With an increasing number of social media platforms on which operators can reach customers — including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram — many pub and bar operators are starting to wonder if e-mail marketing has lost its value. Here, Julian Ross, of Wireless Solutions, offers reasons why pub and bar operators should make e-mail part of their marketing mix.
Click-through rates
Based on informative stats from Campaign Monitor, brands are six times more likely to get click-through from an e-mail campaign than a Tweet, simply because consumers do not want their social feeds taken up with advertising material and they do not respond well to this. It is more worthwhile for pub and bar operators to put the bulk of their marketing budget into e-mail marketing, with a smaller percentage used for social media communications.
Consumers want your e-mails
Although we know that consumers are easily put off when they receive irrelevant e-mails from brands they’re not connected with, Adestra found that consumers prefer receiving e-mail communications from brands they’re familiar with. It is important to keep your loyal customers in the loop on any relevant promotions and events, which is why it is vital to keep your database up to scratch and ensure the segmentation is correct.
Personalisation is key
It is a fact that personalised campaigns are more successful than the scattergun ‘send to all’ approach that we have seen in the past. Data provided by e-mail delivery experts Acteol shows that when marketers use personalisation they have seen an increase in e-mail engagement of up to 20 to 30%. This has been evident in Wireless Social’s work with Bierkeller over the last four and a half years, as the operator has seen its open rate increase from seven to 20% on a repeated basis.
E-mail is on the up
Statistics from the Communicator Email Benchmark Report show that, year on year, the number of e-mails sent and received is increasing. By the end of 2017, Radicati Group anticipates that 269 billion e-mails will have been sent and received, globally, every single day of the year, which makes cut-through even more important. Additionally, according to SendGrid, generation Z are expected to increase their use of e-mail by 83% in the next few years, making them the demographic that’s using e-mail the most.
E-mail marketing has a higher return on investment
Independent pub and bar operators can really benefit from e-mail marketing campaigns. The cost of this is still so low, particularly in comparison to print marketing. There aren’t any serious repercussions if a campaign doesn’t work, but if it does, it can yield an estimated 4,300% return on investment, according to the Direct Marketing Association.
