Using email for marketing is still very much in use. Sceptical? With the floods of spam and junk mail everyone is constantly receiving, it could easily seem like a waste of effort. The Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), requires companies to send emails to an ‘opted-in database’ only, which makes reaching your customers via email even harder.

Keeping the above in mind, would you believe it, if we said that 50% of customers actually like receiving brand emails? This means POPIA is actually doing you a favour and helping you separate those that wish to engage with you, from those who don’t.

It seems as if email has become the red wine of marketing tools. Instead of fading into the background against the likes of social media and SEO, email has grown smarter and adapted to the needs of its users.

Here are a few top statistics to prove it:

- Email marketing for companies who use it, offers a Return on Investment (ROI) of 4400%, which is why one in every three marketers believe it to be the best ROI tool.
- By next year 4.2 billion people from ages 18 to 65 are estimated to use email.
- 79% of B2B companies use email as their primary channel of marketing.

To obtain the most engagement from your emailers, your content needs to be targeted and relevant to the audience you are sending it to.

Use email to run campaigns that help you achieve the following:

Covert subscribers - Subscribers are often interested in what you offer but need that little push to become a customer. Regular emails that showcase the benefits of your products, or services, may help achieve this goal.
Provide conversion assistance - Using follow-up emails to help customers who left an eCommerce cart abandoned have proven very successful in helping to complete the conversion process. There could be many reasons why a person left a cart abandoned, contacting them in a personal capacity to provide assistance can be of benefit and may help them finalise the purchase, or buy other products, or services.
Retain customers - Use emails to keep those clients that already know and trust you, to come back or refer your business to others. Apart from showcasing new products and services, share company news, rewards and more with this audience.

Timing and planning is everything when it comes to email marketing
Too many or too few emails could be behind your current unsuccessful campaigns. Test what kind of email-sending rhythm your customers are open to and will engage with more. Generally speaking, a bi-weekly or monthly mailer will do the trick.

Email marketing isn’t something you can just ‘do’; strategy is incredibly important. Plan and put effort into every execution!

Holding off on email marketing because you still don’t have a website?

IMPORTANT: Don’t use a This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. email address to send from, as this is extremely unprofessional and can be construed as ‘spam’. Consider purchasing your own domain and sign up for our Email Only Hosting from as little as R39 per month.