Email. Most people use this form of communication on daily basis, but is it still an effective form of marketing one’s brand or business? Research says yes!

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) recently released a research study on marketing habits of today’s world, and they found that email marketing is a successful tool when trying to reach your intended audience. Sure newer channels and platforms, such as social media and mobile advertising, have also proven successful, but this post might make you think twice before canceling your MailChimp subscription.

Let’s start with the good. The DMA found that among being of the most heavily trafficked forms of communication email still remains a reliable means to reaching an audience with a 98 percent deliverability rate. This means that consumers are also more likely to open their emails and click through the links provided, sending higher traffic rates to business’s websites. The study went on to highlight that many marketers have great results with emails, with almost 41 percent reporting that email is their best-performing channel.

Unfortunately, like any other marketing platform, there are some down sides to using email marketing. The biggest being click through rates and open rates have fallen in just the last few years, from 20 percent to 15 percent. This is most likely due in part to competing marketing channels.

Even though open and click through rates may be on the decline, the study points out that the decline may be more related to how effective or ineffective businesses utilize
email marketing, as opposed to an actual growing shift from email. Simple ways to improve your business’s strategy include better and more attention grabbing subject lines, visual elements and timely email campaigns.

Another strategy is to spread out your marketing to include different platforms and not just rely on one method. Lastly, the study found that 90 percent of consumers don’t plan to buy something when they first visit a brand’s site or start a product search. This means that its important to make sure that consumers see messages multiple places to ensure that a brand is top-of-mind when they are ready to take action.

So what this all boils down to is that email marketing is still a very direct marketing technique, and learning to use it productively can only be beneficial for your brand or business.