This is probably THE MOST asked question about email marketing.
Now, do people and businesses get 80% open rates and 40% click-through-rates like back in the “good ‘ol days”?
No. They don't. Which is why the “is email marketing dead” question exists.
Back in those “good ‘ol days”, people were only getting a few emails a day, and nowadays people get a heck of a lot more and there's just not enough time in the day to read them all. It just means you have a little more competition – but it's far from dead.
Think of it like this … email used to be about hearing from friends and family, now – it's used for business and transactions. People expect this. They expect businesses to be in their inbox.
They now have social media to keep in touch with family and friends. And according to a study by the Nielsen Norman Group – 90% of people preferred to receive business updates via a newsletter, while only 10% chose Facebook.
Now I'll rattle off a few common stats most marketers refer to when responding to this question:
- For every $1 spent on email marketing, the average return is $44.25. [emailexpert] – I don't know how true or accurate this statement is … 4425% return seems a bit unbelievable to me; however, say it's for every $1 spent, the average return is $2. That STILL doubles your return on investment.
- When marketed through email, consumers spend 138% more than people who don’t receive email offers. [Convince and Convert]
- 91% of consumers use email at least once a day. [Exact Target]
- Email is almost 40 times better at acquiring new customers than Facebook and Twitter. [McKinsey & Company]
- 44% of consumers made at least one purchase last year based on a promotional email they received. [Convince and Convert]
- 72% of consumers sign up for emails because they want to get discounts, but only 8.2% sign up because they love the brand. [BlueHornet]
So, email marketing is FAR from dead. In this day and age, people prefer businesses to be in their inbox as opposed to their social media accounts.