Why do email marketing? Mark Brownlow’s post on of that title on Email Marketing Reports presents an excellent argument about why email marketing is still relevant, despite all the claims of its death. Here are the highlights:
- Email generates over $48 for every $1 spent, outperforming every other direct marketing channel.
- Email has a lower Cost Per Order than almost every other channel.
- 95% of marketers use email marketing, with the rest largely planning to do it within the year.
- Money spent on email marketing is predicted to reach $2 billion in 2012, double its current amount.
- Email works because it allows for targeting, database integration, and segmentation, which creates a more personal experience for the user. This experience, in turn, helps build loyalty and trust.
- Every email you send will generate actionable data.
- Email generates an immediate action – you don’t have to wait years to see the fruits of your labors.
In a day when we have some of the top thought leaders in screaming for a more streamlined, efficient atmosphere in higher education, you simply cannot ignore the continued effectiveness of the medium. Higher ed is generally light years behind the corporate world when it comes to integration of technology into marketing plans and I think it speaks volumes that the corporate world is going to significantly increase the amount of money its dedicating to email over the next four to five years.
They’re doing it because it generates results.
And it can do the same for higher education. I’ve seen it first hand – I saw a doubling of online applications in the first year after a comprehensive, targeted email program was launched. In fundraising, I’ve seen hundreds of thousands of dollars in online gifts generated as a direct result of email…in a month’s time. This is something that is very achievable at every school. I’ve got a couple of upcoming presentations, where I’ll be discussing how your institution can see the same results:
- American Marketing Association’s Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education: I’ll be presenting a session called Taking Email to the Next Level: Practical Advice for Creating an Integrated Email Marketing Strategy that will Get Results.
- Higher Ed Experts Webinar: A two-part series called “Email Marketing 360″. I’ll be presenting alongside Carmella Manges of St. Edward’s University.
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This post was written by:
Karlyn Morissette - who has written 36 posts on .eduGuru.
Karlyn Morissette is a thought leader and innovator in higher education. With over 12 years of web experience (half spent working exclusively on higher education web marketing initiatives), she helped pioneer many of the web strategies considered best practice today. Karlyn currently holds three positions:
- As the Director of Marketing Communications at Fire Engine RED, she helps admissions offices execute integrated marketing campaigns as a part of student search.
- As the President and Principal Consultant of DoJo Web Strategy, she helps universities integrate goal-driven web strategies into their marketing plans.
- As Adjunct Faculty for Internet Marketing at Champlain College, she is helping to mold the next generation of web marketers.
Karlyn is an invited speaker at conferences around the country and publishes regularly on both www.karlynmorissette.com, and as a staff writer on www.doteduguru.com (.eduGuru). She holds a Bachelor of Science in Communication from Boston University and a Master of Business Administration from Norwich University.
To quote a friend of hers: "Karlyn is a super rad ninja marketing genius who will make your target demographic submit to your every whim through sheer willpower. Oh, and she's smarter than you." We're not sure about the smarter part, but "super rad ninja" is true enough.
October 16th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Karlyn the Rockstar Email Expert! Great stuff. I also really enjoyed that post Brian put up the beginning of the week.
Without certain fundamental knowledge email can be intimidating and impossible to do right… so people give up on it and call it dead. I love numbers and numbers like this show you that doing it correctly can bring back great results!
October 16th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Hi Kyle,
I think you might have hit the nail on the head and I never even thought of it like that before – people give up and call it dead because its intimidating. Genius!
October 16th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
@Karlyn – it’s also not (usually) as sexy as say… Facebook, Twitter, or even creating a pretty interactive website. It just freakin works!
Actually I take that back. Looking at some of the emails we have been sending out lately, with a strong template they can be just as gorgeous!
October 19th, 2008 at 4:36 am
I do not agree with you that “Every email you send will generate actionable data”. What conversion rate do you get from email marketing?
October 19th, 2008 at 6:43 am
Conversion depends on what you’re doing and even if I got a 0% conversion rate, I would always get lead generation in the form of who opened and clicked in the message. Lead generation = actionable data.
October 19th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Also, don’t forget that the backbone of all those “fancy” social marketing tools (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) is still Email.
Think about it every time something important happens you get an Email/SMS from the social network informing you to come check it out.
One key thing to remember is designing the call to action to be an action (make them go to a web page for all the details).
October 20th, 2008 at 1:26 am
Without certain fundamental knowledge email can be intimidating and impossible to do right… so people give up on it and call it dead. I love numbers and numbers like this show you that doing it correctly can bring back great results!
May 3rd, 2009 at 11:57 am
Conversion rates on email marketing depend on the email list you are using. If they are your common customers conversion is high. If you are sending to a list that has not opted for your email you can get low conversion and spam reports.
July 30th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
I love email marketing due to the simple fact that it can be highly cost effective. The biggest challenge is implementing a good system that works for your audience, especially providing valuable content so that your list becomes one that people actually want to be a part of.