Each week, we take a look back at the content that our followers engaged with the most during the previous week.
This week is all about email marketing. First, a new study from MarketingCharts shows why senior marketing professionals should start placing more focus on their email marketing programs.
Then, a study conducted by Mailjet gives marketing professionals insight into how they can increase click rates within their target demographics, especially email among recipients ages 45 and above.
MOST CLICKED: Email and Content Marketing Perceived to be Top Lead Gen Tactics
A new study from MarketingCharts shows that marketing influencers believe that email and content marketing are the most effective tactics for online lead generation.
Though 45% of the 244 marketing influencers who participated in the survey stated that both email marketing and content marketing were the most effective tactics, email marketing edges out content marketing for first place. This is because it is not judged to be as difficult to implement as opposed to content marketing, as shown in the chart below.
Creating Results’ Social, Silver Surfers studies also have pointed to the importance of email to older adults. For professionals in the senior products/services marketing industry, this is most definitely an indication that added focus should be placed on your email marketing program. Or that you need to implement such a program if your clients, or your own company, haven’t done so already.
Lead generation is one of the most difficult aspects of senior marketing; why not focus your time and resources on the channels that are most likely to help you acquire the leads you need?
Take advantage of the different email marketing channels, such as purchased targeted email and email marketing software in order to reach a mass audience, and hopefully convert a number of them into leads. Both tactics have their pros and cons.
Purchased targeted email allows you to work with a vendor in order to create and send emails to hundreds or thousands of recipients based on demographic (and psychographic) segmentation information. In this way you can target the recipients your company feels are ideal leads for its product or service.
The downside to purchased targeted email is that, given how many people these emails are generally targeted to, the recipients often have never heard of your company. They may neglect to open your email at all, especially if they determine that they have no use for your product/service just by reading the subject line.
On the other hand, an email marketing software such as MailChimp allows you to build a mailing list, and then, on your own, create and send emails to recipients on this list.
The key advantage here is that the people on your “homegrown” mailing list have to opt into the list, indicating that they are familiar with your company on some level and that they have an interest in receiving further messages about your products and services.
One of the cons here is that building an adequate mailing list that will deliver results takes a lot of time, especially in comparison to sending out a purchased email to 25,000 people.
Despite the advantages of email marketing as a way of generating new leads, it is not a magical overnight solution. You have to be strategic in purchasing or growing your lists, and have strong subject lines that will engage recipients.
For more information on this study, click here.
MOST SHARED: UK Internet Users Click on Personalized Emails
Sticking with the topic of email, results from a July 2016 Survey conducted by email service provider Mailjet show that email personalization is the most effective way of ensuring that older demographic groups click on your email.
As evidenced by the chart provided below, internet users aged 45 and above said they are more enticed by personalization. Recipients in the 16-29 demographic stated that design is what draws their attention.
Although it is important to note that this survey only takes into account internet users from the United Kingdom, it’s likely that the results would be similar had internet users from the United States been asked to complete the survey.
For marketing professionals in the senior product/services industry, the survey results offer key insights into how you should be approaching your email messaging.
With this demographic, simplicity is key in regards to design. Email designs that are animated or interactive are a nice touch, but the survey shows that simple header image and copy that is relevant to the recipient will do just fine for the 45+ demographic.
Older generations want to be able to find the information that they are looking for, and they want to be able to find it quickly. They also want to feel as if the email was sent to them with their needs in mind. They don’t want to be one of thousands of people to receive the same email.
If your email vendor or email marketing software provides the option of personalizing your messages, this is a key feature for you to take advantage of. It’s a small touch, but it gives the impression that you were considering them personally when writing the email, which, as the Mailjet survey results indicate, is key to getting them to click through and actually read your email.
Click here for additional details about the survey.
RELATED: From the Creating Results’ vaults, our Spring 2010 (!) newsletter looked at the power of email with older adults and defined four ways to get more out of your email marketing. Click here to read “Email Marketing: Where it’s @.“