The Holy Grail of Businesses: Why Email Marketing is Alive and Well

Email marketing, dead or alive?

I’d personally declare that not only is it alive, it’s thriving. Let me explain.

Understandably, many businesses worry that frequent email sending may trigger negative responses from potential consumers. However, when done right, email marketing can be invaluable in building consumer loyalty. Here are some benefits of a strong email marketing strategy.

The Benefits of Email Marketing…

First, it’s a form of owned media. With social media, for example, firms don’t own their contact lists. It is instead owned by the platform they are renting space from. Email marketing is the opposite. By allowing firms to build a list of consumers that they can interact with regardless of the email provider, email marketing offers a database that firms can turn to for potential future analyses.

Next, it’s relatively inexpensive, allowing for higher returns on investment (ROI). By generating $36 per dollar spent (3600% ROI), email marketing runs circles around social media marketing, which only generates an estimated $2.80 return for every dollar spent (280% ROI). As such, especially for tight-budgeted firms, it represents an effective yet feasible option to effectively reach its consumers.

Moreover, it allows for the creation of personalized messages. With email marketing, firms are able to customize campaigns and create targeted content, sending the right message to the right people at the right time. In today’s tech-savvy world, such personalization is precisely what consumers want and need.

Last, it is a form of permission-based marketing, whereby the intended audience is given the choice of opting in to receive promotional messages. With email marketing, consumers have given firms consent to send them their content. As such, businesses can affirm that their intended audience is already interested in their offerings (i.e., that they are further down the marketing funnel), allowing for better-targeted messages.

To see these benefits in action, let’s use Hippeas as an example.

Hippeas — Organic Chickpea Snacks (Source: Women’s Health Magazine)

The Positives of Hippeas’ Email Content…

Hippeas Website Email List Sign-Up Section (Source: Hippeas Website)

1. Easy Sign-Up
   Before all else, the strength of Hippeas’ email marketing strategy stood in the ease of its sign-up process. All I had to do was go to their website, scroll to the bottom, and input my email address. Having experienced similar processes that required much more tedious information fill-outs, this quick and simple action was a breath of fresh air.
2. Behavior-Triggered Messaging
   Behavior-triggered email marketing refers to emails that are automatically sent to each consumer based on his/ her behavior (or lack thereof). These are important as they positively influence consumer retention via consistently providing nurturing messages. When signing up for an email list, for example, 74% of consumers expect to receive a welcome email. Hippeas did exactly that the moment I clicked on “send.” Following it, seeing that I had yet to take action, Hippeas sent a follow-up message three days later that showcased fan ratings of their products, encouraging me to purchase.
3. Quality Content
   Using “Welcome to the V.I.Pea List” and “Power to the Peaple” as subject lines, Hippeas used fun plays on words to evoke positive emotions and a sense of belonging straight from the get-go. Once opened, the emails then greeted viewers with colorful, energetic, and vibrant content aligned with their fun, carefree, hippy-like brand personality. Unlike similar emails from other salty snack brands, Hippeas not only showcased product images, it also included images of people enjoying their snacks and dynamic animations, simple yet effective additions that made their content stand out.
4. Clear, Prominent Call-to-Action (CTA)
   By focusing on a single CTA throughout the two emails (“Shop Now”), Hippeas managed to draw viewer attention, pique their interest, and guide them down the marketing funnel. Should consumers then be inclined to share their experiences, there is also a clear, less prominent, “Give Us a Shout” CTA that audiences could click on to easily do that.
5. Responsive Design
   As mobile continues to grow, it’s crucial that emails be optimized for various devices. The overall look and feel of Hippeas’ emails carried over seamlessly from desktop to mobile, allowing for a readable and enjoyable experience.
6. Appropriate Email Frequency
   To better engage with consumers in today’s noisy environment, it is recommended that firms send just two to three emails to their contact list per week. Upon receiving two emails this week, I can attest that Hippeas chose an appropriate emailing cadence.

Hippeas Welcome Email — “Welcome to the V.I.Pea List” (Source: My Email Inbox)

Hippeas Follow-Up Email — “Power to the Peaple” (Source: My Email Inbox)

The Room for Improvement…

One of the benefits of email is its potential for personalization. While the welcome and follow-up emails succeeded in evoking positive reactions, reinforced personalization, such as including consumers' names within each message, would further improve Hippeas’ email marketing strategy.

The Conclusion…

Overall, by keeping to the fun theme that the brand represents and utilizing various email marketing best practices, Hippeas is effectively pursuing its email marketing strategy. Should they be able to further enhance its personalization aspect in the future, it could truly be the holy grail of their business.

Do you agree? Let me know what you think about their email strategy.