Email vs social networks or Eight myths about email marketing
Since I started this blog, I constantly have to answer the same questions. For example, the common belief is that email marketing is no longer fashionable and inefficient . Why do we need newsletters when there are social networks and we can interact with subscribers there? How often can you send letters to subscribers and what? And of course the immortal: email-mailing is spam, filters will block me or subscribers will hate. It is time to summarize the stereotypes and myths on this topic and figure out what is really important and what you should pay attention to when you think about the channels of communication with your user or client.
Image on request Myths and legends
Myth 1. Email marketing is no longer effective.
This is perhaps the most important common judgment. Someone thinks that mailing is killing spam, someone - that they came to an end with the advent of social networks. We will examine all these arguments below, but for now just some statistics:
- and so on .
')
Research company Forrester predicts that each year the budget allocated for email campaigns will increase by 11%, reaching $ 2 billion in 2014. According to the Marketing Sherpa report, email-distribution was one of the leading marketing tools of companies that significantly increased their revenues in 2009-2011. What are two simple conclusions we can make as a result? Companies continue to send letters to their customers, and customers continue to read them and bring money to companies. Not bad for a bent branch, m?
Myth 2. You will be considered a spammer.
The main argument is a huge amount of spam, which, according to many non-specialists, seriously harms the "legal" email-mailing. Indeed, it hurts - otherwise where would this myth come from?
However, email users are well aware of the difference between legal mailing and spam. Spam is unwanted advertising mailing, sent without the permission of the recipient. While legal emails are based on the recipient's permission, that is, the person voluntarily subscribes to your newsletter to keep abreast of news, updates, promotions. Yes, and spam filters confidently separate the sheep from the goats - unwanted letters get into spam, and users receive honest mailings without any problems. According to IMT research, more than 80% of Internet users have a negative attitude towards spam, while 78% of those surveyed during the DoubleClick study noted that they are happy to receive letters from companies they know, shops, and websites.
On the other hand, there is a fear that your mailing services may be banned from your mailing list. But here are some simple tips on how to behave properly so as not to become a spammer .
Myth 3. Mail services will ban my newsletter
There is a set of fairly simple rules, the observance of which will save you from the risk of falling into the "Spam" folder with your letter. They are described in detail in the article “ Nine rules how to avoid getting into spam ”, here I just give the rules themselves:
Myth 4. Bloggers do not need email
In runet, bloggers often underestimate the importance of newsletters for their own promotion, whereas in the west you will not find a single blog where you would not be offered to subscribe to the newsletter in exchange for a gift or the right to download useful material at a discount.
Email will remind subscribers of your blog's new content, thereby maintaining their interest and encouraging them to visit the site. In addition, social network users are not as attentive to new blog posts as email recipients. Email, as a rule, is opened and read during the first 2 hours, which cannot be said about blog posts that are quickly lost among others of the same kind.
In general, in the west, the concepts of “blogosphere” and “Internet business” go together. The most common model of communication with the client: blog + newsletter + Landing Page + product / service. If you only have a blog, then you have something to think about here.
Myth 5. RSS feed replaced email-newsletter
RSS can supplement, but not replace, email-list. Yes, this is a great tool, I myself read Habr and some other resources via RSS feed and it is more convenient than to go to each of them and check for updates, confusing in the wilds of various ways to display information. However, there are three important factors that make RSS a less effective way of communicating with a subscriber than email.
First, RSS still needs to be set up, which so far causes difficulties for a significant number of users (especially if your business is not focused on advanced users), and any housewife is familiar with the form of email subscription.
Secondly, people may miss your post in the RSS feed, but they will definitely see the email. Ask yourself, how do you most often find out about discounts and promotions that interest you? You can accidentally stumble upon a post on Habré or in your Facebook feed, but you might as well skip it. If we are talking about a message that is really important to you, then it is better to get it by mail, isn't it?
Third, RSS technology has some technical flaws:
1. you can not make your messages personalized and targeted;
2. you can not do mailings to individual groups of people;
3. there is no possibility to create automatic series of messages;
4. It is difficult to track the effectiveness of RSS feeds due to poor and inconvenient statistics.
Myth 6. Social networks crowd out email marketing
Despite the fact that social media seems to be a new and more attractive Internet marketing tool, today they still cannot compete with email in terms of efficiency.
Statistics again speak in favor of email marketing. In 2010, Price Interhouse Cooper conducted a survey on which channels people prefer to receive information from stores and companies on promotions and discounts, any promotional information. 60% of respondents said that they prefer e-mail for product and promotional offers, and social networks for communication and communication. And only 25% answered that they periodically receive information about promotions through groups in social networks. And ExactTarget presents the following data: 56% of US Internet users prefer to interact with the company via email, 1.3% through Twitter and only 0.7% through a Facebook page.
However, as practice shows, email and social media marketing perfectly complement each other. If it will be interesting - in the next article I can tell you more about it.
