In many ways, email is one of the first internet marketing
tools. Before everyone could own their own website and before there was social
media to help marketers reach a target audience, there was email. Though the
usefulness of a particular piece of technology often fades with time, this
hasn't been the case with email marketing. A recent study found that email
remains an important force for marketing, even when reaching younger
demographics.
To show the modern value of email marketing , Adestra
designed a study to gauge consumer opinions and behavior when it comes to
email. The researchers surveyed more than 1,200 respondents from teenagers to
Baby Boomers and asked how they interacted with, and think about, the email
messages they receive.
One of the most interesting takeaways from Adestra's 2016
Consumer Adoption & Usage Study is that even in a world filled with mobile
and social media marketing avenues, Millennials still use emails. In fact, many
young adults prefer email to other marketing channels.
According to the study, nearly 68 percent of teens and 73
percent of Millennials said they prefer to receive communication from a
business via email. In addition, more than half rely on email to buy things
online.
"For the last few years, it's been widely assumed that
email would fade away because Millennials and teens weren't going to use
it," said Ryan Phelan, Adestra's VP of marketing insights, in a statement
on the release of the study. "It turns out that the opposite is true.
Email continues to be part of everyday life across all age groups, with
consumers literally hanging out in their inboxes all day long."
Email has the benefit of being usable on multiple devices
and that it can include social media, online video and other marketing elements
all within the email marketing message. According to Adestra, 86 percent of all
consumers surveyed said they use their smartphones for email communication,
with high concentrations among teens and Millennials. And 48 percent of teens
and 44 percent of Millennials reach for those smartphones to check messages
right after turning off the alarm clock.
The research also has data that can help business owners
setup more effective methods for collecting emails for marketing. For example,
a growing trend among sites is to require viewers to submit their email before
they can view content. According to the study, only 43 percent of consumers
give a real email address when they come to a website that asks for an email
before continuing.
This means that the majority of the time, when websites ask
for email addresses first, they will be getting a fake or an email address the
person set up specifically to receive marketing emails. It 's more effective to
let people see the content first. That way, if they sign up for email updates,
it will be with an email address they plan to check. Since they know the
content is worth it.
Furthermore, getting people to sign up for email newsletters
they don't want is only a temporary victory. According to the Adestra report,
four out of five (80 percent) consumers actually unsubscribe from emails they
no longer wish to receive. So getting the email address is only half the
battle. Keeping email subscribers requires marketers to continually work to
create engaging email marketing campaigns.
Another takeaway from the report is that even people who are
interested in a marketing email they receive may not immediately open and read
it. Of those surveyed, 59 percent said they would leave an email unread if they
plan to read it later, and 33 percent say they use flags in their email client
to mark emails they want to read later.
It seems that email will remain useful for consumers and
marketers for the foreseeable future. This means it's a good idea for marketers
to keep up to date on the latest data about best practices and consumer
behavior. Check out the Adestra study in its entirety for more data that can be
used to craft better email marketing campaigns.
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