Email Marketing is a Strong Influencer in B2C Buying

How’s this for a statistic? Nearly all (98%) of the more than 1,800 consumers polled are influenced by a marketing email to make a purchase! This a good indicator for small and medium businesses that email marketing works, especially when it meets certain criteria.

Related Article: 8 Best Email Marketing Tools for Small Business

And, what are the criteria? I’d thought you’d never ask.

What Works in B2C Email Marketing

According to Phil Britt of Direct Marketing News who reported on the BlueHornet Networks study:

• 44% of respondents said weekly emails are about right for them, but nearly a quarter said they would be open to daily emails. However, those frequent emails can be considered nuisances if they aren’t personalized. And that means have something to say that consumers are interested in.
• Content relevancy isn’t the only criteria for customer satisfaction with email. The survey also found that 42% of consumers will delete a poorly formatted email message. Optimizing email design for varying devices and screen sizes is more important than ever.
• The majority of respondents (71%) do not use a separate email address for marketing and advertising emails. This indicates that consumers opt in to promotional emails with an actively maintained email account.
• About half of the survey respondents stated that they’re simply more comfortable purchasing from a desktop or laptop computer.
• Nearly one third of those surveyed are likely to follow a brand on social media, and therefore see marketing messages via multiple channels.
• Less than 20% of consumers polled are interested in sharing email marketing messages on their own social networks.

What does this mean for your small or medium business?

First of all, when studies are sponsored by vendors, there’s a concern that there may be a conflict of interest. Nevertheless, there are a few takeaways to note.

1. Don’t assume that these results will automatically work for your small or medium business marketing plan. Do your due diligence and poll your email recipients asking what their frequency preferences are. While you’re asking, find out what content they find valuable.
2. Review your current email messages on a variety of devices to see what they look like. If the formatting isn’t conducive to each one, consider changing your e-mail service provider (ESP) to one that offers responsive templates.
3. Write engaging content that makes their lives easier, better, happier, etc. If you’re not a good writer, outsource this part. It will be well worth it if you experience success.

How frequently are you sending out B2C emails? What’s your unsubscribe rate? How about the conversion rate?