EMAIL MARKETING EMAIL CAN STILL HOLD ITS OWN – PROVIDING YOUR STRATEGY IS RIGHT

Emails are a ubiquitous and cost-effective way of reaching an audience. But you need a tailored strategy that resonates with the target market.

Given the growth of instant messaging platforms, social media, SMS and so many other digital solutions, is email going to slowly die as a marketing communications method?

By some counts, more than 320-billion emails were sent globally every day during 2021, so the answer is presumably ‘no’. Not in the foreseeable future, anyway.

But that doesn’t mean email marketers can rest on their laurels and if you aren’t seeing results, in all likelihood the problem isn’t email, but the way you’re using it. This is according to Ross Sibbald, Commercial Director at Striata Africa, a company specialising in digital customer communications management.

“If, for example, you’re still using a one-size-fits-all approach to email that treats every customer the same way, you’re not going to experience much joy,” he explains.

“These ‘spray and pray forms’ of email marketing have lost all relevance and have?zero?resonance with customers. Today’s customers demand hyper-personalisation and expect relevant content from service providers to suit their unique requirements.”

Sibbald adds that if marketers are going to get the most out of email, they have to remember what it is that they are trying to achieve. In order to engage with customers, you have to send out something that people actually want to engage with.

“That, in turn, means sending emails that are not only hyper-personal to them, but also relevant to their wants and needs at the moment they receive it,” he says.

Sibbald lists the following tools and tactics for email marketers to ensure they’re achieving their goals:

Make it hyper-personal

With intelligent use of real-time data, dynamic content and database segmentation, organisations can ensure that they’re sending out messages perfectly tailored to each individual customer — at the ideal time.

Automate your emails

Making sure that the customer receives communication at the right time doesn’t mean you need to have staff hovering over the send button. Automating email is easier than ever and can be triggered by purchases, site visits and information requests.

Integrate into the multichannel experience

Remember, email is just?one?of the channels you have at your disposal. It should be as seamlessly integrated with those other channels as possible.

Be mobile first

There are many benefits to a mobile-first strategy. When you design your content for mobile readers, it’s likely to be more focused. It can also help when it comes to creating clear CTA buttons and well-crafted subject lines and preheader copy.

Sibbald adds that it’s critical that every piece of email communication sent out by your organisation has the same look, feel and tone — regardless of which department it comes from.

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