Email Marketing Remains Strong in Self Storage (and Every Other Industry)
Have you heard the myths?
social media is replacing email,
people don’t want to share their data online,
millennials don’t use email,
other marketing methods are more successful than email marketing.
Don’t believe them.
Email has been around since the 1970’s. It formed the basis for internet marketing, and it remains strong and healthy in 2020.
Why Email Has Remained Strong
Email Has Staying Power as a Marketing Channel
In early 2019, 3.9 billion people were active email users, thus accounting for nearly half of the global population. This number, growing steadily year over year, is projected to be 4.5 billion by 2024. In addition to users, the volume of emails sent each day in 2019 was 246.5 billion. These statistics demonstrate that this trend is not going away anytime soon.
Email Adapts
The shift from desktop to mobile devices could have left email dragging behind; nevertheless, email simply adapted to the current trends. Mobile email opens have nearly doubled over the past five years and more than half of emails are now opened on mobile devices, according to a new research report from email solutions provider Return Path.
Mobile email will account for 26 to 78% of email opens, depending on your target audience, product and email type. eMailmonday– “the Ultimate mobile email stats” (2020)
Email Delivers
Email reaches a large audience, drives engagement and converts. But what about ROI? According to a report by Litmus, the average ROI of an email campaign is $38 for every $1 spent. When you compare that to pay per click (PPC), that yields $2 for every $1, it’s easy to see why email is a key strategy for digital marketers.
Moving Forward
Following are a few tips to build your email marketing campaign.
Build Your Email List
Get email addresses from your customers and prospects. Keep your list updated and cleanse it regularly.
Mobile Friendly Email is a Must
Your target audience will probably view your email campaigns on mobile devices, so use best practices when you build your email marketing strategy for small mobile touchscreens. Here are some quick tips:
- Short subject line
- Pre-Header text to entice the reader
- Concise copy
- Think about your images and how they will appear in the content
- Use an embedded call to action (CTA) button. Hint: most people read left to right, so place your CTA button to the right of content for clear visibility and more clicks.
- Leave “clicking” room (white space) around CTAs and links to make them readable and clickable
- Before you send your email, test it across multiple devices
Don’t Overuse
Don’t make the mistake of over-sending emails. Your audience may love your brand, but they don’t want to hear from you every hour of the day. Every audience is different, but mornings are typically best since most people are in the habit of checking emails as they start their day. The best approach is to test various timeframes to determine which is most active for your clients and prospects.
Create an Engaging Subject Line
To write an engaging subject line, put yourself in the shoes of your clients/subscribers. Which is going to capture your attention – Check out our monthly special, or Exclusive savings just for you: read this before you pay full price for storage anywhere else?
Design Creative Content
Social media gives people a platform to interact with creative content every day. Give people what they want, relevant information that is enjoyable and informative. For example, a visual that illustrates a self-storage size guide promotes engagement and will give readers a reason to stay with you email a little bit longer.
Encourage Readers to Share
Everyone loves to feel valued and have a voice. Your customers have opinions, so why not let them share by adding an interactive element with a survey, quiz, or virtual suggestion box. You’ll not only increase views but gain customer feedback to guide you in creating relevant content.
Keep it Concise
Your customers are busy people. They don’t have time to read a novel when they open an email. Get to the point. Ideally, emails should be 200 words at maximum. This doesn’t sound like much, but it’s just enough to keep your audience reading and not immediately deleting.
Long story short, the next time you read that email marketing is dying, don’t believe it. If you meet the challenge of creating timely, relevant, and engaging content, your audience will stop in their tracks to be delighted with your emails.
