Why Email Still Matters

elqua WHY EMAIL STILL MATTERS The death of email has been grossly exaggerated! Despite some commentators claiming social media has made email obsolete, it's still a valuable tool for marketers. According to Forrester Research, 89% of marketers said email was their primary channel for lead generation. 89% Despite smart spam filters, crammed inboxes and time-poor prospects, statistiçs from B2B Marketing's Email Marketing Benchmårking Report which surveyed 250 client-side marketers in February 2012 in association with Circle research - prove that email is still a populár marketing tool. EMAIL AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 78% 68% 59% 52% LEAD GENERATION/ ENHANCING/ BUILDING BRAND DRIVING : SALES.• STRENGTHENING THOUGHT LEADERSHIP NURTURING 70% OF B2B MARKETERS STILL SEE EMAIL AS EI THER 'CRITICAL OR 'VERY IMPORTANT'. ONLY 4% SEE IT AS 'NOT VERY IMPORTANT'. 84% -24% 24% 13%5 AVERAGE DELIVERABILITY RATE: AVERAGE OPEN RATE AVERAGE AMOUNT OF THROUGH RATE TIME TYPICAL MARKETING DEPARTMENTS SPEND ON EMAIL MARKE TING AVERAGE CLICK 78% REFRESH THEIR DATABASE AT LEAST TWO OR THREE TIMES A YEAR 78% GET RESULTS WITH MARKETING AUTOMATION You may feel your heaving inbox is proof that email is far from dead: but did you know just how many marketers are using marketing automation systems for email lead nurturing campaigns? More and more professionals are going beyond simple email marketing systems and choosing marketing automation systems that have these added benefits: You can track be tter analytics, not just email campaign analytics, giving you a more holistic view of your customer experience. Email marketing systems lose track of the customer after they've clicked through; marketing automation systems can tell you how many readers have filled in the form on your landing page after being led there by an email. FT You can per form more sophisticated customer targeting, like presenting custom webpages to certain website visitors. You can set up emails in a way that allows you to reuse a lot of your work so you don't have to do the same tasks every time. As they say, 'Automate, don't duplicate': if every time you host an event you send a 'thank you for coming' email, get the software to do the hard work and send it for you. You can integrate it into your CRM system. This allows you to track each prospect's engagement; not just with email, but with your website and social media profiles. You can give your sales people intelligence on which prospects are opening emails and visiting your website - meaning they know when they pick up the phone that they're calling someone who is interested in your brand. Marketing automation systems don't just track, they act - you can set automatically triggered emails if a prospect clicks on a certain webpage, for example. 22% CUSTOMERS NOW HAVE MORE POWER, THANKS TO THE VAST AMOUNT OF INFORMATION AT THEIR FINGERTIPS ON THE INTERNET. ACCORDING TO SIRIUSDECISIONS, THE AVERAGE SALES CYCLE HAS INCREASED BY 22% OVER THE PAST FIVE YEARS BECAUSE DECISION MAKERS ARE NOW MORE INVOLVED IN THE BUYING PROCESS. Sophisticated lead nurturing approaches seem to be the only answer. The statistics are incredible - nothing short of a marketing revolution is going on, BUSINESSES THAT USE MARKETING AUTOMATION TO NURTURE PROSPECTS EXPERIENCE A 451% INCREASE IN QUALIFIED LEADS, ACCORDING TO THE ANNUITAS GROUP. ACCORDING TO GARTNER, MARKETING DEPARTMENTS.CAN, ON AVERAGE: 15% 80% . MAKE A 16% SAVING ON CREATIVE PRODUCTION WITH MARKE TING AUTOMATION MAKE A 6% REDUCTION IN MARKETING WAS TE THROUGH AU TOMATING FULFILMENT SAVE 80% OF THEIR DIRECT MAIL BUDGET USING EVENT-. TRIGGERED MARKETING. THE ADOPTION OF MARKETING AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGY IS EXPECTED TO INCREASE BY 50% BY 2015, ACCORDING TO SIRIUSDECISIONS. ACCORDING TO IFBYPHONE, AMONG MARKETING AUTOMATION USERS: 95%- 63% 95% NOTICED AN INCREASED 63% NOTICED AN INCREASED 42% IMPROVED THEIR PROCESS ABILITY TO MEASURE EFFECTIVENESS AND ROI ABILITY TO MEASURE SALES LEAD QUALITY . FOR HANDING LEADS OFF TO SALES PERSONNEL. ACCORDING TO FORRESTER RESEAR CH, 25% OF MARKETERS WHO ADOPT LEAD MANAGEMENT PROCESSES REPORT THAT SALES TEAMS CON TACT PROSPECTS WITHIN ONE DAY. ONLY 10% OF MARKETERS REPORT THE SAME FOLLOW-UP TIME WITHOUT LEAD MANAGEMENT PROCESSES. 81% OF BEST-IN-CLASS COMPANIES SAY THEIR NUMBER ONE REASON FOR WAN TING AU TOMATED SALES PLATFORMŞ IS TO CLOSE SALES FASTER. 81% COMPANIES WITH LEAD GENERATION AND MANAGEMEN T PRACTICES HAVE A 9.3% HIGHER SALES QUOTE ACHIEVEMENT RATE, ACCORDING TO CSO INSIGHTS. 9.3% HIGHER ACCORDING TO FOCUS RESEAR CH, MARKETING AUTOMATION HAS SEEN THE FASTEST GROWTH OF ANY CRM-RELATED SEGMENT IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS BY 2020, CUSTOMERS WILL MANAGE 85% OF THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH AN ENTERPRISE WITHOUT TALKING TO A HUMAN, ACCORDING TO GARTNER RESEARCH. THANK YOU FOR READING! RETURN TO THE MAP to continue exploring this world or tweet your opinions at #modernmarketer.