Email marketing proves its worth amid postal price hikes

Forward-looking marketers throughout the UK are focusing their attention on the power of email marketing as they review their direct marketing budgets following Royal Mail’s shock price hikes. While many businesses were left reeling from the news of the forthcoming increase in the cost of First Class stamps, we have already noticed an increase in the number of enquiries from companies and associations keen to embrace the benefits of targeted email marketing campaigns.

Email marketing remains highly cost-effective and consistently proves its worth as a primary means of engaging directly with members. Additionally, with explosive sales of smartphones and iPads recorded over the past year, email is being accessed more regularly than ever before, providing a golden opportunity to target core audiences with highly tailored messages.

Leading brands and businesses are increasingly making intelligent use of finely tuned emails to capture the attention of their customers at the precise moment when they’re most engaged with a brand – immediately after the moment of purchase. This is when a personalised email with relevant, compelling offers and a clear call to action can make all the difference and ultimately generate additional sales.

Boots, M&S and New Look topped a recent ‘league table’ of high impact email marketing campaigns in 2011, with all three companies having experienced significant ROI via email marketing. All three cleverly combined the right ingredients to create sparkling campaigns that set their customer base racing to make the next purchase.

We’re often asked how retail success of this kind can be replicated across diverse business sectors, with associations throughout the country keen to boost retention levels and build lasting relationships with members. Among the key areas of focus we recommend to our clients are clarity and consistency of message, together with a coherent content structure, a dynamic balance of interesting copy and hyperlinks, personalised language, links to social media channels, and of course an eye-catching design! With dozens of email newsletters whistling into your members’ inboxes on a daily basis, those that offer a consistent, value-led and engaging proposition will inevitably stand a cut above the rest.

 While it’s true that ‘content is king’, evaluation is a vital component of every email marketing campaign. This is of course another key point of differentiation between traditional direct marketing and email marketing. As monitoring technologies become increasingly sophisticated, we are consistently analysing the results of our clients’ email marketing campaigns with minute precision, with every click-through accounted for, tracked and reported. We actively use this information to inform and shape future campaigns.