their email at all hours, with many users reporting 30 or more hours per week spent using email at work and home. Thirty-three percent of the participants confessed to having more than one personal email account. Possibly among the most surprising among the findings was that millennials responded saying they spend nearly 6.5 hours daily reading emails. 

The truth is email is a trustworthy solution for cost-effective communications between brands and customers – current customers, potential customers, and even past customers. Email marketing can grow your business successfully because it allows you to keep in contact with your customers consistently, letting them know just how much you value them.

As a matter of fact, the more you treat your customers as valued individuals, the more they will engage with your brand. And engagement is the first step toward action and success. 

The team at Digital PR powered by Exults shares here the benefits of email marketing for your business as well as how Facebook continues to help businesses change the game. 

The Benefits of Email Marketing for Your Business

Despite rumors to the contrary, email remains one of the best methods for engaging your current customers and reaching potential new customers. Here’s why:

• Email marketing provides personalized, targeted content for your customers. Targeted communication means your perfectly customized message can capture the attention of your customer and drive engagement. By crafting the ideal message for your target audience, your emails help you bond with your customers and build a foundation of trust. To accomplish the goal of engagement requires that you do your research and know your customers’ interest. Why is this so important? It helps you build credibility, allows you into their inbox, and increases the chances your message will be read by your customer.
• Email marketing allows you to develop your brand’s identity and create brand recognition. This means your emails are well-crafted and relevant to your audience, giving your company a direct, always open line of communication to your customers along with your potential customers. Your email content should always provide a level of value that is easily recognizable to your customers and sets you apart from your competition. 
• Email marketing done well means enhanced sales. In truth, emails that feature items similar to a consumer’s past purchases or companion products for those past purchases often generate impulse buys as do emails that feature special offers and discounts.
• Email marketing allows you to cultivate customer relationships. Sharing with your customers what is happening behind the scenes at your company, especially when your efforts are benefiting the community at large allows your customers to get involved with you and your company, thus building a strong, loyal customer base.
• Email marketing is budget-friendly. Small to medium businesses simply don’t have a bottomless budget or unlimited time to devote to marketing efforts. This makes email marketing an attractive option allowing your company to use both time and money effectively. 
• Email marketing plus metrics gives you greater insight into your customers and, in turn, this insight helps you market to them more effectively. Think about it, when your customers see your email and your subject line, do they open your message or ignore it? A good open rate means your messages are resonating with your customers. The same is true for your CTR (click-through-rate) which gives you information on how many customers are clicking on the links in your messages. Your email conversion rate is another important metric that shows you how many customers convert, that is take the action you called for in the email. By linking to your website within your email, you can also increase traffic to your website. In addition, you always want to include your social media links for sharing which allows your customers to help you by promoting your content on their social channels. 
• Email marketing allows you to establish your expertise in your industry and be seen as an authority by your customers. When your customers appreciate the value of the content you provide, they will share it, and you will build excitement for your brand. Along with exceptional content, offer exclusive perks, sneak peeks, loyalty rewards to your customers, inviting them to share with their friends and family, which then increases your reach. 

Facebook Tests Email Marketing Tools to Help Your Business

Facebook is currently in testing mode for a new set of tools that will permit your business page to use email marketing through its platform. Small to medium-sized businesses will benefit through the ability to upload contacts, compose marketing emails, send them via Facebook’s platform, and track performance. On business pages, companies will be able to access the new tool from the sidebar option entitled “Marketing Emails” and from there select the target audience, personalize the design, track performance metrics from a single access point. 

Facebook’s new tools will help small businesses, in particular, to connect with customers, sharing services, and other important information more efficiently. It will likely be of greater benefit to small businesses who want to utilize email marketing but have no existing plan in place permitting them to send marketing messages to their customers and be able to track effectiveness with ease. It appears, these new tools, when implemented, can help small business focus effectively on email marketing by with an easy to use solution which also is capable of tracking metrics in a simple, yet effective way. 

The Importance of Email Marketing

Without a doubt, email marketing remains one of the most cost-effective, marketing solutions for small businesses. Every business should be using email marketing strategies to engage their customers effectively, especially now in the present circumstances. Companies who develop email marketing strategies now will find themselves better positioned for the future.

If you don’t know where to begin or need help improving your existing email marketing plan, Digital PR powered by Exults is ready to help you leverage the power of email marketing for your business.