How to Best Use Email to Boost Your Company’s ROI

There is more to the seemingly simple topic than meets the eye, albeit everyone knows nowadays that email marketing can be the cheapest and most successful way of advertising by far.

With the figures showing that the great majority of adults use email on a daily basis, spending more than five hours a day browsing incoming messages, the calculation is a simple one.

Still, it can be difficult to understand how to use email effectively. People’s inboxes are jam-packed, and they don’t want just another piece of spam clogging it further. So how can your business use the power of email well?

MOBILE-READY CAMPAIGNS: AN ABSOLUTE MUST

For one thing, 53% of overall emails are accessed via mobile devices. With the number of new mobile device users rising at a 20% annual rate, it is safe to assume that the trend will expand further.

Let’s add a couple of additionally interesting stats:

One-third of all clicks are performed on mobile devices
Most subscriptions take place on mobile devices
70% of emails accessed on mobile devices are re-read
23% of people accessing emails on mobile devices read them at least one more time
65% of the messages re-read result in a click

With stats such as these, it goes without saying that in order for an email marketing campaign to become successful, it absolutely must be mobile-ready.

The same applies to landing pages and the pages linked from emails. Do not underestimate this final step – click-throughs will be in vain if the recipient finds the page difficult to navigate from their mobile device.

STATS ON EMAIL MARKETING ROI

Actual stats to support the effectiveness of the email marketing-ROI connection show that email campaigns generate an average of $44 per dollar spent. As to customers’ habits, there are some serious eye-openers to take into account when brainstorming your email campaign strategies:

More than 50% of respondents check their personal email account more than 10 times a day, and they prefer to receive updates from brands in this way (Campaign Monitor)
Segmented campaigns generate a 760% increase in revenue (Campaign Monitor)
iPhone is the most popular mobile device emails are accessed on (29% of all opens) and is closely followed by Gmail (27% of all opens) (Campaign Monitor)
73% of millennials prefer businesses to contact them via email (Adestra)
99% of consumers check their email on a daily basis (DMA Insights)
Emails with personalized subject lines generate 50% higher open rates (Yes Lifecycle Marketing)
49% of consumers like to receive promotional emails from their chosen brands on a weekly basis (Statista)

As you can see, some messages are more welcome than others, and communication via email is a preferred method for many consumers, by far. Use these insights to your advantage and couple them with segmentation for the best results.

HOW SEGMENTATION BOOSTS THE EFFICIENCY OF EMAIL MARKETING CAMPAIGNS

Segmentation is the single most important factor when it comes to delivering stellar targeted email campaigns. It comprises a number of insights, most important of which are demographics, geographic insights, and website behavior.

Demographics

Demographics encompass a number of insights, including age, gender, income level, and company status. Normally, these pieces of information are collected via forms on your website (most important of which is the sign-up form) and surveys offering incentives to participants.

Keep in mind that too many questions will scare people off, so apply moderation and ask only for the stats you need. I.e., if your business sells clothes or cosmetics, gender plays an important role in the choice of offers to promote.

Location

Location is important in more aspects than just for sending local offers. In fact, most websites use geo-targeting, which automatically shows only the offers available in the area.

On top of that, time zones are helpful when it comes to the timing of your campaigns. You don’t want your offers hitting customers’ inboxes in the middle of the night, as that both decreases their visibility and is considered bad manners.

Website behavior

Website behavior will help you create personalized offers based on the most visited pages and most frequent clicks. It may also be used to promote similar offers and pages that the customer might have missed.

Another useful insight is the actual time spent on a page. Some people just browse randomly, while others are actually interested in the content.

Track your campaigns

All insights will be rather useless or close to if you don’t track your campaigns regularly. Click and bounce rates are the first factors to keep an eye on, with the second being the percentage of messages opened.

There are numerous platforms that can help with that. Some of the popular ones include Everflow, AffTrack, LinkTrust, Impact Radius, HasOffers, Post Affiliate Pro, Constant Contact, SendinBlue, and Drip.