Resources Hub » Knowledge base » Why is it Important to Choose Email Marketing Instead of Direct Mail?

Email marketing makes it easy for you to reach the right people at the perfect moment.

Read on to understand why it’s essential to focus your effort on email marketing instead of direct mail.

The benefits of choosing email marketing over direct mail

Advancing technology and consumer trends have made email marketing the preferred choice among both customers and marketers. Here’s why.

Email marketing has a 5x higher ROI versus direct mail.

Email marketing produces $38 for every dollar spent, while direct mail delivers just $7 for every dollar.

It’s easier to build a large audience with email.

It’s much easier to collect email addresses from prospects and customers compared to physical mailing addresses. Plus, you can build a subscriber list on an international level.

You can provide your leads and customers with personalized content through email.

Direct mail is pretty generic, and that’s not what customers want these days. Sixty-seven percent of people expect brands to provide personalized content and email can deliver on this expectation.

With email, you can create campaigns based on triggered events like birthdays or browsing history. You can also segment your list based on different demographics, like gender, location, and age.

You can take advantage of automation and other technology.

Automation and triggered journeys make it easy to capitalize on email marketing with minimal resources. Personalized customer journeys rely on automation to gently guide your subscribers through the sales funnel. Direct mail simply can’t compete.

Email makes it easier to track results and conversions.

With email, you can log into your dashboard and quickly check your metrics. You can physically see exactly who is opening your emails and clicking links. You can also see which subscribers aren’t engaging with your content.

With direct mail, you have no idea how it performs unless your customers inform you.

Customers prefer brands to contact them through email over direct mail.

Sixty-one percent of customers prefer to hear from brands through email. Meanwhile, when given a choice, only 18% of customers choose direct mail.

Unlike direct mail, email puts your customers in control. If they decide they don’t want to hear from you anymore, they can simply unsubscribe or adjust their email preferences to receive less content. With direct mail, it’s nearly impossible to stop the advertisements.

Image of Adobe email survey results - Why is it important to use email marketing instead of direct mail?

Source: Small Business Trends

How to measure the results of your email marketing campaigns

Unlike direct mail, you can easily monitor the results of your email marketing campaigns.

Just log into your email service provider platform. From there, you’ll be able to immediately see which subscribers are engaging with your email marketing campaigns.

You can also click on different campaigns to see how they performed in terms of opens, clicks, and conversions.

Furthermore, email marketing gives you the ability to gauge your most promising leads by monitoring campaign engagement.

Does it really matter?

Yes, email is essential for marketers—especially marketers working for small businesses and startups—to know the benefits of choosing email marketing over direct mail.

Businesses want to make sure they use their marketing budget as efficiently as possible. Email provides an excellent opportunity to stretch your funds while reaching the most massive audience possible.

What now?

Now that you understand the importance of choosing email marketing in today’s landscape, you can start creating an email list and designing unique campaigns.

People prefer for brands to contact them through email over direct mail, so make sure to take this relationship seriously. Build a healthy subscriber list with contacts that have given you explicit permission to contact them. Never purchase email lists.

Start constructing a strong email foundation with the help of this two week email course for small and growing businesses.

This blog provides general information and discussion about email marketing and related subjects. The content provided in this blog ("Content”), should not be construed as and is not intended to constitute financial, legal or tax advice. You should seek the advice of professionals prior to acting upon any information contained in the Content. All Content is provided strictly “as is” and we make no warranty or representation of any kind regarding the Content.

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