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Email markEting Why email is a T looKed lIKe THe WrITIng examines the current strengths and was on the wall for email in July last challenges of email marketing, states: sniper rife and not i year when McKinsey consulting’s “Marketers shouldn’t be too hasty in ‘iConsumer’ survey reported a 20% shifting budgets away from email – they decline in email usage – this as a share of just need to take a few steps to harness time spent on communications between the full power of the inbox.” a shotgun 2008 and 2012. Social media and instant Email marketing secrets messaging were singled out as the Because people have to deal with popular new kids on the block, while the study also showed people were spending more time on mobile devices than inbox overload, email marketing has become very sophisticated, says Spiro traditional email. Malamoglou of Mail Blaze, a South research by Yahoo Advertising African permission-based email marketing Solutions – Yahoo’s online advertising company. “It’s dirt cheap,” he claims, portal – also seemed to be knocking other “and it’s easy to get up and running. It’s nail into the coffin of email marketing. This a really good start point and it’s easy to study revealed that 78% of marketing engage with your clients.” directors believe custom content is king The success secret, according when it comes to brand tactics – an area to Malamoglou, is to persuade customers where email is lacking due to its relative to sign up for your newsletter. “As blandness. long as people have opted in, it’s Writing for Bloomberg Businessweek incredibly useful,” he says, before adding: magazine, Bill Carmody, Ceo of new “Creating a solid client base [of people York-based marketing company Trepoint, who] have opted in to your list and want predicted the end of email as a marketing to receive correspondence from you is tool. “Millennials consider email passé incredibly powerful.” and do everything they can to avoid He explains that the magic of email it,” declared Carmody, adding: “As the is the click-through or the up-sell. “You influence of this next generation of want to link people directly through to decision-makers grows, the value of email the content that you’re talking about. communication will decline.” Typically, readers should be sent to a Carmody said other reasons for turning page that has more detail and an up-sell.” one’s back on email were bloated inboxes; In other words, the email itself should the fact that email isn’t social; and the not be a direct, hard sell. The link should inability of the medium to become more give the customer easy access to more collaborative. Strong words, but then he is information and then the conversion one of those who believes that content is should proceed naturally from there. the future of mass marketing. For its part, the McKinsey report says an action as simple as “creating Don’t discount email customised landing pages – which send marketing the user directly to the item or offer But perhaps marketers would be wise not featured in the email – can increase to write off email marketing just conversion rates by more than 25%”. yet. Another, more recent, report by More importantly, email marketing McKinsey indicates that email, as a creates and builds long-term relationships business tool, can acquire customers with customers. “It’s high-touch,” 40 times more effectively than Facebook says Malamoglou. “You are able to and Twitter combined. keep your consumer in the know, The latest related survey by the global especially if they’ve opted in, without While some consider email to be dying as a marketing Millennials tend to management consulting giants, entitled giving them the feeling that they’re tool, recent research indicates that it still remains a consider email passé ‘Why marketers should keep sending you being ‘shotgun marketed’.” When powerful weapon in the digital marketer’s arsenal. emails’, points out that “email is merely used correctly email can therefore the first click (literally) in a consumer’s become a highly relevant and decision journey”. The report, which personalised experience. 48 strategicmarketingafrica Second quarter 2014 Second quarter 2014 strategicmarketingafrica 49