The importance of email marketing has risen in recent years, and it’s only going to continue to grow in the future. As the influence of email marketing expands in the coming years, competition for subscribers will all increase.
This is why it’s crucial your school should make your best effort with email campaigns now so your school will stay ahead of the curve in 2022 and beyond.
Why Email Marketing Is Still Important to Schools Today
Although some marketers think email isn’t relevant today, those who use and understand email marketing know it’s just as effective as it has ever been. What’s more, 83 percent of consumers say they prefer email when receiving communications.
In terms of return on investment (ROI), email marketing is a champion. Personalized emails can yield a massive ROI, which means you’ll have more success than if you were to spend time and energy on other types of marketing campaigns. This is especially true if you leverage social media, lead magnets and chatbots.
Although the use of social media marketing is on the rise, this doesn’t mean email marketing has become obsolete. Social media and email marketing can work synergistically to create a holistic marketing campaign.
The Data Behind Email Marketing
More people are opening email accounts than ever. According to Statista, 4 billion people opened email accounts in 2020, and that number will increase to 4.6 billion by 2025.
The volume of emails exchanged is also on the rise. By 2025, an expected 376.4 billion emails are expected to be sent per day – rising from 269 in 2017. This demonstrates how email marketing is continuing to grow.
Another interesting statistic is the value of an email address. According to Experian CheetahMail, the value of an email address is £84.50 which equals $105.64 dollars. This shows, in monetary terms, how valuable an email subscriber actually is.
9 Reasons Email Marketing is Still Important to Schools
Email marketing can elevate your school’s content marketing strategies to the next level. By including email marketing in the mix, you can build a relationship directly with them through their personal inbox. Here are some reasons you need to integrate email marketing into your marketing mix.
1. Email marketing is cost-effective
Email services are often free or priced very affordable. Compared to conventional marketing, email is cost-effective. You don’t need a high budget to produce emails.
2. Email marketing campaigns are easy to implement
Emails are relatively simple to design, compose and set up, especially compared to other digital marketing. Automation makes it easy to set up a series of messages (called a drip campaign) or schedule deployment ahead of time.
3. Email marketing is highly profitable
Email marketing has a higher ROI and is ranked the most profitable among all marketing channels. The return on investment is $36 for every $1 spent. You are more likely to obtain an inquiry through an email than you are through social media. Email marketing continually delivers substantial investment returns; it’s a tried-and-true tested marketing investment that can provide amazing results.
4. Emails generate better results than most marketing channels
For the past 10 years, email marketing has produced the highest ROI of all the marketing channels. It also has the highest conversion rate (66 percent) of all marketing channels.
Compared with social media, email is 40 times more effective. You’re also likely to receive more click-throughs from email marketing.
5. Email marketing supports engagement and retention
Connect with potential families by collecting their email addresses and receiving their consent to add them to your subscriber list. Different types of emails are an excellent way to educate your audience and invite inquiries without being too pushy or intrusive.
6. Emails compel your audience to take action
Marketing emails have the ability to influence your subscribers to take action on your offers. For example, let’s say you send an email with a video (see 17 Video Marketing Ideas for School Marketers). At the bottom of the email, include a “Learn More” button that links to an inquiry page. These types of calls-to-action are effective when included in an email.
7. Emails improve brand awareness
Use emails to improve your prospective families’ understanding of your school. By talking about your values, mission, and services, prospective families will gain a better grasp of what your school is all about.
8. Emails can generate a high volume of traffic to your website
Schools want people to visit their website, have a quality experience, and ultimately convert them to submit an inquiry form and eventually enroll in your school. If you are strategic with your email marketing campaigns, a significant percentage of your website traffic will come from your emails.
9. Emails integrate seamlessly with other marketing channels
Emails amplify other channels such as:
- Social media networks
- Events
- Content marketing
If your current marketing campaigns are operating as individual silos, now is the time to integrate your marketing across channels. Digital channels – like SEO, paid search and social media – play an important role in nurturing a new or existing email program. These channels can amplify the results from your email marketing program. An integrated email marketing strategy will help grow your email subscriber list, increase inquiry conversions, inform testing, optimize the enrollment journey, and more.
Email Marketing Trends to Watch in 2022
Here are 5 marketing trends schools need to pay attention to in order to stay on top of current email marketing strategies.
1. User-generated content
User-generated content created by your school community is important to your school’s marketing strategy. It’s likely you’re already receiving user-generated content created by your existing community. User-generated content includes photos, videos, text, or other media created by students, parents, family members, faculty, administrators, and community members. While this sort of content may seem removed from your goal of increasing enrollments, but it is a long-term way to increase engagement for both existing and prospective parents.
2. Email automation and technology
Technology is constantly changing, and if you’re not keeping up, you’ll fall behind your competition. For example, 63 percent of emails are opened on mobile devices. Mobile optimization is critical for any email marketing strategy. You need to ensure all your subscribers have the same positive experience when viewing your emails.
If you want to succeed in email marketing in 2022, it is crucial you stay up-to-date with email automation and technology.
3. Evidence-based email campaigns
Today’s email marketing software offers a plethora of data to help you analyze your campaigns and gain insights into what works and what doesn’t work for your audience. Use the performance and analytics features offered by your email service to make data-informed adjustments to your campaigns.
Measure and pull reports on your key performance metrics regularly. Experiment with tactics to see which ones work and use A/B testing to determine the outcomes of your campaigns. Perform split tests to determine which email version delivers the most inquiries, click-throughs, opens, and other desired actions.
4. High-quality, engaging email campaigns
Your email marketing content needs to be robust and on-point. It needs to deliver value to your subscribers. Send email content in interactive and diverse formats. Insert videos, infographics, GIFs, and different layouts. Keep your subject lines concise and interesting. Increase open rates with catchy headlines and appeal to your audience.
Use call-to-action buttons that stand out with bright colors. Keep your text short and actionable.
5. Personalized email content
Parents today are technologically-savvy. They don’t like being pressured to enroll and they are becoming accustomed to personalized marketing techniques. Instead of sending generic emails, segment your subscribers into relevant groups and create content that’s relevant to each group. Get clues about their interests using retargeting techniques, blog posts read, and website pages they spend time reading.
Setting behavior-based triggers assure effective email communication because your subscribers feel the content you send applies specifically to them.
6. Foster trust in your subscribers
Trust is the foundation of marketing. The more your subscribers trust your school and have faith you will send valuable content, advice, and resources, the more they will engage with your emails.
To gain their trust, make sure you give them options for how often they receive emails in their inbox and make sure you are protecting them from spam and malware.
Email marketing will remain relevant for schools in the years to come. And the best part is that every school can utilize an email marketing strategy and continue to evolve its strategy based on current trends. Email marketing strategies are a winning way to communicate with prospective parents, collect inquiries and gather valuable insights. The strategies listed above will help you create a robust email marketing campaign and compel prospective parents to engage with your school.
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