Email marketing, or eblasts, have been around for quite a while. Many companies are questioning whether it is still an effective tool to help achieve their marketing goals. So, is email marketing dead? Absolutely not! When done correctly, it has an ROI of 38-1 and is almost 40x better at acquiring new customers than Facebook and Twitter.

There are two good reasons, however, that some companies believe email marketing is not effective. Best practices for this marketing method have evolved since its inception and, unfortunately, most senders have not. In fact, of the companies that participated in a survey conducted by Hubspot, only 4% rated the performance of their email campaigns as excellent. 

Initially, eblasts were one size fits all. They were not personalized, meaning the content may or may not have been relevant to the recipient. Today's recipients expect eblasts to be personalized and contain content that is relevant to their needs or interests. In the same Hubspot survey, 62% of respondents said that the marketing emails they received were of no interest to them.

Your recipients signed up for your emails because at the time something on your site was relevant to their interests. Why not capitalize on that? This can be accomplished by segmenting your email list based on interest, industry, etc. and by using a platform that allows personalization by name or otherwise. We recommend using HubSpot. 

Failing to optimize email for multiple devices is another reason many marketers fall short. Assuming that all subscribers check their email on a desktop fails to reach your recipients who prefer a different device. People use a variety of devices other than a desktop to keep up with their email, with smart phones being the most common. In fact, 81% of smart phone users say that email is the most important thing they do on their phone. Ignoring mobile devices is something marketers can no longer afford to do. Emails must be mobile-optimized in order to be effective. 

Email marketing has significant ROI when done correctly. The average person checks their email 76 times each day. This creates a great opportunity for marketers to keep their subscribers engaged. Be sure to take advantage of the benefits of segmentation. Personalized emails are the key to keeping eblast recipients engaged in email marketing and returning to your website. Also, remember to optimize your emails to be read across multiple devices, particularly smart phones. Keep these tips in mind when crafting your next email campaign and watch the ROI soar.