Summary: Why do you need Email marketing when you have Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat? Everybody seems to be hooked to social media and nobody is reading fancy emails.<br> Is that really so?<br> Then why is it that people are twice as likely to sign up for your email list as they are to interact with you on Facebook? [Source: <a style="color: #3366ff;" href="https://www.forrester.com/report/Social+Relationship+Strategies+That+Work/-/E-RES113002" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Forrester</a>]<br> This is the fifth part of the Small Business Owners series I started recently.<br> In the previous months, I covered the topics of <a style="color: #3366ff;" href="http://www.strengthinbusiness.com/small-business-owners-social-media/">Social Media</a>, <a style="color: #3366ff;" href="http://www.strengthinbusiness.com/small-business-owners-facebook-advertising/">Facebook Advertising</a>, <a style="color: #3366ff;" href="http://www.strengthinbusiness.com/small-business-owners-amazon-kindle/">Amazon Kindle </a>and <a style="color: #3366ff;" href="http://www.strengthinbusiness.com/small-business-owners-live-events/">Live Events</a>. Today, I’d like to talk to you about the importance of your ideal prospect and customer’s inbox. Let’s have a closer look at the impact of your email marketing.<br> Grab (And Keep) Your Audience’s Attention <br> Can you imagine a world without annoying notifications? A world where you can actually focus your attention on one particular task and message?<br> That environment is your inbox.<br> And if you deactivated all the sponsored ads that appear at the top of your main email overview or at the right hand side, then you’re “safe”. You have no more excuses to not being effective and productive. What a revolutionary concept in today’s day and age.<br> How do you grab your audience’s attention?<br> With a relevant headline that’s click-worthy or newsworthy.<br> And how do you keep their attention once you got it?<br> By providing something of value.<br> This can be in the form of helpful how-to information, a checklist with guidelines, a story that strongly resonates with your audience and provides interesting new insights and perspectives, or an irresistible offer.<br> You know your target audience best. Create an autoresponder series (a set of email follow-ups) that goes out every time somebody joins your email list.<br> 5 Eye-Opening Email Marketing Stats<br> The following stats will underpin the importance of email marketing as a valuable tool for small business owners.<br> <br> * For every $1 invested in email marketing, the average return is $38. [Source: <a style="color: #3366ff;" href="http://thedma.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Direct Marketing Association</a>]<br> * According to 80% of small- and medium-sized retail professionals in the US, email marketing drives customer acquisition and retention. In contrast, organic search (62% for acquisition, 36% for retention) or social media (51% for acquisition, 44% for retention) are rated effective by far fewer respondents. [Source: <a style="color: #3366ff;" href="https://www.emarketer.com/Article/Email-Marketing-Double-Win-Customer-Acquisition-Retention/1014239" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">eMarketer</a>]<br> * 72% of consumers prefer communication with companies to happen through email. For example, 48% of people preferred postal mail, 34% preferred television ads and less than 20% preferred social media, mobile apps or text messages. [Source: <a style="color: #3366ff;" href="http://marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/customer-communication-by-channel" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">MarketingSherpa</a>]<br> * 86% of consumers would like to receive promotional emails from companies they do business with at least monthly. 61% of consumers enjoy receiving promotional emails weekly. 15% would like to get them daily. [Sources: <a style="color: #3366ff;" href="http://mar..."></a>
