Even with the rise of social media, programmatic ad buying, native advertising and more, email marketing continues to make a splash as one of the most effective solutions for reaching your target audience. Add in automated solutions for buying reach to email audiences and you’re sure to see a rise in your ROI and greater success in your campaigns. Why? Because email offers 5 huge advantages over other media:
1. Tremendous Reach
According to the Radicati Group, the total number of worldwide email accounts is expected to reach more than 4.9 billion by the end of 2017. In 2013, consumer email accounts made up 76% of those accounts.
The number of consumer accounts will continue to grow as the email address is the key to unlocking an enriched online experience. Social networking sites, top digital publishers, even games and mobile apps require the user to provide an email address to register or access their services and content. This gateway alone forces the growth of consumer email accounts among users of all ages, genders, races, locations and more.
2. Strategic Targeting
Because email is a consistent requirement for log in and contact across the web, there is an amazing amount of data related to them. Using the right platform, anonymous data can be assessed via encoded cryptographic hashes. Those hashes open doors to strategic targeting opportunities via email delivery — without ever violating the privacy rights of consumers or putting secure information in harm’s way.
Leveraging the secure, encrypted data, you can extend your reach to consumers that are most likely to engage or purchase. Select consumers that fit your specific demographic, behavioral, contextual and geographic targets. Then, deliver your message directly to their inboxes.
3. Excellent Engagement
With highly targeted placements comes higher engagement. According to the StrongMail 2013 Marketing Trends Survey, the top 3 most important email marketing initiatives for companies include increasing engagement, improving segmentation and targeting and growing opt-in email lists. The industry focus on compliance, opt-in lists and improved list management has not only improved engagement for email publishers, but it’s also made advertising via email much more effective.
Promotions and offers delivered via email — especially when mentioned in the subject line — increase open and click-through rates exponentially. Distributing stand-alone, targeted offers not only empowers publishers to monetize data, but advertisers receive unmatched reach among audiences that are sure to engage.
4. Higher ROIs
If you’re being efficient in your targeting, optimizing your campaign and seeing the strong engagement rates that come with email delivery, then you’re also sure to see growth in your bottom line. For those that don’t show high value in email marketing — it’s likely that a key piece of the puzzle is missing. Ensure that your content is appropriate for the audience you’re reaching and that you’ve selected an advertising partner that allows you high flexibility in how you target your audience. Reaching an active, engaged audience will drive greater ROI and result in a successful campaign.
5. Marketing Welcome
Users, shockingly, welcome marketing messages via email. With compliance laws and regulations in place to protect users’ accounts and data from abuse, features such as unsubscribe buttons and forms allow users to easily select what messages they would like to receive and when. They’re active participants in list maintenance — selecting subscriptions based on personal interests and relevant information and unsubscribing if the content is not as expected.
According to convinceandconvert.com, 44% of email recipients made at least one purchase last year based on a promotional email. And, 82% of consumers open emails that are sent from companies according to Litmus. With that kind of engagement, it’s no surprise
While other media may steal the spotlight for a flash, email provides a tried and true marketing outlet that continues to deliver excellent results. Add email to your next campaign to experience its unmatched advantages.
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This post originally appeared on the AdStation blog.
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