Business benefits of email marketing

http://www.e-consultancy.com/news-blog/363725/business-benefits-of-email-marketing.html

The growth in demand for email marketing continues to be a key
trend in the market. We estimate that UK
businesses spent £178m on
email marketing during 2006 – an increase of 20% over 2005.


Companies can derive many benefits from an investment in email marketing. Let’s take a look at a few…




  • Customer acquisition

    Even if they don’t
    buy anything, capturing the email address of a visitor to your site –
    or, if you don’t have one, your shop - gives you a second chance to
    persuade them to return and buy something.

    Online retailers
    lose many consumers that abandon purchases at checkouts, for example –
    and unless you have their address, they will be lost.


  • Customer loyalty
    Acquiring
    new customers is more expensive than retaining your existing ones.
    Email is a great way to inform your customers about new offers and
    products – something you can’t do in detail except when they are
    visiting your website – as well as to cross-sell and up-sell.

    All
    of that helps you increase the lifetime value of your customers and
    reduce churn. Use email to build relationships with your customers.




  • Brand awareness and credibility

    Integrating
    your messaging and creative into email campaigns will allow you to
    provide a more holistic customer experience, enhance perceptions of
    your company and improve recall.

    Entertaining and informative
    campaigns can also help you build relationships by engaging users more
    effectively. Through email marketing, there is also an opportunity to
    exploit rich media to engage more effectively with customers.




  • Efficiency and automation

    Email
    is a cost effective and speedy marketing channel. Integration with web
    analytics software can also help you plan campaigns more effectively
    and tailor campaigns to individual consumers. It is relatively
    straightforward to set up automated, trigger-based emails, to reduce
    the burden on resources.




  • Customer service

    Feedback
    emails offer a chance for your customers to comment on your online
    performance. Analysing the data from email campaigns can also provide
    clues as to their requirements. Again, you can use automated email here.