10 Common Questions About Email Marketing in 2023

Did you know that the first email was invented and sent in 1971? Today, with over 2.6 billion active users and more than 4.6 billion registered accounts online, email remains the most significant and widely used communication channel in the digital environment. Here, we will address 10 common questions about this channel.

1. Is email marketing dying with each passing year?

It may seem that a tool that has been around for over 40 years should gradually disappear from the digital environment. However, despite such assumptions, email marketing remains one of the most effective and accessible communication methods that allow your business to engage your target audience. According to a study published by Oberlo, the number of email users is projected to reach 4.48 billion by 2024, which is 0.5 billion more than in 2020.

This is clear proof that email marketing will remain an essential tool for customer communication in the future, as it offers significant advantages, including customer trust, high profitability, adaptability, and the ability to adapt and use personalization.

2. What are the main goals that email marketing can help achieve?

Email marketing can help achieve various goals depending on the needs of your business. However, the primary goals that can be reached through email marketing include:

• Attracting new customers. You can use email marketing to attract new customers to your business. Sending personalized emails with special offers, discounts, or free benefits can encourage your target audience to make purchases and engage with you.
• Customer support and retention. Emails can be an effective tool for retaining and supporting existing customers. Regular updates, useful information, personalized offers, and special promotions help maintain communication with customers and increase their loyalty.
• Increasing sales and conversions. Emails can stimulate sales by sending special offers, showcasing new products or services, and reminding customers about items left in their shopping carts. Using effective call-to-action messages and personalized offers can increase conversions and revenue for your business.
• Strengthening brand image and awareness. Emails allow you to stay in touch with your audience, provide valuable information, and communicate with them. This helps strengthen your brand awareness, emphasize your industry expertise, and establish long-lasting customer relationships.
• Gathering information and obtaining feedback. Emails can be used to collect data and gather feedback from customers. For example, you can survey or ask for customers’ opinions on your brand, products, or services. This helps you gather valuable insights and improve your offer.

These goals can be combined or expanded depending on the specifics of your business and marketing strategy.

3. Is email marketing profitable at all compared to other channels? 

Email marketing continues to distinguish itself favorably from other marketing channels. Search engine optimization (SEO) is its traditional main competitor. However, return on investment (ROI) ratings have been steadily declining after email and search engine optimization, with respondents in the study much less likely to report profits from mobile marketing, direct offline marketing, affiliate marketing, or online advertising.

Here are some reasons why email marketing can rightfully be called the most profitable tool in digital marketing:

• High conversion rate. Email campaigns have a high conversion rate potential because they allow you to reach your target audience directly. Users who have subscribed to your newsletter have already shown interest in your company or product, so they are more likely to respond to your offers and notifications.
• High personalization. Email marketing provides an opportunity to influence customers individually. By segmenting your audience and sending personalized messages, you can provide users with relevant information tailored to their needs and interests.
• Low costs. Email marketing requires significantly lower expenses compared to traditional marketing channels, such as print or radio advertising. You can effectively communicate with your audience on a small budget while maintaining a high impact.
• Measurable results. Email marketing makes it easy to measure the results of your campaign. You can track email open rates, click-through rates, conversions, and other metrics that allow you to evaluate the effectiveness of your strategy and make necessary changes.
• Constant audience engagement. With email marketing, you can constantly communicate with your audience by providing valuable information, special offers, and updates. This helps you foster customer relationships and ensures loyalty.

While email marketing has many benefits, it is worth keeping in mind that every business has unique needs and audiences. The effectiveness of email marketing can depend on a well-defined strategy, attention-grabbing techniques, and a relevant content approach. The best solution is to combine different tools and channels and achieve great results from an integrated approach!

4. What are the top 5 most popular email services among users?

Today, the most popular email services are:

• Gmail by Google is one of the most widely used email services with a large user base. It has a user-friendly interface, powerful functionality, and an effective spam filter.
• Outlook, formerly known as Hotmail, is an email service provided by Microsoft. It has many users and offers a wide range of functionality, including a calendar, tasks, and integration with other Microsoft products.
• Apple Mail is the built-in email client on Apple devices such as iPhones, iPads, and Macs. It provides seamless integration with the Apple ecosystem and is well-suited for users of these devices.
• Yahoo Email is an old and well-known email service with a significant user base. It offers extensive features, including built-in calendars and chats.

These email clients are very popular among users, which is also confirmed by global statistics with the distribution of their share among users:

• Apple: 59.04%
  • Apple Mail Privacy: 54.27%
  • Apple iPhone: 2.73%
  • Apple Mail: 1.71%
  • Apple iPad: 0.33%
• Gmail: 27.96%
• Outlook: 4.50%
• Yahoo Mail: 2.73%
• Google Android: 1.48% 

5. How to avoid getting into SPAM?

Today, the phrase “I didn’t receive your email” sounds like the well-known excuse “The dog ate my homework”. But check your spam folder, and you will likely find at least a few marketing emails you would have loved to open. That’s why it is important to follow some simple tips to avoid this situation with your emails: 

• Send emails from a verified corporate domain rather than a personal email account.
• Watch the subject line, as it should not resemble a lottery ad or promote free cheese in a mousetrap.
• Be careful about using capital letters and too many money-oriented words, such as “fast cash,” “cheap,” “only at $$$,” “100% free,” etc., i.e., any phrases you might hear on a late-night infomercial.
• Personalize your communication by using dynamic content in email subject lines and texts whenever possible.

