When email first came onto the marketing scene, it was naturally born into direct marketing teams as an extension of sending out physical messages, and as such many still view it purely as a direct response tool. It’s high time that these attitudes to email are called into question by marketers and whether by associating it with DM means that businesses are missing out on the potential value of email marketing.
The view of email as a DM channel has meant that many marketers have continued to work towards optimising the right message, to the right person, at the right time, traditionally used to reduce wastage and costs for physical mailings. In reality, however, traditional direct mail and email are very different. The cost to send out an email is virtually zero in comparison to DM.
Despite the relative cost of sending an email, this has not stopped marketers applying the same optimisation techniques used with direct mail to email. Brands spend too much time segmenting subscriber lists and, ultimately, send fewer emails to fewer subscribers. Retailers should be aiming to maximise responses, which is achieved by sending more email to more potential customers.
Businesses must treat their messages as more than just a singular event, as they have impact on how consumers view both past and future communications. The reluctance to send every email to every subscriber means that retailers are missing out on the huge opportunity that email offers when treated as a broadcast channel. After all, in the same way that TV and radio ads are designed to build brand recognition over time, email can be used to remind consumers about the offering and values of a retailer without asking for immediate action from the reader.
Why should email be treated in the same way as TV or radio? For two key reasons: the qualified list size and the way consumers react to email marketing messages. To the first point, a UK high street retailer might easily have 2 million opted-in email addresses on its database. Not many TV programmes can boast that sort of audience these days. Even if they can, email subscribers are often a retailer’s most likely customers. Email enables retailers to talk to millions of likely customers on a regular basis for a very low cost.
Secondly, as for the way consumers react to emails, it’s not all about open and click-through rates. The moment that an email arrives in the inbox, the recipient has to at least look at who it’s from and make a quick decision about what to do with it. Building up brand recognition in this way serves to remind subscribers of a retailer’s values and offering, positioning the sender in the customer’s mind as the go-to brand in any given sector. What’s more, it would be naïve for retailers to believe that every single subscriber will read every email they send out – but that doesn’t mean that they won’t see the subject line.
Ultimately, a sensible increase in the number of emails sent combined with an acceptance of email as a broadcast channel will present massive brand value. As with TV or radio advertising, repetition of core messages to email subscribers is vital to improve brand recognition. Email is well-known for its ability to generate direct engagement, but its power as a brand perception tool has been ignored for long enough. Email enables brands to broadcast their message to an audience of interested and opted-in consumers, whether they open the message or not. So why wouldn’t you want to send more?
By Dela Quist, Founder and CEO of Alchemy Worx.
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