Email Campaigns and Email Marketing: Victims of the Social Media?

Nowadays, in these times of Network and Social Media, we tend to forget that the original, the first online campaign, the first social media was the Email. Jay Baer is right; the process of acceptance by the customer is the same whether it is to advertise through Facebook or by Email. The customer gives us the right to talk to him about our brand. So what happened to the Email campaign and why should we use it in our campaigns?

The Social Media happened. And they sent the old Email campaign rotting in the dungeon. Because an email is not as shiny, as interactive and as sexy as a Facebook page, it remains the most effective way to promote your business and to reach your customers.

First of all, the email accounts are the most popular way to communicate on the planet, before any social media. There are more than 3.2 billion Email accounts today and 95% of the users check their emails at least once a day (source Exact Target). So by sending emails, you will reach more than on any Social Media. And it will become more and more true as we get more mobile every day, with email being checked everywhere at any time (even in planes).

The second reason you should use Email Campaigns is because the person you will contact, they contacted you before. So they are already interested in what you are selling even before you contact them. The return rate of an Email campaign will always be superior than the one from Social Media for this very reason. Even if the return rate is not 100% (if you were selling luxury cars for $5 you will not even reach the 100%) it will still be higher than the one of a Facebook campaign. People on Facebook like you to see your activity, but you are a line in their live feed, and the exposure will be low. On an Email, they can choose to open it or not, but once it is open, you are by yourself; it is you and the customer.

So ok, if Email campaigns are so easy and so great, why do we see companies advertising on Facebook still? Because the email suffered by being the first media on the web, it got overcrowded and spam proliferated. So be careful when sending emails, because the spam detectors are so sharp now that if you put too much html or too much links, you will end up in the Trash folder. But this challenge should not discourage you from using this media. It remains the best Call to Action trigger and it reaches a level of personalization that Social Media cannot reach yet.

To conclude, Email Campaigns were the first victims of the success of the Social Media, some have forgotten the Marketing power of the email. Make it simple, make it entertaining, and make it a call to action and you will see a very high ROI.

Take it EZ