Pervasiveness of Email
In the marketing industry, there is general consensus that email is a strong performing channel. Email marketing is the most mature digital tool. It’s also one of the most popular marketing channels and used by over 75% of all marketers around the world (Salesforce study).
Email is the connective glue for marketers because it is often the identifying link to user data and engagement. Email enables brands to quickly message customers and prospects.
In Canada, the CMA’s annual Digital Pulse 2021 report shows that email marketing is a mature medium that marketers rely on and in 2022 “remains alive and healthy”. The report also showed that marketers are planning to increase their email budgets 42% YoY. Email is a core part of the communications mix and Gartner estimates that large enterprises spend 9.7% of their marcom budgets on email.
Email is Overlooked by Many Marketers
Despite its pervasiveness, email is often overlooked or taken for granted. The dichotomy is that email is an “owned media” with the highest ROI, but we have observed that email marketing execution in companies is often very mediocre. Other media vehicles attract lots of budget and support because they are newer, more glamorous and easier to execute.
Over 80% of Canadian marketers execute email in-house (Ipsos Reid Digital Pulse report 2021). But closer examination shows that it’s typically managed by junior staff and specialists and executional in nature. Many in-house email teams are under-resourced and operating on autopilot without an updated plan. It is no surprise that Gartner Research believes “marketers aren’t getting enough mileage out of email” (Digital IQ- Email Benchmarks 2021, Gartner).
Marketers today are stretched into lots of other digital vehicles and feel they have problems keeping up with technology advances. The Chartered Institute of Marketing in the UK has benchmarked that 47% of marketers only have basic email marketing skills.
On the other hand, there is the minority of email leaders who are more disciplined and customer centric. Leaders tend to have a more robust plan in place. They strategically leverage email to automate key journeys, convert immediate opportunities, profitably change behaviour, and build relationships. Engaged customers who click on emails are 3x-5x as valuable as non-engagers. Good email programs generate over a 30:1 ROI and impact LifeTime Value (LTV).
Resurgence of Email
While historically taken for granted, there is a resurgence in email marketing for B2C and B2B companies. Many marketers are assessing their capabilities, bolstering their email strategies and reviewing their tech stacks. This is partly driven by “back to basics” marketing fundamentals as well as improving technology and features.
Email is also getting a further boost given the looming recession, businesses need to operate more efficiently and finetune their marketing budgets.
The reality is that targeted direct messaging that you control is highly efficient, flexible and generates trackable results. How do you honestly stack up? Are you getting optimized performance from your email marketing?