Email marketing is considered to be the most beneficial and standout marketing strategies for any businesses. However, where there are several advantages, email marketing also has some demerits attached to it.
The significant reality attached to email marketing is that it is dying. Probably you, me and email providers understand it. Before going into the detailed reasons of why email advertising is becoming non-beneficial, let’s check out some glaring facts:
Post Mortem of Email Marketing
The captioned digital marketing strategy is dying is justified, to say the least. The time has come that all the digital marketers should move ahead, come out from the state of denial, and skip bargaining, depression, and anger. Lastly, accept the fact that marketing via email is not garnering enough results.
Number Crunching
The first company for email marketing was formed in 1978, which sent the mass emails to about 400 customers. From one single mail, they earned USD 13 million. Excellent ROI!
From then on, we are living in an era where one email message is sent to around 116 billion accounts every single day. The revenue results cannot be measured to that of 1978; of course!
Moving forward, we have some more data to prove the point:
- The email opening rate, on average, is about 22%.
- Email click-through rate, on average, is just over 3%.
In simple terms, people do not open the emails they receive; they hardly click at any link attached in the email.
Users are graduated to use mobile messaging and finding them better. So what? Email marketing is dying!
Disadvantages of Email Marketing
After proving the point statistically, now learn some technical aspects as to why this email advertisement strategy has almost failed:
1. Spam:
When your audience stops to get enticed with your email content, they block getting your emails. Besides, many users even do not hesitate to unsubscribe, or they lazily start to throw your emails to the trash. They believe that the email is not worthy of being acted towards.
2. Your List gets Burned Out:
People will keep unsubscribing to your email if you stop to monitor the rate of unsubscribers. If you do not give them any reason to stick to your mail, they will cancel you.
3. Violating the Law:
Due to spammers, cyber rules are getting strict day by day. However, they are easier to break. Therefore, you need to comprehensively understand the spamming laws of the jurisdiction, where you are sending your email content. Knowledge demands to update the information. So, if you are not updating, you can also be labeled as spam.
4. Readers Get Alienated:
As a digital marketing expert, your job is to promote your brand. Customers get angry as they don’t want to be bothered by receiving one mail after the other. The frustration drags them to click the unsubscribe button. However, subscription is the primary tool for email marketing.
5. Delivery Problems:
People have a habit of changing their email addresses frequently. So, this is the biggest demerit of email marketing which can create problems for you because you’re either not delivering the message or are not targeting the right address.
Additionally, you need to constantly update your knowledge about how spam filters work. So, much to do apart from making enticing content!
6. Design Issues
Another disadvantage associated with email marketing is the design issue. You have to take care of various screen sizes and other aspects that can impact the screen display. So, ensuring content visibility all the time is a big issue with email advertisements.
7. Keep up the Engagement Rate
We all face the irritating situations when we keep getting the emails which are no longer relevant to us. This happens to your database by sending the emails at inappropriate times although the message has got some serious stuff.
To tailor the email according to the receiver is hectic work that needs to be done, every now and then, in email marketing.
8. Resource Intensive
With every passing day, you need to update your skills. Skill enhancement requires a considerable amount of time. So, additional time and resource are needed to craft the email and plan the marketing strategy accordingly.
This all demands intensive resources which is also a negative aspect of email marketing strategy.
So, what should you really invest in then?
Mobile Messaging – The Way Forward
Let’s start with some numbers to make ground.
Some factors are responsible for the amazing results of mobile messaging. A recent study reveals that average smartphone users spend just over 23 minutes on a messaging application.
Mobile messages brag an astonishing open rate of 93% within 180 seconds of receiving the message. This is a fantastic stat, and it will always amaze you whenever you get your eyes on them. However, the important thing is engagement.
Blog posts that are ‘click-bait’ are rising very fast. It has been seen that people tend to open the message (for example, clicking the link on Twitter or Facebook). At the same time, to make the user click is not the ultimate objective. The real success measurement is how much engaged one remained.
Applications for messaging are increasingly becoming favorite for customers on the internet. They remain up-to-date with friends and events, chatting with their loved ones and even get involved in content exchange activities.
There is immense power that mobile messaging apps possess. If you present your business message with them, it will prove to be a valuable asset.
Connecting the Dots
Email marketing has passed its prime time. Now, almost all the smartphones are SMS-enabled which means all can receive messages. Apps for mobile messaging are obscuring the lines between the mobile social network and mobile messaging apps.
Messaging applications encompass six of the top 10 most utilized applications worldwide. Therefore, for businesses, it is familiar and easy to understand that they are required to actively leverage the core advantages of mobile messaging apps to reach their target audience.
James Jack is a professional digital marketer that is working for Ingeniousguru.com. Apart from that, he is an active blogger who admires reading and sharing information regarding the latest tech trends and gaming news. You can read more blogs of james @ inGenious Guru blog. He is an avid gamer who spends his nights taking on any challenger he finds in all leading FPS games.