Email Marketing: 5 myths debunked

Intro

In some circles, email marketers get a bad rap. They tell us we build castles in the sky and make promises we can’t keep because we don’t know what we’re doing. Some people even claim we don’t do anything at all. We object. Let’s take a look at the facts.

At Handlangers, we walk the walk. As a full-service marketing agency, we like to base our strategy on facts. With our customer’s interest at heart, we continuously invest in analysing the results of our marketing strategies. That’s why we spend a lot of time testing what works and what doesn’t. And in our continuous quest for the truth about marketing, we often run into old myths. These are 5 recurring email marketing myths that drive us crazy.

1. Email Marketing is Dead

Some people believe email marketing is dead. It’s not. Your customer’s mailbox is not a graveyard of good intentions and valuable marketing resources. In fact, email marketing done well is a very powerful part of your content strategy. This is why.

According to Campaign Monitor, “email marketing is the king of the marketing kingdom with a 3800% ROI and $38 for every $1 spent.” Moreover, 59% of respondents say marketing emails influence their purchase decisions. With the right email marketing strategy, companies can achieve great results. If you don’t fall for these myths, that is.

2. You need to send your eDMs on Tuesdays and Thursdays

Google “best time to send emails” and scroll through the endless results. There’s a ton of research about the most effective time to send marketing emails. And if you take the time to read through all this so-called evidence, you’ll realize that there isn’t one single day that guarantees more email engagement —there is even conflicting research for which day of the week is optimal.

So when is the best time to send emails? There is no one single rule or algorithm that will come up with the right answer. You need to get to know your audience well and A/B test your email campaigns to determine which day (and time) is best for your subscribers. Personalized campaigns work best, so trust your data.

3. It all depends on the subject line

Marketers spend a lot of time ruminating about titles and subject lines (we know we just did). But despite all our efforts, it turns out the subject line just isn’t that important. According to research by Social Media Quickstarter, the sender name is the most important factor in getting eDMs opened and read. In fact, 64% of subscribers say they are likely to read your email because of who it’s from.

So think about the sender name. First of all, it’s all about brand awareness. When customers perceive your brand as trustworthy, they’re inclined to open your emails. Secondly, you need to think about the actual email address and name you use. Research from Pinpointe marketing found that by using a specific person’s name (like Sophie from Google), you can increase open rates up to 35%.

4. The more content the merrier

Certain email marketing myths are really time consuming, and this is one of them. Some marketers believe flooding their audience with content will magically result in success. It won’t. it’s not about the amount, but the relevancy of your content. Like always, quality trumps quantity.

At Handlangers, we’re highly experienced in setting up content marketing strategies based on what customers actually need. Instead of focusing on a big pool of potential leads and sending them everything we’ve got, we aim our content efforts at highly targeted profiles. And we provide these individual leads with the right content at the right time. By synchronizing all the customers touchpoints across every channel and targeting to maximize relevance, we consistently deliver the relevant experience that leads demand. You can read more about our approach here.

5. You need to bring ‘dead’ customers back to life

In 2017, Hubspot manually unsubscribed 250 K people from their blog. And they didn’t do it by accident. They did it because they don’t buy into a myth almost every marketer believes: you need to bring inactive subscribers back to life.

When a subscriber doesn’t open you messages anymore, it doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong with your content. It just means that person isn’t an engaged prospect or customer, and they’re unlikely to buy from you in the first place. No matter how many personalized emails you send them — they still aren’t going to buy from you. So stop investing time and effort in bringing dead customers back to life. Come to grips with the fact it’s a waste of time and delete them from your list before they make a dent in your ROI.

Want to liven up your email marketing strategy?

So we’ve established that email marketing is far from dead. But do you feel like your strategy could use a little tough love? At Handlangers, we specialize in creating unique buying journeys that reflect your customer’s specific needs. We’ve got the right tools, strategies and experience in place to liven up your content marketing campaigns. And we’ve got the data to prove it.
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