The first thing you want to know is whether email marketing is effective, right?

You’re probably hoping I can give you a straightforward answer, writes Natalka Antoniuk, Marketing Manager, Digital Storm.

A simple yes, or no perhaps? Often, articles like this spend 1,000 words to argue both sides of the story. 10 minutes of your life gone to find out that a particular strategy might work for you. Might not though.

You won’t find any of that here. Email marketing is effective. If you’re investing time, money and resources into your marketing plan then we’d expect to see some form of email strategy. Why? Email marketing is up to 40x more effective than social media.

Now, while recognizing the potency of email marketing, it’s crucial to ensure the quality of your email list. A reliable email verifier plays a pivotal role in maintaining the health of your contact database. An effective tool, such as the one found at https://www.zerobounce.net/free-email-verifier/, ensures that your emails are delivered to valid and engaged recipients, minimizing bounce rates and maximizing the impact of your campaigns. As you invest time, money, and effort into your marketing endeavors, incorporating a robust email verification process becomes a proactive step to enhance the overall efficiency and success of your email marketing strategy.

I’ll repeat.

Email marketing is up to 40x more effective than social media marketing.

Now that we’ve let this digest a little, let’s think about what that means for you and your business.

At Digital Storm, we get stuck into the nitty-gritty when it comes to our clients’ marketing plans. We’ve worked on PPC campaigns, email campaigns, social media campaigns, SEO campaigns… the whole shebang.

Our diversity has given us an insight into all the different tools, tactics and strategies so we’ve got a pretty good understanding of email marketing. Do we think it’s better than social media marketing? Well, yes.

We can put together a brand new email design, segment your database and schedule the email in much less time than it would take us to plan, design and schedule a month’s worth of social media content.

But that’s not the only reason we’re fans of email marketing.

Our teams love getting the opportunity to work together and collaborate on different projects. When it comes to email marketing, everyone gets involved.

Firstly, our marketing team put the plan in place. They know who they want to target, what they want to say and where they want receivers of the email to go.

Then, the project goes to our UX design team to create a stunning, vibrant campaign that perfectly balances the visual hierarchy. In layman’s terms, the person who receives the email does what they’re supposed to do.

And last, but by no means least, the web development team steps up to the plate to build the perfect landing page for that campaign.

It’s simple. It’s effective. And it’s how we drive traffic, sales and brand awareness for our clients.

So is email marketing worth your time? What does your business have to gain from an email marketing strategy?

Honestly, there’s too much to put in one list. Instead, I’ll bust some popular myths (because they’re probably the reason you haven’t given email marketing a go.)

Email Marketing Myth 1: GDPR Ruined Our Strategy

Firstly, it doesn’t matter who you are or what product or service you provide. Many businesses avoid email marketing, especially when it comes to sending weekly or biweekly campaigns. They believe their customers will start to resent them for filling their inbox with spam.

Well since the GDPR laws changed in the UK, email marketing has actually thrived. Giving people the option to receive emails was an obvious step. It’s great for businesses as well – you’re only sending marketing messages to people who want to hear from you.

Did you know one third of people sign up to email lists to get product updates? Or that 27% are there because they love the brand? Thanks to GDPR, email marketing is less about spamming your audiences’ inbox and more about offering more value.

Secondly, the golden rule of marketing is to go with the flow of your audience.

We wouldn’t suggest sticking your brand on TikTok, a social media platform that rose to fame in 2020, if you sell to senior execs of SAAS companies. Just like we wouldn’t suggest local press if you’re trying to take your eCommerce global.

Almost 90% of adults living in the UK check their emails regularly. It’s more than likely your audience is among that 90%. With clever database building and segmentation of your existing lists, you’ll be able to create email marketing plans that go to the right people.

Email Marketing Myth Two: It’s Expensive

We know all too well how hard it is to choose the right strategy when you’re juggling a marketing budget. Social media advertising or Google Ads is always tempting. The media spend is always going to be appealing if you have a smaller budget.

But what about ROI?

Return on investment (ROI) is one of the most important metrics to measure the success of a campaign. A low-cost campaign can be really effective, but sometimes you’ll find you get a much better ROI from a more expensive strategy.

With email marketing being up to 40x more effective than social media advertising, you’re almost guaranteed a bigger ROI.

With that being said, email marketing isn’t even that expensive. There are loads of email scheduling tools that are completely free to use or some that cost less than £50 per month. If you’re not a confident designer, all you need to do is utilise the drag and drop feature available in most of the systems.

Basically, email marketing isn’t expensive (it can even be free if you want). Not only is it not expensive, but it’s got a fantastic ROI when compared to some of its competitors (cough social media cough).

Is Email Marketing Dead?

Absolutely not. Email marketing is alive and well and it could be where your next burst of business comes from.

Despite popular opinion, the GDPR regulations made email marketing more successful.  Asking users to subscribe and confirm they want to opt in to receive emails from you means you’ve got a hand-selected list of relevant, interested people. So you can forget that myth straight away.

Is email marketing expensive? Nope. It’s just as low cost as other digital marketing strategies. Sometimes even cheaper. And it takes much less time than organic social media would – now what’s your excuse?

To put an email marketing campaign together, you don’t need an agency. Thanks to the free tools at your disposal, it’s never been easier to build your own database and send out your designs.

With that being said, there are always going to be benefits when working with an experienced email marketing agency. Whether it’s crafting subject lines, coding email sections or segmenting your database effectively, our team are always happy to help.