Why is email such an effective marketing channel? I could reel off hundreds of reasons but the key fact, which often gets forgotten, is that consumers proactively choose to receive a brand’s emails. In the instant that someone clicks ‘subscribe’, they demonstrate their interest in a brand and what it has to say. That is probably why Merkle found that 74% of consumers actually prefer to receive commercial communications via email over any other channel.

In spite of these facts, many marketers continue to feel concerned about the number of emails that they send to these willing recipients, mainly thanks to the popular myth of the ‘inbox overload’. Apparently, consumers constantly worry about hundreds of emails stacking up in their personal inboxes.

This myth has led some marketers to send more and more email to their most active subscribers, while sending little or nothing to those that haven’t opened or clicked for a while – ironic indeed! This strategy misses the point that email can be as effective at driving brand recognition and engagement as it is at generating opens and clicks. If you send more emails to your subscribers, you increase your chances of raising awareness and capturing their attention, thereby maximising the power of email marketing.

Given the fact that many brands have more customers and prospects on their lists than they can reach via mainstream media, email should be viewed as a channel that is exclusive to your brand, enabling you to regularly talk to a wide and willing group of consumers very cost effectively.

Every email you send is an opportunity to engage. Just targeting the more ‘engaged’ segments of your database only perpetuates the size of your inactive segment. Instead of worrying about sending too many emails, marketers should make their messages more compelling and valuable – and find out how to send just one email less than too many.

 

By Dela Quist - Founder and CEO, Alchemy Worx.

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