Why would anyone use email marketing?

Let’s just start this off by saying: email is not dead. Sure, there was a time when spammers ruled the email world. Users quickly learned to be wary of email marketing. For it to be an effective channel in 2017, marketers need to start applying that inbound methodology everyone talks about. Just a basic refresher: inbound marketing is a strategy to engage users with your brand through informational/enjoyable content. Through personalization and a value offering to the email recipient, email can build the relationships with your customers subtly, without coming off as a spammer.

Email marketing allows you to see analytics that relate directly to an email campaign. For example, clicks, downloads within the email, open rate etc. But if you’re using marketing automation, you’re able to gather data from the email and from what they do after they clicked onto your site. Automation will give you a greater sense of the buyer’s journey as a whole. Let’s say you weren’t using marketing automation, and wanted to send an email to your subscribers offering a super-sale for a limited time only. You’ll be able to determine how effective your campaign was at driving leads to your site (clicks), but then there’s no way to connect the flow from an email click through to a site conversion. Basically, you’ll be left in the dark about the true source of those site visits and what really drove them to convert. On the other hand, with marketing automation, users get access to monitoring website actions; it integrates with social media/other software and more. This valuable data creates insight for your email campaigns to make the best decisions for your company, all while streamlining the process.

Standard email marketing typically ‘blasts’ a subscriber list with emails, with everyone receiving the same message. Some sophisticated email tools even allow you to send out specific messages to specific demographics. Okay, sounds like it makes a marketer’s job a bit easier. Marketing automation, however, makes life a lot easier. One example is ‘drip campaigns’. These send-over-time campaigns dynamically react to customer input. If user A clicks on the first link in an email, a few days later she may be automatically sent a follow-up regarding more information about that first link. And if user B clicks on the last link in an email which shows reviews of a product, maybe then he receives an email a few days later with a discount on that same product he checked the reviews for. This means that each individual link/CTA within an email campaign can be used to guide the user through the buyer’s journey.

A great example of a company that uses email marketing/automation well is BuzzFeed. Despite their click-baiteyness (for lack of a better term), they do a fantastic job at automating their emails. With over 20 newsletters that are sent out based on specific user preferences, subscribers only see the information/posts that they’re interested in seeing. For example, BuzzFeed offered a get fit challenge to its subscribers. Those that clicked the link within the next few days would receive tips and tricks on how to maintain the challenge/dieting tips to supplement the information.