Is email marketing still relevant in 2022?

Every day we hear about new tools and technologies or trends that bring followers. It is good to analyze them and try them, sometimes at the expense of the old ones. But few methods of promotion have maintained and even increased efficiency over time as email marketing solutions do.

It is not only the opinion of those who build a database of subscribers and communicate with them constantly, but it is the opinion of the figures of several international research in the field. The global email marketing market was valued at $7.5 billion in 2020, which is expected to reach $17.9 billion by 2027 (Statista, 2021). The same source shows that few other communication channels can compete with the effectiveness of email marketing when it comes to return on investment (ROI). In recent years, companies in the United States and the UK have reported on average $40 in revenue for every dollar spent in email marketing.

If we look at these figures, we can answer the famous quote attributed to American magnate John Wanamaker, “half of the money you spend on advertising is wasted; the problem is that I don’t know which half”, by “certainly not the money you spend on email marketing.” Why is email marketing still relevant in 2022 and how can you enjoy the benefits of this promotion strategy? A few answers, below

Rising audience for email marketing

Email marketing is considered one of the most valuable communication channels not only because it addresses a very large and growing audience, but especially because this audience uses email frequently, as an integral part of everyday life.

Although email has been around for decades, the global number of users is growing – from 4 billion in 2020 to an estimated 4.6 billion in 2025. The number of emails sent and received is also on the rise, from 306 billion/day in 2020 to a projected 376 billion in 2025.

Perhaps more important than these figures are people’s habits. According to Forbes, 78% of users check email frequently throughout the day, and 66% say that reading email is among the first activities of the morning. We expect employees to check email during work hours, but 43% of US respondents say they check email every few hours and after hours, 13% say they check it several times an hour, and 10% say they are constantly logged in to email (Statista, 2022).

If we look at their own habits and those of colleagues or friends, it is easy to see how important email is in day-to-day communication for both work and personal purposes. But how relevant is email for brand communication in 2022?

Relevance of email marketing in promotion

Most brands understand the importance of using email marketing services to create lasting connections with their customers. 64% of small businesses will use email marketing in 2021 to communicate with customers, and 4 out of 5 marketers said they would rather give up social media than send newsletters, according to statistics compiled by Hubspot.  

Why are marketers so attached to newsletter communication? The reason is simple: email helps solve a problem that all businesses have, which is converting leads into customers. A 2020 CMI study shows that sending newsletters is the most effective way to get leads to buy. The same study shows that in B2B, newsletters are in the top three content types created by marketers, and email marketing is in the top three communication channels.

The CMI also concluded that the engagement rate with emails is considered by marketers to be the most important parameter to measure the performance of the content created, above other parameters such as website traffic, website interaction, social media data, search engine rankings, etc.

All this data shows that email marketing continues to be relevant in 2022 for any business that wants to have an effective promotion strategy. Ignoring the newsletter in the content mix can mean losing a tool that pays off, over and over, for brands around the world. 

Ingredients for successful email marketing campaigns

Email marketing has been used by brands for many years and results have not stopped coming. But this area, like all others, is evolving. In order to have successful email marketing campaigns in 2022, you need to keep in mind certain user behaviors and trends in this industry. 

Optimizing your newsletter for mobile

More than 60% of email marketing campaigns are viewed on mobile and are 6 times more likely to drive subscribers to the website than when viewed on desktop, according to several studies centralized by Truelist. 

In 2019, in Romania, 46% of online purchases were made from mobile phone (retail FMCG Media, 2018), a figure that has definitely increased in recent years, following the global trend. In 2021, 72.9% of online purchases were made from mobile, a figure that is constantly growing year-on-year, as seen in the chart below. 

In these circumstances, optimizing your email marketing campaign for your mobile phone is a mandatory step in 2022. Here are some things you need to keep in mind: 

• write a short and convincing email subject
• do not upload the newsletter with pictures and text because it will be difficult to read. Remove any information that is not necessary
• choose a single-column design for an optimal reading experience
• optimize your email for Dark Mode, a theme preferred by more and more users
• uses large, easy-to-read fonts
• make sure buttons are large, visible and easy to click; if you have a longer newsletter, place intermediate buttons in the content, in case the subscriber doesn’t reach the end
• send a test email and check how it displays on multiple email services – mandatory on Gmail and the iOS emailing app, the most popular globally in 2021 (Statista, 2021)

Newsletter automation

Today’s email marketing services offer specialists more and more features to help them work more efficiently and get more engagement, and automation is one of them.

Newsletter automation involves sending email campaigns automatically, based on subscriber behavior. Here are some examples:

• welcome emails series, sent after newsletter subscription, where you can offer more useful information, free resources, product samples or even discount codes to convince the user to buy
• browsing abandonment newsletter, automatically sent to those who have viewed a product but not bought it
• abandoned cart emails, sent to those who have added products to their cart but have not completed their order
• automatic product review email, asking customers for feedback at a certain time after purchase
• anniversary email, sent automatically on birthdays or other special occasions
• newsletter to renew a subscription, guarantee, insurance policy, etc., sent shortly before the expiry date

Subscriber segmentation and personalized newsletter sending

In 2022, not only do you have to send personalized emails, but your subscribers expect you to do so. 43% of respondents in one survey said personalization is most important when it comes to optimizing email marketing campaigns (Statista, 2019). And another study shows that 80% of consumers are more likely to buy when they receive personalized offers (Epsilon, 2018). 

The NewsMAN email marketing platform helps you do advanced segmentation and send personalized messages at the best time for each subscriber. 

Segment based on any field in your database and use the data to personalize your newsletter. You can use each subscriber’s first and last name, as well as gender, city, product preferences and more. You can also segment the list based on behaviors such as opening other emails, clicking on certain links, or, if you have your online shop integrated with your email marketing service, you can segment based on different actions on the website.  

Try NewsMAN for free to create relevant email marketing campaigns in 2022. NewsMAN regularly launches new features to help you keep up with email marketing developments and stay competitive.