Let me say one thing about email marketing that’s often overlooked. Especially when we’re talking about supporting sales processes:
If you do email marketing right, it makes you look totally professional.
Just imagine: one of your sales reps visits a prospective customer. The rep logs the visit in his CRM. Based on that trigger, an automatic follow-up email is sent to the customer, thanking them for their time and pointing out additional, relevant information.
How do you think that looks to the prospect? It looks professional. It makes him feel like you have your stuff together.
Whenever someone fills out a form on your website, or basically does anything that involves your company, you should have an automated follow-up in place. And no, that doesn’t necessarily need to be email, but it still often is . For good, since their inbox is still where most business folks spend a good chunk of their day.
I just keep being amazed by what doesn’t happen after I sign up / visit / do anything when interacting with a company, when it’s so incredibly easy to set up a couple of automated email follow-ups.
Now, if we’re talking about sequences, it still applies. Do you know how many free trials I’ve signed up and not gotten any emails? No attempt, whatsoever, to even try and ask me to buy the full version, or get in touch.
What about outbound emailing? Despite GDPR and despite all the griping it still works. I got an email the other day from Drift that made me pause: it was well crafted, relevant and at the very least made me consider getting in touch with them.
So, even if we leave the whole ROI discussion for what it is, email marketing is still massively important. And the ROI is hard enough as it is, since email is often a contributing factor, and not a decisive factor (though it certainly can be).
So does email marketing get sales?
Bottom line: good, relevant and attentive email marketing is now table stakes and it makes you look good.
