17 Advantages Of Using Email Marketing In Small Businesses

The survival and success of a business commonly known as a brick n mortar.

Without an online presence is doomed to fail.

Don't believe me, where are most of the previous retail giants, I will not be pointing a finger at any but in the last 20 odd years.

Making it possible to move away from the physical need to rely on the postal service.

 In order to get letters delivered and posted.

Although some letters can still thrive using traditional mail.

1. Cost

Email marketing is so cost-effective compared to traditional means of sending letters.

That would require you to factor in the price of postage stamps and other costs related to stationery.

This is unlike the costs you would pay when using an email autoresponder, which can sometimes be free to start with.

So how about the returns from using this digital channel. 

Let us find out...

2. Return On Investment {ROI}

• There is a widely acknowledged fact that says for every $1 spent, $35 is generated through email marketing and this is according to litmus.com.
• This is possible because once a person subscribes to your mailing list and remains on it. You can continue marketing to them for free.

• So the initial cost of acquiring a lead keeps going down because of the value that subscriber will bring into your business. 
• This is called return on your investment and in short ROI.

3. Extensive Reach

So what do I mean by extensive reach...?

Email is part of the internet experience and to be part of social media you need to have your own email address or mobile number.

And everyone has either an email address or a mobile phone. Making it easier for small businesses like yours to reach a lot of people.

• Email is quick to start, set up, and easy to send.
• Once you have decided on an autoresponder to use.
• You can pick a free plan and create a newsletter and send it.
• Most email marketing software have a simple drag and drop email editor and pre-built templates.
• There are plenty of getting started videos to walk you through.
• In some cases, you can have dedicated onboarding support.

• Email marketing enables you to segment your customers using tags that you decide.
• This will make the emails you send out to be highly targeted.
• Segmentation or grouping will allow you to send personalised messages to your customers.
• This will increase your sales because you will be sending emails that matter at the right time.

One of the key features in an autoresponder is the ability to present to you reports about your campaigns and newsletters.

So that you can analyse the data and make data- driven decisions.

 Data about opens, clicks, unsubscribes are part of what moves your business.

 So email marketing allows doing that with the help of a relevant software tool.

• Email marketing is a channel that gives small businesses the power to gather and manage their customer information. 
• Unlike social media or other platforms where you rely on rented real estate. 
• You risk being kicked out and losing all your following or subscribers.
•  If you do not follow their terms and conditions.

Email is globally used.

When people signup for different services online.

 It is like a passport to access online shopping and many other functions on the internet.

It is the best way to communicate online.

 Because email is personal and many people are coming online and creating email accounts.

This is opening up a global window of opportunity for small businesses.

Whom without using email marketing would remain small players in the business game.

• With email marketing, you can test your subject lines or headlines and content to see which one performs better.
•  In simple terms which one brings in more revenue.
• The industry term for this is called A/B Testing and most autoresponders allow you to do just that.

10. Drive Sales

• Email marketing is an effective way to convert leads into sales by sending personalised emails to a targeted audience.
• It can be used to retarget leads who have shown an interest in your business.
• When considering the customer journey from awareness, consideration, purchase, retention, and advocacy.
• Using email marketing can be very effective throughout the customer lifecycle.

Email marketing allows you to automate your business.

How you may ask...by creating workflows and sequences like the welcome series, nurturing series, abandoned cart series, and win back.

Automated autoresponder emails are sent based on how the customer has interacted with your business.

So it is like running your business on autopilot.

These can run for a number of days as you see fit without you physically doing anything.

All you need to do is set them once and let the machine run.

You will only need to amend or increase the number of messages relevant to the actions you determine.

It surely does because you need to offer leads something of value in exchange for their email address.

 If the offer is relevant you will have highly targeted customers in your database.

Since the internet is open 24/7, leads and customers can reach your business anytime.

The more highly targeted customers you have the bigger your business will get.

This is where the saying the money is in the list came from.

• Most people now own mobile phones and according to Statista the number of smartphone subscriptions worldwide today surpasses six billion and is forecast to continue growing in the next few years.
• Since the introduction of smartphones, people can now access most if not all functions without the need of a laptop or desktop computer.

• So this is an added advantage to small businesses.
• By using email marketing, you are guaranteed to reach these users and the open rates are very high.
• Simply because emails are easy to handle and digest on mobile phones.
• With most websites being mobile responsive. 
• Your customers can access your website on their phones too. 

Emails are sent at the touch of a button and can be tracked in real time.

 Results can be analysed in your email marketing platform dashboard instantly.

So you will be able to know which emails have been delivered, opened and links clicked on within minutes of sending them out.

Autoresponders also serve leads and customers instant emails based on their interaction with your business.

Email marketing makes it an instant process to send emails and to get results from those emails that have been sent.

15. Global Audience

• Since the internet is available pretty much globally.
• That makes it is so much of an advantage to small businesses because by adding email marketing as one of your digital marketing channels.
• You will be able to reach a global audience.
• Offering something of value, it could be a discount code or a free product.
• This all depends on the nature of your business.
• Email marketing will enlarge your territory, gaining more leads, sales, and brand recognition.

Small businesses can benefit a lot by sending discounts or introducing new products to customers.

Those customers can then easily share within their email inboxes with their contact list.

This can take a few minutes but the results will be huge for your business.

• In order to get leads they need to opt-in into your funnel.
• They voluntarily want to hear from you.
• So any newsletters or campaigns you send out have high engagement rates.
• You will find that email marketing gives small businesses a direct line of communication that turns leads into sales.