Why Email is the Key to Driving Engagement in 2017

Could you capture someone’s attention in just 8 seconds? In today’s digital world, brands and marketers are challenged with this task every day. As the human attention span continues to decrease (yes, it’s now less than that of a goldfish!), it’s more important than ever to reach the right audience at the right time. According to Campaign Monitor’s recently released ebook, “Owning Engagement in a World of Social Algorithms and Ad Blockers,” channels like email marketing, as well as platforms such as LiveIntent, are surging in popularity as they provide a direct link to a targeted audience.  Since email marketing allows you to not only engage with your own opted in audience, but also gives publishers the opportunity to attract advertisers and monetize their emails, it’s no surprise that a greater number of brands and marketers are investing in this tried and true channel.

Here are some key takeaways expressed in the ebook:

Increase Revenue Within Your Most Engaged Channel

By the end of 2020, the number of email users worldwide will increase to approximately 3 billion— which makes email a highly effective channel to reach your customers. According to an article by MailMunch, 60% of internet marketers believe email marketing outperforms socials media. The articles further states that email marketing has a greater reach, generates a 3% higher click-through rate than Facebook and Twitter, and drives more conversions than other marketing channels.

Joey Marburger, Director of Product for the Washington Post, said in a recent Digiday article,  “Email newsletters are critical to our business.”  When it comes to ROI, a key metric for marketers when determining what is driving sales, email is outperforming other marketing channels. In 2016 the ROI of email was at approximately $44 for every $1 dollar spent compared with $38 the year prior.

Email results in greater ROI than ever, and with display ads on sites going out of fashion, digital media companies and publishers are finding new ways to package their most engaged channel as something advertisers will be interested in in order to increase their overall revenue.

3 Ways to Boost Engagement

Brands and marketers have a really short window for capturing the attention of their audience, which makes it even more important to develop a strategy to keep their audience’s attention long-term.  Here are 3 tips to incorporate in your email marketing strategy to ensure your audience stays engaged with your content so that you can produce impactful engagement rates and conversions:

• – Segment your email marketing list. Understanding your audience interests and behaviors is key to ensuring you’re sending the most relevant content at the right time. The more targeted your lists are, the better your open and click rates will be, which will ultimately result in better overall performance.

• – Keep it personal.  According to Campaign Monitor, “emails with personalized subject lines are 26% more liked to be opened”. If you want to keep your audience engaged it’s important to show them that you’re paying attention and that  you know who they are. A personalized marketing experience across all channels will help boost engagement, increase brand trust, and drive sales.

• – Develop a Mobile- first strategy. Marketers must adopt a mobile-first strategy in order to be successful in today’s mobile world. Improving design and user experience on mobile ensures that  your clicks and conversions will not be lost. Check out this quick video to learn how to optimize your campaigns for mobile.  

It’s evident that email is here to stay. In fact, it could be argued that email marketing as a channel is more powerful than ever. It has become the main channel to which brands and marketers are investing and for good reasons. Email is pivotal in driving engagement  throughout the customer journey, resulting in stronger relationships between brands and their customers and greater profitability.

For more on email marketing, read “5 Ways to Maximize Email Marketing,” or contact us to speak to a real LiveIntenter.