2011 saw record numbers for email marketing campaigns
Some online business professionals may be surprised that email marketing is on the successful path it’s currently on. Some thought that other online channels like social media would take over, as the growth in social media has spiked in the last few years.
But the fact of the matter is that email and social media have different purposes. Social media connects friends, family, and brands. Social media users can share their favorite content and learn about new things from friends.
Email on the other hand, isn’t the social tool that it once was. Social media has stolen that thunder. Email still has a valued position in online business as it serves as a trustworthy tool for secure communications, including financial transactions.
Social media may help create and nurture relationships, but email brings the financial aspect of the equation into play and helps facilitate direct sales.
In 2011, retailers online took advantage of that notion by setting an all-time high record for the number of promotional email campaigns conducted. According to Responsys Inc., “since 2008, the average number of promotional email campaigns sent by the top retailers to each of their subscribers has risen 51 percent.”
On average, these retailers sent 177 promotional email campaigns during 2011, which was an increase of 16% from 2010. 
Email marketing to consumers
According to Heather Blank, Vice President of Strategic Services at Responsys Inc., “More flash and daily deal promotions, as well as more retailers sending same-day reminder campaigns for large promotions, were key contributors to the rise in email marketing volume.”
Daily deals are a great form of promotion because they incorporate to key attributes: a discounted price on valuable products or services and a deadline associated with the deal.
The day of the week in which you send email marketing campaigns to consumers is another important consideration. According to Responsys Inc.’s data, Friday was the most popular day to send email marketing campaigns, as many were aimed at presenting information on the weekend’s sales. Throughout 2011, 55% of retailers surveyed averaged at least one email marketing campaign on the day.
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Tips for email marketing
-Try offering some form of daily deal. If you are a retailer with limited products, perhaps one day each week could be dedicated to providing a special deal for email recipients. This scenario entices consumers to stay active with the emails you send them.
-Conduct an email marketing campaign on a Friday. The majority of retailers utilize Fridays to prepare consumers for weekend deals, which may work for your organization as well. However, if you are B2B, a Friday is probably the worst day of the week to send email marketing campaigns. Try mid-week instead.
-Newsworthy and informative content needs to be shared. Social media’s popularity has grown because people like to share with their networks. Recently, GetResponse released a report saying that emails with social sharing options have a higher click-through rate of 115%.
Why do email campaigns with social sharing enable have higher click-through rates? Perhaps it goes back to the desire to share content with social networks. People want to share, they like your content and know you make it easy to share your content, so they have a stronger reason to click-through and read your content.
With that said, incorporate social sharing icons into your email marketing campaigns if you haven’t done so already. They do not need to overshadow calls to action to make purchases, but they should be available nonetheless.
What day does your company prefer to send email marketing campaigns? Have you tested to see which day is most successful? I’d love to read your thoughts in the comments below.
Hi Jose,
Thanks for your comment. Emails certainly are a powerful means for staying in content with customers and prospects. Uniting email campaigns and social media allows for more social engagement and connections between companies and consumers, something that was much more difficult to obtain in the past.
The act of not spamming is quite important too. It’s nice to see that specific steps and precautions are needed to get emails into subscribers’ inboxes. It brings more legitimacy to the profession.
I agree. Any comprehensive marketing campaign that leaves out emails from its equation is lowering its chances of success. Emails are a great way to stay in touch with customers and prospects. The key is to customize the emails so they can bring value to the target audience and not be considered SPAM.