Have you ever wondered why most people don’t respond to your emails? You sent out a few of them and then nothing. And when you finally do receive a response, it feels like they want to give some information rather than you receive any substantial value. The email was an effective tool for advertising your business’s services. Now. Even though they’re still effective, it has definitely taken a backseat in favor of social media.
Still, we’re not discounting the power of emails. You can still make emails effective if you know the steps to make them right. In this article, we will talk about why email marketing has lost its earlier luster — and how we can make this ages-old trick work in your dental practice.
The Rise and Fall of Email Marketing
According to researchers at OpenMarket Inc., email has been steadily losing users since 2012 — and this downward trend isn’t likely to reverse anytime soon. In fact, they predict that by 2020 only 26% of consumers will continue using email regularly — down from an average of 89% in 2016.
The peak of email marketing was around 2004. It was the most effective form of marketing, allowing businesses to send messages directly to consumers without any middleman. This made it easy to promote sales, announce new products, or stay in touch with customers.
The fall of email marketing started when social media became more popular. Social media platforms, particularly Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, provide a more interactive way of marketing. It allowed businesses to connect with consumers in a more personal way.
Social media allows businesses to post updates, photos, and videos more likely to capture consumers’ attention. They can also hold contests, polls, and other activities to engage consumers deeper.
Business owners do not need to compose lengthy emails to get their message across. They can simply post an update on their social media page, and their followers will see it immediately.
Is Email Marketing Dead?
Email marketing has been around for more than a decade. It has proven to be one of the most effective ways to reach customers. So why is it falling out of favor?
Email marketing is not dead yet. In fact, it’s still one of the most popular forms of online marketing. Some estimates available show that as much as 95% of people who receive an email newsletter open it. But all good things must end; unfortunately, the same can be said for email marketing.
As mentioned earlier, you can still make email marketing work if you know how to pull the right strings. This can help you maximize the ROI of your marketing campaigns and ensure that your messages get through to your target audience.
The first step is understanding why people are no longer responding to email marketing. Once you know the reasons, you can make the necessary changes to ensure that your emails are more effective.
Reasons Why Email Marketing Has Tanked
Email marketing is indeed a great way to reach your audience and get them to take action. But like most marketers, you’ve noticed that it’s not as effective as it used to be.
According to Email Monks, the average open rate for an email today is between 20-25%. That’s a massive drop from yesteryear’s 50-60% open rates.
Why has email marketing tanked? Here are six reasons:
Email is too crowded.
It’s too crowded. There are now so many options for people to communicate with their audience that email has become less relevant. It has become just another channel in a sea of other choices like social media, voice assistants, and chatbots that can do their jobs more efficiently than just sending promotional emails about your dental clinic.
According to Radicati, global email users are expected to reach 3.8 billion by 2021. That’s a lot of competition for your message to stand out. The “new normal” is that people are more receptive to messaging that comes through channels other than email, which has become overloaded with too much content. To stand out in the inbox, your email needs to be more than just a “special offer” or “monthly update.” It needs to be personal, relevant, and valuable.
People don’t trust emails anymore.
The rise of spam and phishing scams have made people wary about opening email from unknown senders. Even legitimate email marketers have seen their campaigns reported as spam by users who mistakenly think their emails are not wanted or relevant. The result? Your opt-in list has become a liability instead of an asset.
To combat this problem, marketers have begun focusing on personalization, which prompts users to give their consent before they receive any messages from you, but this comes at a cost. It takes time for you to get started with personalization. Even if you implement it successfully, most people will still hit “report spam” when they see your message in their inboxes.
Too many sales pitches in emails
Spamming is illegal, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still plenty of people doing it. It’s hard to trust someone who sends you an unsolicited email offering something that sounds too good to be true — and most people have learned not to trust these types of emails.
One thing that people hate the most about emails is when they feel like they’re being sold to. No one wants to be constantly bombarded with a sales pitch, especially not in their inbox. If your emails are nothing but a string of promotional messages, you will have a hard time getting people to read them, let alone click on any links or take action.
No urgency or scarcity
Consumers are no longer bombarded with spam messages. They are less likely to open an email because they see it in their inboxes. When people see emails, they want to know there’s a reason to open them now — they want to see some urgency or scarcity.
If your email doesn’t convey a sense of urgency, people will overlook it and move on to something else. They’ll return to it later, but chances are they’ll forget or have moved on to something else. Worse, it would all end up in the bin.
Poor follow-up with customers who don’t open or click on your emails.
Email marketers often send out bulk mailings, hoping all recipients will open them. Unfortunately, this tactic often results in even more people marking the emails as spam, which can lead your email provider to block you from sending any more emails until you clean up your list.
When businesses do this, customers feel like they’re being used as a means to an end. They’re not being treated as individuals, and their time is wasted. If you want to build a relationship with your customers, you need to ensure that you follow up with them after they’ve opened and clicked on your email.
Social media is much better for them.
Sure, email marketing has been around for decades, but it’s no longer the newest kid on the block. As email marketing slowly becomes less relevant, businesses are turning to social media to reach their customers in new ways.
In fact, research shows that 78% of marketers plan to increase their use of social media in 2014. And only 12% are planning on increasing their use of email marketing.
Email marketing companies like MailChimp and Constant Contact have seen a drop in revenue, with some even closing down operations entirely. This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. In fact, according to an infographic from Social Media Today, 85% of consumers don’t trust emails from brands, and 89% prefer social media over email when it comes to customer service inquiries.
Ways on How to Effectively Use Email Marketing in Your Dental Practice
Even though these reasons proved to make sense most of the time, we’re still firm in saying that email marketing is not dead, and you can still use it in your dental practice. It is essential to know how to make email marketing your best friend so that you can still bring out the best of it.
The first step to effectively using email marketing is creating a list of recipients who will receive your newsletters and promotional messages. A good thing about this list is that you can use it repeatedly until they remove themselves from it.
You should also consider adding people interested in receiving information about your services or products to your mailing list. You can ask them questions during their first visit to your office or consultation with one of your dentists.
Another way to keep your emails effective is by ensuring that each message has something valuable for everyone who receives it. This may include new treatments, special offers, discounts, etc. Including these will make your recipients want to open your emails more often.
You should also try to make your email subject lines as enjoyable as possible. This is the first thing they will see, so making a good impression is essential. You can do this by using action words, incorporating numbers, and using symbols.
Last but not least, always ensure that you test your email before sending it out. This will ensure that everything is in working order and that there are no errors. You can easily send a simple test email to yourself and a few others on your list.
By following these simple tips, you can ensure that your email marketing campaigns will reap the best results for your dental clinic.
Conclusion
Indeed, email marketing is not as effective as it used to be, but that doesn’t mean you should stop using it altogether. With a little effort and following the tips mentioned above, you can still make email marketing work for your dental clinic.
It can be challenging for businesses to compose compelling emails, especially if they don’t know about strategies and tactics for making email campaigns work, but Growth99 understands you. Your dental practice can benefit greatly from their expertise with Growth99’s tried and tested email marketing programs. Growth99 has a team of professionals that know how to get the attention of your target market and turn them into paying customers. They will help you increase your patient base without breaking the bank.
