Email Marketing is still kingLet’s face it. When it comes to marketing, email gets a bad rap.

It is kind of like that drunk relative at your family reunion. You know they are there…but you try and ignore them and hang with the really cool uncle that partied with Elvis.

Well, I got news for you.

Email is still king when it comes to marketing your business.

Let’s look at a few numbers, shall we?

Email is up to 40 times more effective at getting your message in front of your customers.

Yep…take that Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. People can’t respond to something they never see, now can they?!

Let’s say that you have 1,000 email subscribers, 1,000 Facebook Fans, and 1,000 Twitter Followers. Here are how many people will actually even see your message.

  • Message sent via email: 450 will open your email
  • Posted on Facebook: 60 people will see your post
  • Posted on Twitter: 25 Followers will see your tweet.

Disclaimer: Now these numbers can be more based on a few things. For email, your relationship with the list. With Facebook, how many people engage or comment on the post will increase the number (i.e., push out to others). Twitter…well…that is probably about right 🙂

So, clearly email will get our message in front of more people.

Winner: Email

ROI Matters.

And you know what? It is really…really…really cheap.

Depending on who you use as an email provider you are somewhere between Free and a couple hundred dollars.

Is it worth it?

Well, depending on who you ask, email marketing has an ROI of roughly $30-40 for every $1 you spend.

Now that is a return we can sink our teeth into.

Winner: Email

Be quiet, the adults are talking.

Over 90% of adults (you know, the ones with money) have an email account. Over 55% of them check email daily.

Assuming you use industry best practices, over 90% of your emails will get delivered to the intended email inbox.

Compare that to a Facebook post (about 2% may see it) and Twitter (even less).

Winner: Email (unless you are looking to send your message to people that are not old enough to get a credit card).

But with email marketing, are they clicking?

It is one thing to get your message in front of people, it is another if they are ‘clicking through’ to hear more or see your offer in a non-bite sized format.

I did some digging and found this….

The average click-through rates for each channel:

  • Email marketing 3.57%
  • Facebook 0.07%
  • Twitter 0.03%

I can’t say that I disagree with those numbers, but I do think they are a little low. I think that both Facebook and email should be higher. I really think it depends on how targeted your message is and your relationship with your list is.

For example, one of my products gets a 5% – 9% click rate. Another gets and incredible 36%, but that is very rare.

Solid email marketing comes down to creating a really kick butt campaign that makes people want to respond.

Winner: You guessed it…email.

Now, that we have bashed on everyone else, let’s take a small step back.

I believe in all forms of marketing.

I think social media has a very big seat at the table. *

*You know, the adult table, not that one that your grandma still makes you sit at during the holidays with your 7-year-old cousins.

That said, when push comes to shove, and you need some immediate results, email is still king.

Send an email, get immediate response. Immediate feedback. Immediate results.

It may not be flashy, but email is far from going the way of the dinosaurs when it comes to marketing your business.