The Online and Offline Benefits of Email Marketing
A recent study by Epsilon suggests that permission-based email marketing campaigns not only influence customer behavior online, but also influence in-store purchases and one’s opinion of a brand.
Some notable findings of the survey include:
- 50% of survey respondents said that the likelihood of buying a product or service from a company, via online store or brick-and-mortar store, is increased when companies send them emails
- 84% of respondents enjoy receiving information and/or offers via email from companies with whom they register because they can retrieve the information and/or offers in the future for use
- 60% of women and 49% of men referenced saved email marketing messages when making purchases from a company
I think the important factor to remember is that most consumers-like the respondents participating in the survey mentioned above-react favorably to opt-in commercial emails. So, when building your email lists, choose a permission-based opt-in or double opt-in method to ensure you are collecting email addresses of clients that really want to receive emails from you.
For those who think that opt-ins hinder the process of building email lists, there are some simple ways to add value to the customer’s opt-in experience and reduce drop out rates. Some of them, as noted in Bill McCloskey’s blog article titled, “Double Opt-in, Redux,” are as follows:
- Offer a coupon, exclusive promotion or valuable information during the opt-in process.
- Use language that is simple and clearly states what the customer needs to do next.
- Make sure your opt-in message references the company name and email list the customer is subscribing to.
Permission-based email campaigns can be an instrumental way to increase sales and traffic to both online and offline businesses. Simply stated, make the opt-in process easy for the user and offer value through your email marketing messages. With that in mind, you should see great results with your email marketing campaign.
Until next time,
Steve
Virginia Mays - March 24th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
I’ve been looking to buy email lists for my home based business. I really appreciate the really interesting statistics and suggestions. Thanks!