More than 34% of the people worldwide use email (that’s about 2.5 billion people) and it’s predicted to increase to 2.8 billion email users in the next 2 years. The Radicati Group, who came up with that info, also reckon that the world sends about 196 billion emails daily. Out of this 196 billion emails the majority is business email.

Putting it simply... Email marketing is a vibrant and powerful way to connect with people. Think about your own experiences. Do you know anyone who doesn’t have an email address (or 4)? You probably receive a number of HTML emails each week. You read them, get inspired by them and even look forward to the next one. Email is a big part of our lives.

Email marketing is also a very personal way of reaching your target customers. Messages from your friends and family are sitting next to email updates from your company. That’s why email marketing works at it’s best when it is personalised. Email can be tailored to customer actions so that every communication is relevant to their interest. You can cover topics like changes in your company, victories, request feedback and more. With 2.5 billion users, email isn’t going anywhere soon.

Still thinking Email Marketing is not something for your company? Here's 5 reasons why Email Marketing is a channel you should not be ignoring:

1. It's Cost Effective

It’s easy, effective, and inexpensive. Email marketing allows business owners to reach a large number of consumers at a rate of nearly nothing per message.

Perhaps just as importantly, with the correct maintenance of an email list, the cost benefits increase as does the ROI through the closer relationship established with the recipients. Win-win situation!

For small-business owners on a budget, this makes it a better choice than traditional marketing channels like TV, radio, or direct mail. Even with the increase in new technology and social networks, marketers keep coming back to email.

2. It's Personal

When email marketing, what you’re really doing is segmenting your audience into lists. Each list a tailored email message that resonates with your reader and can provide them with something of value. When you write a post for one of your social media channels, you address your audience as a whole (“To all of our fans, we would like to say..”). But by using your email marketing correctly, you have access to your customers by name, interests and purchase history.

According to research from Campaign Monitor, emails with subject lines that include the recipient’s name are 26% more likely to be opened.

3. All Action

Whether you realise it or not, everybody is trained to do something with an email -reply, forward, click-through, sign-up, or even straight buying. Email is transactional by nature and you can use it to direct traffic to your website and drive sales. As you develop your small business or startup marketing strategy as a whole, using email will allow you to see results straight away.

This means not just sending out newsletters, but also using email automation based on touch points of your customers.

4. Measurable

There’s no guesswork in email marketing. You can track who opened your email, which links were clicked, and how many people unsubscribed. You can easily get a picture of how your email campaigns are performing, make adjustments and improve your effectiveness. Email marketing metrics are important to remember as you monitor and measure your internet marketing strategy as a whole.

5. Mobile Devices Mean Your Message is in Hand Constantly

Because mobile devices have become so common, people are checking their emails all the time—in line at Tesco, during their office commute, in the waiting room at the doctor’s office, at the school pick-up... everywhere.

Why not take advantage whilst the irons hot?

The fact we use email marketing ourselves should say so much. If we can do it, you can to! Start with a few simple steps and find out why email marketing is important in your small business by speaking to one of our team today.