Myth 7. The success of email-mailing depends on the number of subscribers.
People who have come to email marketing from offline businesses often tend to believe that the more subscribers, the more views and clicks. In fact, in email marketing it’s not quality that matters, but quality.
Therefore, periodically (on average once every six months or a year) you need to clean the subscribers database. There are several reasons for this:
It is not recommended to immediately remove "doubtful" subscribers. First, find out the reason: whether this is a technical problem, or something that your subscriber does not like in the newsletter. Then highlight inactive subscribers in a separate list and send them only the most interesting messages / news or offer them something exclusive. In short, cheer them up . And, of course, create only targeted mailing lists.
The key to the success of any email campaign - interested, active subscribers who appreciate your newsletter. A large number of disinterested or not segmented by groups of subscribers, as well as zombie subscribers will only negate all your efforts, time and money spent.
Myth 8. You can write to subscribers on any topic.
You should not think that if a person subscribed to your newsletter, it does not matter what information and what quality to send. Mailings must be of high quality, segmented and targeted. Otherwise, you simply lose your audience. Three important "R" of your newsletter: Respect (respect), Relevancy (relevance) and Recognition (recognition).
However, the topic of relations with the audience of your mailings is a separate large article. For now, I recommend reading two of our notes on this topic: “ What do subscribers want? "And" How often should do an email newsletter . "
Thanks for attention!
PS Every day on our page on facebook we publish expert materials, useful tips and interesting cases from the field of email-marketing, as well as promotions and bonuses from UniSender . Like?
Image on request Myths and legends
Myth 1. Email marketing is no longer effective.
This is perhaps the most important common judgment. Someone thinks that mailing is killing spam, someone - that they came to an end with the advent of social networks. We will examine all these arguments below, but for now just some statistics:
- 88% of B2C and 71% of B2B companies have long been using email newsletter to promote their business, and 10% of b2c and 12% of b2b companies plan to include it in their budget plan in the next six months. (Forrester, 2011)
- Over 40% of companies stated that their email marketing budget is $ 100,000 annually, and 25% allocate $ 50,000-69,999 per year to email campaigns (ExactTarget, 2011)
- In 2011, 65% of marketers and entrepreneurs increased their budget for email marketing and only 47% increased spending on business promotion in the media (Forrester, 2011)
- 55% of retailers use email newsletter to present new products (Forrester and Shop org., 2011)
- In 2008, email newsletters brought in $ 28 billion in sales (Hubspot, 2010)
- and so on .
')
Research company Forrester predicts that each year the budget allocated for email campaigns will increase by 11%, reaching $ 2 billion in 2014. According to the Marketing Sherpa report, email-distribution was one of the leading marketing tools of companies that significantly increased their revenues in 2009-2011. What are two simple conclusions we can make as a result? Companies continue to send letters to their customers, and customers continue to read them and bring money to companies. Not bad for a bent branch, m?
Email and spam
Myth 2. You will be considered a spammer.
The main argument is a huge amount of spam, which, according to many non-specialists, seriously harms the "legal" email-mailing. Indeed, it hurts - otherwise where would this myth come from?
However, email users are well aware of the difference between legal mailing and spam. Spam is unwanted advertising mailing, sent without the permission of the recipient. While legal emails are based on the recipient's permission, that is, the person voluntarily subscribes to your newsletter to keep abreast of news, updates, promotions. Yes, and spam filters confidently separate the sheep from the goats - unwanted letters get into spam, and users receive honest mailings without any problems. According to IMT research, more than 80% of Internet users have a negative attitude towards spam, while 78% of those surveyed during the DoubleClick study noted that they are happy to receive letters from companies they know, shops, and websites.
On the other hand, there is a fear that your mailing services may be banned from your mailing list. But here are some simple tips on how to behave properly so as not to become a spammer .
email users are well aware of the difference between legal mailing and spam
Myth 3. Mail services will ban my newsletter
There is a set of fairly simple rules, the observance of which will save you from the risk of falling into the "Spam" folder with your letter. They are described in detail in the article “ Nine rules how to avoid getting into spam ”, here I just give the rules themselves:
- Do not spam
- Ask the addressees consent to the newsletter
- Update your address database
- Do not use the purchase base
- Keep confirmation of the legality of your base
- Let's be able to unsubscribe directly from the newsletter.
- Do not repeat
- Beautifully and competently make letters
- Consider the requirements of spam filters.
Email and social networks
Myth 4. Bloggers do not need email
In runet, bloggers often underestimate the importance of newsletters for their own promotion, whereas in the west you will not find a single blog where you would not be offered to subscribe to the newsletter in exchange for a gift or the right to download useful material at a discount.
Email will remind subscribers of your blog's new content, thereby maintaining their interest and encouraging them to visit the site. In addition, social network users are not as attentive to new blog posts as email recipients. Email, as a rule, is opened and read during the first 2 hours, which cannot be said about blog posts that are quickly lost among others of the same kind.
