Email marketing remains the online king for businesses. It’s the one digital marketing and sales channel that’s absolutely indispensable.
Email was the original “killer app� that everyone used. As we head into 2019, everyone uses email even more, and that’s why it remains the absolute best channel for digital marketing and sales.
Here’s the thing … email provides you the most direct line of communication with your audience. That makes it crucial for converting prospects into sales, which is why savvy content marketers have no intention of giving it up any time soon.
Still not convinced? Let’s look at the data:
For every $1 spent on email marketing, you get $44 in return. That’s because people spend email 5.6 hours per day checking email — up almost a half hour since 2017. Plus, email remains 40 times better at converting people than social media.
Spend $1, get $44 in return
Six things to consider when
choosing email marketing software
Our Recommendation for Email Marketing Software:
ConvertKit is specifically designed with creative people in mind, and that’s why we’ve chosen it as our email marketing software here at Copyblogger.
Any member of our editorial team — no matter how technically challenged — can easily perform any task that needs to be done, including sending messages, creating automated sequences, using tags for message segmentation, reviewing analytics, and identifying personalization opportunities with RightMessage (see below).
Here are thoughts from the Copyblogger Editorial team:
ConvertKit has been incredibly useful to me. I can use it to create complex automations and branching message sequences to deliver the exact right message to the right people. And I can do that without spending an entire weekend trying to figure out how it works. Trust me, if I can figure it out, literally anyone can. ConvertKit is a terrific tool, even if your list is still small. And it will grow as you do. — Sonia Simone, Chief Content Officer, Copyblogger
I don’t have a lot of patience for email marketing software in my role as Copyblogger’s Editor-in-Chief. I need a solution that is intuitive and allows me to focus on the creative message I want to communicate, rather than technical hurdles. I’m picky, and ConvertKit helps me achieve my goals without having to make any compromises in terms of functionality. — Stefanie Flaxman, Editor-in-Chief, Copyblogger
Find out more about ConvertKit here.
Also Recommended:
Another great option to consider is Drip. It’s more powerful than ConvertKit in ways that may be unnecessary for many users, and it’s a tad more expensive. If you truly appreciate the growth that email marketing can bring to your business, however, you may want to consider going with Drip.
Here are some thoughts to consider:
My sites Unemployable and Further rely on Drip for email marketing, because the software has some really powerful advanced features that I plan to use in the future. Knowing that I can implement even more sophisticated tactics without switching email software is a big plus, plus I love the interface. — Brian Clark, Founder and CEO, Copyblogger
I use both Convertkit and Drip in my freelance work, and they both make it ridiculously easy to turn email marketing into a sellable skill. While they are similarly powerful and do an amazing job at making email automation a breeze, I prefer Drip’s user experience and interface. — Claire Emerson, Operations Advisor for Copyblogger and Unemployable
Why Web Personalization Enhances Email Marketing
Website personalization means creating customized experiences for visitors to your website. Rather than providing a single, broad set of static content and site structure, personalization allows you to present visitors with content and page elements that are tailored to their needs and desires.
Once you start segmenting your email subscribers into various groups using tags, you begin creating unique experiences for them based on who they are, what they’re interested in, and what they actually do.
Web personalization software allows you to take that idea further, and it’s the peanut butter to the chocolate provided by your email marketing software. Seamless personalization has become expected by your prospects thanks to the experience created by companies like Netflix and Amazon.
Now, even solos and small businesses can get personal. You can easily create different messages, landing pages, content, and even completely different website experiences — just by making small tweaks to one set of content that is then dynamically served based on the visitor.
Our Recommendation for Web Personalization Software:
Web personalization software has been around for several years, but the price tag has been out of reach for solos and most small businesses. That changed with the introduction of RightMessage, which we’re in the process of implementing here at Copyblogger.
RightMessage has all the personalization power of expensive enterprise solutions, without the hefty price tag. Personalization has been proven to deliver dramatic boosts in just about every conversion metric — most notably email opt-ins, revenue, and profit.
What makes email content work?
All of us are far too familiar with email newsletters that waste our time, email pitches that annoy us, and downright spam. Those don’t work.
Get smarter about email marketing with these articles:
- Weak Email Marketing and Nickelback Have Less in Common than You Might Think
- A Quick Copywriting Lesson Taken Directly from an Email Marketing Fail
- How Strategic Content Converts to Email Subscriptions and Sales
- Which Email Marketing Strategy Should You Choose: Full Meal or Just the Aroma?
- 8 Smart Ways to Combine Blogging with Email Marketing for Best-Selling Results
- The Betty Crocker Secret to Email Marketing that People Want
- 37 Tips for Writing Emails that Get Opened, Read, and Clicked