6. What elements should be included in an effective email template?

An effective email template for any business should contain the essential elements while avoiding excessive graphics and objects that overload the email. Your template should include:

• simple and clear headline; 
• short and informative text; 
• relevant visuals;
• CTA buttons and a positive impression of your company for recipients.

7. What email campaigns are considered the most effective?

Today, email marketers have a lot of tools in their practice to achieve specific business goals. The effectiveness of email campaigns can vary depending on many factors, such as your target audience, industry, and campaign goal. However, here are some types of email campaigns that are generally considered to be effective:

• welcome emails;
• newsletters or digests;
• personalized offers and recommendations;
• promotions and special offers;
• reactivation emails;
• customer testimonials and recommendations.

These email campaigns serve their purposes well, whether greeting and onboarding new customers or reactivating inactive contacts. But which of these campaigns are the most effective? 

Recent research by GetResponse Email Marketing Benchmarks based on the analysis of the return on 1,000 sent emails has provided the following data:

We conclude that regardless of the name of the campaign, its success depends on the personalization and interest of your audience. Therefore, do not overlook the importance of segmentation and automation in your email marketing efforts.

8. For which projects is email marketing a must-have for operational work?

Email marketing is an invaluable tool for operational work in many projects. Its effectiveness is based on the ability to communicate with the audience directly, quickly, and efficiently. Here are a few projects where email marketing is a must-have for operational work:

• E-commerce.  Sending personalized offers, sales, and new products to customers via email helps to encourage purchases, keep them connected, and increase loyalty.
• Media. Sending newsletters or summaries of new articles, publications, or events helps you attract and retain your audience and increases awareness of your blog.
• Business services. Sending notifications about important updates, payments, or event reminders helps you keep in touch with your customers and ensure their service satisfaction. 
• Education projects. Sending course reminders, materials, and updates helps keep students engaged, supports learning, and encourages engagement.
• Charitable organizations. Using email marketing to solicit donations or inform about ongoing projects helps attract attention and generate support from potential donors.

In general, email marketing is an essential tool for effective communication with the audience in various projects, helping attract, retain, and interact with customers.

9. What open rate, click-through rate, and percentage of spam are considered normal for working with whitelisted email databases?

Normal open rate and click-through rate values can vary depending on factors, such as business industry, content type, and audience quality. However, there are average benchmarks that can serve as a guideline:

• Open rate (percentage of emails opened). The average global open rate statistic is around 15-25%. However, a higher value, say over 30%, can be considered a good result. Keep in mind that the open rate may vary depending on the email campaign type and the subscriber list quality.
• Click-through rate (CTR, percentage of clicks). There is no strict standard here either, as it depends on the type of content and the relevance of the offers to the audience’s interests. The general guideline is a 2-5% CTR, but specific numbers may vary depending on your industry and goals.
• Spam percentage. There is no exact safe spam percentage, as each email service and provider has its own rules and filters. However, it is common practice to keep the spam to total emails ratio at less than 1%. This means that less than 1% of your emails end up in the spam folder.

It is important to consider that these metrics are guidelines and may vary depending on your business and its context. For example, one of the promo campaigns has the following metrics in the reports:

The triggered email from the “Abandoned View” campaign shows an entirely different picture with other specific metrics in the reports:

Pay attention to the email provider’s system prompts. In this case, the unsubscribe rate is 0.7% higher than the average, but in the context of other indicators that show good results, we can decide not to change the campaign or make adjustments and compare further data.

10. What is the best way to start working with an email database?

If you already have an email database, there are some steps you can take before you start working with it:

• Database quality check. Check your email database for relevance and validity. Remove any inactive, invalid, or duplicate email addresses. This will help ensure that your messages reach your target audience.
• Audience segmentation. Break your email database into groups of subscribers based on their interests, behavior, or other relevant factors. This allows you to create personalized and targeted messages more aligned with your audience’s needs.
• Content strategy development. Determine what type of content you will send to your subscribers. It can be a variety of information: current news, special offers, product updates, or any other content that will be interesting and useful to your audience. Develop a content plan and schedule your emails.
• Creating templates and design. Design attractive and professional email templates that match your brand. Use clear headlines, eye-catching images, and readable text to grab recipients’ attention.
• Setting measurement metrics. Determine which metrics you will measure to evaluate the effectiveness of your email marketing campaign. Use analytics tools to collect this data and analyze the results.
• Sending the first email. Design your first email to welcome your audience and explain what they can expect from your newsletter. Thank them for subscribing and offer them some valuable information or a deal.

These steps will help you get started with your email database and launch an effective email marketing campaign. Remember that continuously analyzing and improving your strategy is the key to email marketing success.

Still have some questions? We at Livepage are always ready to accompany you in an interesting and dynamic digital environment! 

Contact us right now, and let us bring your marketing campaigns to new heights.