Experts in the digital marketing and SEO industry have debated for some time now over whether email marketing still works. There are plausible arguments on both sides. But if there is one thing that settles the argument definitively in one direction or the other, it is the email scam. Scams prove that email marketing still works.
Scammers are not stupid. In fact, email scams have become more sophisticated over the years. What used to be petty little viruses designed to annoy more than anything else have become highly complex trojans, malware programs, and phishing attacks. Rest assured that scammers would not put time and effort into staying five steps ahead of the law if doing so was not profitable.
If email recipients are paying enough attention to their inboxes to allow scammers to rip them off, they are also paying enough attention to respond to marketing messages. To the digital marketer, it is just a matter of knowing how to use email properly.
Making It Worthwhile
The number one rule of email marketing is to make reading emails worthwhile. Unfortunately, too many marketers take a shortsighted view of what this means. Making it worthwhile does not mean sending a short email blast with a screaming headline that tells customers they can get 50% off. Sales pitches are not worthwhile enough to warrant opening an email.
A worthwhile email is one that contains relevant and interesting information that is important enough to do something about. For this reason, many of the most successful email marketers recommend reaching customers with regular newsletters. They use email newsletters to keep customers informed of important company news, special opportunities, and the like.
Avoiding Spam Filters
It is in the marketer’s best interests to avoid using pure marketing language in their emails. They should go light on the sales pitches and heavy on the relevant information. Why? Because a heavy dose of marketing language quickly condemns an email to the spam folder. Today’s spam filters are exceptionally good at identifying marketing tactics and ranking them accordingly.
Security Is Always an Issue
Of course, email marketing does have to be practiced with security in mind. This starts with understanding how scammers use email and then ensuring your marketing efforts are not being derailed by scammers. As pointed out in a recent blog post published by BenefitMall, scammers utilize email in multiple ways:
- Email bombing
- Phishing attempts
- Ransomware attacks
- Email viruses, trojans, etc.
In their post, BenefitMall encouraged the benefits brokers they represent to take the necessary steps to ensure that their own email platforms were secure. They recommended regular and updated training for employees, deploying appropriate software and hardware, and developing email policies and standards that protect both them and their customers.
The post offers some sound advice about topic that so many companies do not understand. Suffice it to say that effective email marketing is secure email marketing. If security is not part of the equation, marketers are putting themselves and their customers at risk.
Patience and Consistency
The foundation of everything contained in this post is patience and consistency. Email marketing isn’t a silver bullet. It is not the backdrop of a rags to riches story, and it certainly won’t make a company millions overnight. Effective email marketing requires a consistent strategy that is developed over a long period of time.
Is email marketing dead? Scammers don’t seem to think so. In fact, they continue to make good money employing it. That is proof enough that email marketing is still effective. And if they can make it work to their advantage, so can digital marketers.