November 22, 2022
Email Marketing Myths Busted

Many people, when they think about Email Marketing, probably envisage something like the Turtle Master guy from Kung-Fu Panda. But in reality, whilst it has been around for a long time, the shape it takes in 2022 is modern, data-driven and incredibly smart.

Over time, marketers have made their own myths and misconceptions about email marketing to fuel whatever agenda they have (probably one that encourages you to spend lots of money on paid ads ONLY).

Well, like a marketer with a sparkly cape, we’re here to help debunk those myths and set you on a track to success for your email marketing campaigns.

People don’t read or engage with emails from businesses

Gosh, where do we start with this one? 

First and foremost, as Dr Perry Cox eloquently points out above, this statement is definitely wrong. 

There are more than 306 billion emails exchanged every single day across the world. If we said it was 306 billion TikToks, would you still believe it wasn’t worth it? 

Sure, not every single one of these emails is from a brand to a lead or a customer but in general smartphone users prefer branded communication through email and so we must listen to them!

Any pitch is always a lot easier and smoother when you communicate with a prospect in an arena they want to let you in. If that is to be their inbox, then their inbox it shall be.

This isn’t just for one specific area either, 74% of Boomers think email is the most personal channel whilst that number is 72% for Gen X, 64% for Millennials and 60% for Gen Z! Take that TikTok 😉

People actually LOVE emails and you would be missing a trick if you didn’t factor that into your marketing strategy.

There is a universally accepted ‘good’ time to send your emails

If only! 

In reality, it all comes down to who you’re speaking to and why you’re speaking to them. Several marketers over time have tried to find the one ‘true’ answer to this but there is so much conflicting data and research out there, it’s better if you take the testing into your own hands. 

A/B testing is your best friend and thankfully, every single ESP (Email service provider) has the functionality to test send times so you can find your own idea of the ‘perfect’ time. 

This could even come down to the type of email that you want to send. A Basket Abandon reminder might work great for late evening, whereas a welcome email might be best served as early in the day as possible. 

Try it out for yourself, your customers always know best.

Everyone adds emails to spam

No bueno amigo, whilst spam can be a scary place for your emails to end up, the chances are relatively low. Low enough to give you enough flexibility when starting out.

In total, around 15.8% of all emails go missing or have been caught by popular spam filters. 

A relatively small percentage of the 306 billion emails that are sent every day, right?

Further research has shown that less than 0.05% of people will hit the spam button! That’s less than 1 person per 2,000 emails!

As long as you play by the rules (and not abuse the power email marketing gives), you’re unlikely to be harmed by the dreaded spam folder.

Automation is complicated

Setting up email automations is here to make our lives easier, not harder. We promise!

In fact, 87% of B2C marketers leverage automation as part of their email marketing strategy. That’s basically everyone!

The reason automation is so popular is that it takes a lot of the day-to-day strain away from marketers - giving us more time to unleash the creativity these emails really need.

Besides the efficiency benefits, automated emails also perform pretty well. According to Epsilon, automated emails have a 70.5% higher open rate and 152% higher click-through rate than generic email blasts.

Unsubscribes mean your emails don’t work

You have to consider the unsubscribe button as a sieve through which your email lists pass after each and every communication. Those who unsubscribe and get filtered out do so because they aren’t your target audience. 

It is possible for anybody to sign up to your email list for a weak reason such as entry into a competition or for a specific crazy discount. There is no way of truly knowing if the people who signed up for these reasons truly care about the brand or your product. 

However, whilst the unsubscribe button is a legal requirement, it does act as a filter so you can make sure the time and effort that goes into building email campaigns are actually worth it. 

In recent years, HubSpot manually unsubscribed 250,000 people from their marketing blog and started sending fewer emails. They understood that it is better to be in communication with 500 hyper-engaged prospects than with 250,000 people, of which a teenie tiny proportion care about their product. 

Don’t be afraid of it, plan for unsubscribes and use it to help improve your email marketing campaigns. 

So there you go, we’ve been on a debunking adventure

It is clear to see that once we start to debunk these myths and truly understand the power and benefits of email marketing, we can visualise the impact it can have on your business. 

When done right, email marketing should be a core part of your marketing mix n matter if you’re selling software, t-shirts or the best pizza in town. 

Automations can help to really unlock better performance and coupled with strong data points around your customer’s interests and engagement can impact your bottom line pretty quickly. 

We can be confident in saying that email marketing is probably still the best way to nurture 1-2-1 relationships with your communities. Whilst social media has a role to play, nothing beats the direct-to-inbox communication email marketing provides. 

If you’d like more information about getting started with email marketing or would like a FREE audit of you existing campaigns, get in touch with our specialists today!

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