Email marketing has become an integral part of small business marketing success.  Today’s small business owner understands the importance of using email in their business.

I talked recently about what type of information to include in emails to your customers and why you don’t need a website to launch an email campaign.

Today I want to stress WHY you should be using email.  With email you can:

1. Direct customers to your website
2. Announce your latest projects
3. Target your audience
4. Track who opens your email and what they’re interested in
5. Get feedback from customers
6. Crate a much larger impact on immediate sales and long-term relationship strength than traditional advertising
7. Provide training
8. Save money – no paper, printing, postage
9. Increase sales – It’s easier to sell to existing customers than it is to find new customers
10. Provide product support
11. Build trust with customers
12. Educate customers on consumer trends
13. Put your business on autopilot with autoresponders
14. Notify customers of current events
15. Offer free or discounted products/services
16. Measure results with tracking

Need Proof? Look At These Statistics.

The Ad Effectiveness Survey commissioned by Forbes Media in Feb/March 2009 revealed that email and e-newsletter marketing are considered the second-most effective tool for generating conversions, just behind SEO.

79% of consumers have signed up to receive e-mail at least from one company, according to Forrester Research, and two out of three people surveyed said they read e-mail every day of the week. (E-commerce Times)

E-mail marketing delivers a US$51.45 return on investment (ROI) for every marketing dollar spent, according to the Direct Marketing Association.

A survey of 55,000 consumers by Decision Direct Research revealed that the number of respondents that visited a Web site when they received an e-mail promotion increased to 62 percent in 2007. (E-commerce Times)

66% of those surveyed said they had made a purchase because of a marketing message received through email. – ExactTarget, “2008 Channel Preference Survey” (2008)

2/3rd of US Internet users surveyed said email was their preferred channel for written communications between friends. – ExactTarget, “2008 Channel Preference Survey” (2008)

Consumers who receive both email and direct mail on average contribute about $17 in revenue and $4 in margin per household.- Merkle “Driving Successful Email and Direct Mail Integration” (2010)

‘Social media ROI’ was an important buzzword for 36% of executives. – Anderson Analytics and Marketing Executives Networking Group “Marketing Trends Report 2010″ (2010)

58% of US Marketing Executives feel ‘Marketing ROI’ is currently the most important buzzword/trend to pay attention to. – Anderson Analytics and Marketing Executives Networking Group “Marketing Trends Report 2010″ (2010)

Email presently generates 21.6% of total revenue from campaigns. – Direct Marketing Association “The Integrated Marketing Media Mix” (2008)

Discussion

What would you add to the list of reasons you should use email?  Have you seen any interesting statistics that reinforce the importance of using email?  Please share your comments below.