Consumers still see relevancy with email marketing

Marketers looking for a relevant channel to reach consumers should aim to extend content and boost revenue with email marketing. Even with the gains of social media and mobile marketing, consumers still see email as a valuable channel, and it claims the second greatest influence on online traffic, recent data revealed.

Email still remains the preferred method through with 74 percent of online adults wishing to receive communication, according to Epsilon. Additionally, email conversion rates reached a three-year peak in the first quarter of 2011, at 3 percent.

According to a statement by Natalie Giddings of email campaign firm Pollen Marketing, this channel remains to be the highest performing online marketing channel. It is also the easiest for firms to track and monitor.

However, firms often experience difficulty in determining where to begin their campaigns and which aspects to optimize. When examining their efforts, companies should focus on the timing of a campaign, keeping copy short and pointed and ensuring that messages are optimized for mobile platforms so as not to miss out on the on-the-go consumer.

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Think E-mail Marketing Is Dying?

Mark Twain said it best: "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." With all the hype surrounding social media and mobile marketing, it would be easy to assume that e-mail is yesterday's news, with little chance of keeping up with the other marketing methods now available.

But according to the numbers, this assumption is incorrect. E-mail usage has remained remarkably steady, even in the face of new competition. Research shows that for 74 percent of adults surveyed, e-mail is still the preferred method for receiving commercial messages. This perhaps surprising statistic can help explain the continued proliferation of e-zines and other e-mail marketing today.

It's no longer true that only the largest businesses are the most likely to use e-mail. As smaller companies outgrow their sole-proprietor beginnings, they increasingly look for new ways to expand their businesses to support higher headcounts and overhead. Business surveys reveal that almost half of small businesses were using e-mail marketing in 2010, with an additional 36 percent reporting plans to begin this year.

The dollars spent annually reflect this high participation rate. On average, e-mail promotion accounts for about 15 percent to 22 percent of total marketing budgets. These billions spent every year have certainly attracted attention, with many new e-mail distribution and copywriting firms popping up.

This gives today's marketer many options to choose from, ranging from self-serve programs to ones that are completely managed by an outside vendor. Choices are often dictated by the level of expertise and resources available internally.

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Integrating email and search marketing programs

Integrating email marketing and search marketing programs can yield big results, but many companies aren't yet taking advantage of this powerful combination.

“Integration is one of ... the most effective strategies,” said George DiGuido, VP-email marketing at digital marketing services agency Zeta Interactive. “While the two channels are talked about extensively as silos, we rarely hear clients talk about the two as integrated channels.”

Those marketers looking to more intimately link search and email marketing can get started with the following four tips, DiGuido said.

Customize search landing pages. Paid search results very often link to a customized landing page, DiGuido said, but more often than not there's just a form that captures information for the sales team while overlooking the email marketing opportunities.

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