After more than a year of upheaval from the pandemic, retail and hospitality businesses are trying to find their footing in the new market. Consumer habits have changed, and our digital marketing approach has to adapt accordingly (read more about our post-pandemic digital predictions here).
So, where does email marketing fit into the new digital landscape? Here at Zesty Digital, we believe it is still an essential part of running and growing your business. Stats show that email engagement has grown over the last 12 months, and some studies report that it can generate ROI of up to 3800%.
Let’s look at 5 reasons why email marketing is still so important for your business.
1. Email is the best way to maintain regular direct contact with your customers.
When someone signs up to your email list, they are already interested in your business and want to hear what you have to say. Access to a warm audience like this is a golden opportunity for retail and hospitality businesses.
You can use email marketing in so many ways: to nurture new leads, upsell, promote products or services, run competitions, share practical information about opening times or store changes, or shout about a glowing Tripadvisor review you just received. One of the ways we love to help our clients use email marketing is with abandoned cart emails reminding the customer to complete their purchase (and even sometimes offering a discount if they do).
2. Email is the perfect channel to promote specific products.
If you have a new line you want to promote or a product you need to shift, email is ideal for driving sales. Combine professional images with expert sales copy and a killer subject line to create an offer your audience won’t want to pass up. If your product or service is new, you can generate a feeling of exclusivity by giving your email subscribers the first glimpse (this is a great way to build your email list beforehand, too).
Other ways to use email marketing to promote a product include a behind the scenes look at the design and creation process or sharing video testimonials from happy customers.
3. You can use email to segment and target your customers.
Your email list gives you direct access to potential, current, and past customers, and you can segment and target these groups with content that is relevant for them. For example, you can tempt new customers with a discount on their first purchase, reward existing customers for referring a friend, and entice past customers to return using a loyalty scheme. Segmenting your audience in this way allows you to tailor content for maximum results. Providing useful and relevant content for each segment will also increase open rates and click-throughs and retain subscribers.
4. Email can help you smooth out ‘troughs’ in your business.
Most businesses experience peaks and troughs in sales and would benefit from creating a more steady and consistent income. An email marketing campaign can be an effective way to smooth over the troughs to reduce this fluctuation in sales.
With some forward planning, you can run special offers in slow months, on certain days, or at quiet times of the day (Happy Hours or January sales are perfect examples of this approach). And with a healthy email list, you have a bank of warm leads with whom to share these offers and promotions.
In the short term, if you’re having a lull in sales or need an injection of cash flow, a special offer or discount is a good way to boost footfall and increase spend quickly.
5. Your email list belongs to you.
It’s true that social media is a vital part of any marketing strategy, but it shouldn’t be the only way you communicate with your audience. The main reason for this is because your social media channels actually belong to someone else (we’re looking at you, Mr Zuckerberg).
It’s not unheard of for social media platforms to freeze or shut down accounts without warning, resulting in digital marketing teams frantically trying to reinstate them to avoid losing contact with their entire customer base. Some platforms also frequently move the goalposts by suddenly changing their algorithms, leaving you wondering why your reach and engagement has suddenly dropped.
One of the significant benefits of an email list is that it’s owned and entirely controlled by you. You can contact your list as often as you like without needing to play the algorithms to be visible. And whereas your audience can scroll straight past a social media post, they can open an email at a time that suits them, increasing your chances of them reading and taking action.
If you’d like support with email marketing, we can help. We specialise in assisting businesses in the retail and hospitality sectors to grow their digital presence. Find out more.