In general, in the west, the concepts of “blogosphere” and “Internet business” go together. The most common model of communication with the client: blog + newsletter + Landing Page + product / service. If you only have a blog, then you have something to think about here.
Myth 5. RSS feed replaced email-newsletter
RSS can supplement, but not replace, email-list. Yes, this is a great tool, I myself read Habr and some other resources via RSS feed and it is more convenient than to go to each of them and check for updates, confusing in the wilds of various ways to display information. However, there are three important factors that make RSS a less effective way of communicating with a subscriber than email.
First, RSS still needs to be set up, which so far causes difficulties for a significant number of users (especially if your business is not focused on advanced users), and any housewife is familiar with the form of email subscription.
Secondly, people may miss your post in the RSS feed, but they will definitely see the email. Ask yourself, how do you most often find out about discounts and promotions that interest you? You can accidentally stumble upon a post on Habré or in your Facebook feed, but you might as well skip it. If we are talking about a message that is really important to you, then it is better to get it by mail, isn't it?
Third, RSS technology has some technical flaws:
1. you can not make your messages personalized and targeted;
2. you can not do mailings to individual groups of people;
3. there is no possibility to create automatic series of messages;
4. It is difficult to track the effectiveness of RSS feeds due to poor and inconvenient statistics.
60% of respondents prefer email for product and promotional offers
Myth 6. Social networks crowd out email marketing
Despite the fact that social media seems to be a new and more attractive Internet marketing tool, today they still cannot compete with email in terms of efficiency.
- The difference in the nature of communication. In the email newsletter, you can contact subscribers by name and use their personal data, personalizing the information for a specific person to the maximum. This creates the effect of personal communication. In social networks, you have to immediately apply to the entire audience.
- Difference in attitude: a person subscribes to a newsletter more deliberately and purposefully than joins any group in social networks. Yes, and people treat advertising emails more seriously and with greater confidence than similar messages on social networks.
- Attempts to open advertising in a group (if we are not talking about the representation of your company) can be regarded as a specific social network as direct advertising, for which you can get a ban (block) of your group. In the email newsletter all types of advertising are allowed.
- Email marketing provides an extensive field for creativity: HTML letters, graphics, video ... Here you are limited only by your own capabilities. Social networks can not yet boast such a variety of tools. This means that it is quite difficult to stand out from the competition.
- The effectiveness of the email campaign is fairly easy to track, measure and analyze. Social media does not yet provide such accurate and detailed statistics on the work of your group.
Statistics again speak in favor of email marketing. In 2010, Price Interhouse Cooper conducted a survey on which channels people prefer to receive information from stores and companies on promotions and discounts, any promotional information. 60% of respondents said that they prefer e-mail for product and promotional offers, and social networks for communication and communication. And only 25% answered that they periodically receive information about promotions through groups in social networks. And ExactTarget presents the following data: 56% of US Internet users prefer to interact with the company via email, 1.3% through Twitter and only 0.7% through a Facebook page.
However, as practice shows, email and social media marketing perfectly complement each other. If it will be interesting - in the next article I can tell you more about it.
Rules for conducting email newsletters
Myth 7. The success of email-mailing depends on the number of subscribers.
People who have come to email marketing from offline businesses often tend to believe that the more subscribers, the more views and clicks. In fact, in email marketing it’s not quality that matters, but quality.
Therefore, periodically (on average once every six months or a year) you need to clean the subscribers database. There are several reasons for this:
- you will have fewer complaints about unwanted emails (unfortunately, there are still quite a few people who would rather send your email to spam than just unsubscribe from the mailing list);
- Internet providers can block your messages if you continue to send them to the rejected email addresses;
- When cleaning, you can find incorrectly typed addresses that you need to either delete or correct.
It is not recommended to immediately remove "doubtful" subscribers. First, find out the reason: whether this is a technical problem, or something that your subscriber does not like in the newsletter. Then highlight inactive subscribers in a separate list and send them only the most interesting messages / news or offer them something exclusive. In short, cheer them up . And, of course, create only targeted mailing lists.
The key to the success of any email campaign - interested, active subscribers who appreciate your newsletter. A large number of disinterested or not segmented by groups of subscribers, as well as zombie subscribers will only negate all your efforts, time and money spent.
Myth 8. You can write to subscribers on any topic.
You should not think that if a person subscribed to your newsletter, it does not matter what information and what quality to send. Mailings must be of high quality, segmented and targeted. Otherwise, you simply lose your audience. Three important "R" of your newsletter: Respect (respect), Relevancy (relevance) and Recognition (recognition).
However, the topic of relations with the audience of your mailings is a separate large article. For now, I recommend reading two of our notes on this topic: “ What do subscribers want? "And" How often should do an email newsletter . "
Thanks for attention!
PS Every day on our page on facebook we publish expert materials, useful tips and interesting cases from the field of email-marketing, as well as promotions and bonuses from UniSender . Like?
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/140570/
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