E-mail is one of the most widely used forms of communication around the globe, as businesses use e-mail communication on a daily basis to communicate with all of their stakeholders.
Although e-mail branding achieves the highest return on investment (ROI) per rand spent, it is still one of the most underused marketing tools that more businesses can utilise effectively.
Over 1300 marketers were interviewed for the Marketing Sherpa 2013 E-mail Marketing Benchmark Report that revealed fascinating results. The cost of an e-mail marketing campaign is considerably lower than a print advertising campaign, for example; however, an adequate budget is required to execute a successful campaign that yields a good return.
And while organisations can see that e-mail marketing has an advantage in ROI over social media companies, only 4% of marketers rate their e-mail marketing efforts as excellent.
Overall the surveyed marketers claimed an average ROI of 119% with B2B and B2C claiming the highest ROI at 127%. The Benchmark Report tells us that B2C marketers are even more likely to realise an ROI from e-mail marketing.
The segment with the largest ROI was organisations sending less than 100,000 e-mails per month, who reported a 139% ROI.
One proven way to boost ROI is to make use of functions such as personalisation, automation, dynamic content and mobile optimisation. ROI increases markedly with increased use of e-mail platform functionality. Businesses can alter their marketing message or branding whenever they need to, allowing e-mail communication always to reflect their messaging and products effectively.
They have the undivided attention of an audience – one that is not distracted by competing brands or other advertising media such as magazines, radio or even street poles.
To maximise on ROI and transform business e-mail, a cloud e-mail service-provider is an absolute must. Proven methods of increased engagement and business efficacy include marketing banners linking to landing page as the e-mail header, countrywide disclaimers included in the footer and the e-mail signature centrally managed from the web portal.
The study clearly shows that e-mail marketing is a powerful and successful marketing tool that is here to stay. If your company has not yet undertaken a branding campaign, it is time to investigate one and integrate e-mail into your marketing activities, with budget allocation.
To maximise e-mail ROI, ensure that analytics are in place to measure the important metrics and track them over time. It’s time to take e-mail marketing seriously and ensure consistency across all platforms whilst enjoying the proven results.
