When Amazon Simple Email Service (Amazon SES) launched in 2011, there was speculation around just how effective of an email marketing platform the service would be. Beyond the fact that Amazon SES was built to be an affordable, viable alternative to keeping an email server in-house, while simultaneously allowing business owners to direct traffic to their products and services, adoption of the service started out markedly slow. Despite this early uncertainty, Amazon SES has become something many marketing companies, Semify included, push clients to use.
Email Marketing Remains an Important Component of Successful Advertising
Although content marketing is typically touted as the most important facet of a digital marketing campaign, email marketing remains essential. According to a recent study from the Radicati Group, email usage is set to increase by 12% between 2014 and 2018, eclipsing 2.8 billion total users. The dramatic increase in email usage seems to be tied to the increased adoption of mobile devices, with Forrester estimating that 72% of American adults regularly use their favorite tablets and smartphones to send emails.
All of this translates into email marketing being exceptionally effective in converting customers. McKinsey & Company research shows effective email marketing leads to 40 times more new customers than other advertising methods.
Tips for Effectively Using Amazon SES
Amazon SES features a number of powerful, automated tools that work to help make your email marketing efforts more effective. Using proprietary filtering algorithms, Amazon SES ensures that every correspondence sent falls in line with internet service provider guidelines, ensuring your marketing mail isn't sent directly sent to a SPAM folder. With a built-in feedback system and easy tools for directing recipients to your website and storefront, Amazon SES can undoubtedly be a powerful service for driving traffic and revenue.
That shouldn't be read to mean the system can do everything for you. While the many automated features provide significant assistance, you still need to implement smart email marketing strategies in order to get the most out of your campaign.
- Get Creative with Your Subject Lines - It's no secret that boring or excessively long email subject lines lead to disinterested readers. As a rule, you should take the same approach to subject lines as you do with content titles: short and punchy. You can also take the approach recommended by Huffington Post, which is to omit a subject line altogether. Omitting the subject line and allowing readers to see a snippet of the email content actually improves open rates by 8%.
- Don't Overdo It - Whether it's social media, blog content, or email, constantly berating readers with content is a great way to have them ignore you. As with content, you should set up a schedule for sending out your emails. Keep in mind that a slow trickle is always going to be better than a constant deluge.
- Realize That Email Content is Still Content - Too many businesses make the mistake of treating their emails differently from other types of content. Content needs to be engaging and useful, whether it takes the form of a blog post or an email. Using emails to offer exclusive deals or educate current and potential clients on trends and industry news will go a lot farther than transparent marketing fodder.
Do you use Amazon SES as part of your marketing efforts? What are some of the major benefits you've enjoyed? Let us know in the comments below.
By: Charles Hayward