Don’t Let These 5 Email Marketing Myths Hold You Back

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As a marketer, you’ve really got 3 jobs: know your customer, understand the most impactful ways to reach them, and trigger action that creates a desired outcome. In this exercise of trial and discovery, one of the tools that has stood the test of time is email marketing. That said, email marketing has gotten a bit of a bad rap over time. Here we dispel 5 common myths of email marketing that may be holding you back from creating a content marketing campaign that resonates with your audience and creates powerful results.

Myth #1: The bigger your list, the better

In creating sound email strategies, a bigger list is not always better. You might think, the more people that hear my story, the better-right? Makes sense, but dropped into the world of “block-sender, report-as-spam, deletes, disregards and unsubscribes,” a larger list is a number that doesn’t always drive business goals. And depending on your mail service, you may be paying more to send emails to a larger list. 

Instead, focus on engaging your audience with content that matters to them. Sharing information that’s helpful and provides value is the best way to affect open rates, increase engagement, and create conversions (registering for your webinar, for example.)

We don’t recommend purchasing a list of contacts to feed your email stream. For the best ROI, use that spend to invest in some nice photography to include in your communication, or a professional writer to craft your messaging.

Myth #2: Emails should be short and sweet

We all know that time seems to be the thing most people feel they lack. So marketers have fallen for the myth that your email communication needs to be quick and to the point. We feel that’s only partially true, and it depends on what you’re trying to say. Hubspot encourages marketers to experiment with the length of your emails. Customers will take time with your content if it serves them. It’s not about the quantity of your words, but the quality of your delivery. This is precisely the reason (bonus myth buster) that you should downplay “open rate” as a key metric in gauging the success of your email marketing campaign. 

Instead, look again at engagement. Do they sign up for your class or free report? Do they begin following you on social media? Do they hop over to your website and spend time getting to know your product/service/team? That’s where the magic lives.

Myth #3: “Unsubscribes” are the kiss of death for an email marketer

Quite the contrary, an Unsubscribe is an opportunity to cleanse your list. You want to be talking to the people who are listening and interested in your message. Imagine you’re hosting a seminar on emerging industry trends for a group of potential customers. Your first session includes 25 dialed-in, attentive individuals who are taking notes and thinking of next steps. The next group is 100 people who take turns pacing the back of the room on their phones, stepping out for coffee or a restroom break or locked in a trance.

How (and with whom) would you rather spend your time? Having a rock-solid list of customers that want to hear from you will allow your metrics of engagement (the most important litmus test for success) to rise to the top and help you better understand them and what they want from your brand.

Myth #4: There’s a universal best day to send an email

Some marketing rhetoric will tell you that Tuesday is the best day to send your emails.  SuperOffice cites that this “best day” statistic is coming from an average of millions of emails sent across industries, and averages are misleading. The truth is there’s no universally best day—it depends on your industry and audience. Conducting a thorough target audience profile, including content consumption habits could be a helpful exercise. When is my customer most likely to buy/consume/engage with my product? What are their [general] lifestyle patterns? If your audience is potential homebuyers, position your Weekend Open House communication to land squarely in their Inbox Friday afternoon. 

If you run a Farmers Market, send your “It’s a Beautiful Saturday and the Peaches are Ripe” message first thing on a weekend morning.  Think of how your audience uses their time. If you’re a travel agency sharing helpful hints for planning your next vacation, sending an email early on Monday morning may get lost in their rising Inbox of work obligations. (Send this on Thursday afternoon when their brain needs a break and they’re dreaming of beach blankets and umbrella drinks.) Understanding how your audience consumes your message will be your ultimate best guide for when to hit SEND.

Myth #5: Email Marketing is dead

Reaching your audience through email certainly isn’t dead, but it’s evolving. If curated with original content that provides value, email marketing is one of the most engaging ways to reach your audience. Hubspot reports that 78% of marketers saw an increase in email engagement in 2019, and the vast majority of consumers prefer email marketing to learn about brands and products over Direct Mail, Text, and even Social Media. They go on to say that email generates $38 for every $1 spent, which is an astounding 3,800% ROI. And Campaign Monitor says that email is still the best way to drive traffic to your website. But the myth that email marketing is a vehicle on its last leg really comes from the formula-driven templates that are sent twice a day screaming “buy this, buy that, buy it now.” If you haven’t seen the pattern through all these myths yet, it’s about engagement. Share with them. Give of yourself, and you shall receive.

A successful email strategy can create a steady stream of inbound marketing growth for your business. Make the commitment to curate authentic, consistent, value-driven content that creates a connection with your customer.

For the digital marketing experts at KMG, the right message is the heartbeat of our client work. And we’re here for you, too!

Connect with us if you want to talk about your email marketing strategy and how to take your content to the next level. Yes, effective marketing may feel like a triathlon sometimes. But we’re all in this race together.

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