Here is a pro tip for all marketers planning their digital marketing strategy \u2013 maximise your attention on email marketing, while still glazing\u00a0over\u00a0social media marketing (SMM), in\u00a0your overall mix. As antediluvian this suggestion\u00a0may sound; conjuring up imaginary visions of thousands of frustrated users hitting the \u2018Report\u00a0spam\u2019 in their inboxes at the sight of your next promotional email; the home truth is simple \u2013 email marketing works significantly better than marketing on social networks. A full 38 times better. In other words, for every customer acquired through Facebook and Twitter combined, a firm is likely to get 38 customers through email marketing!<\/p>\n
That is what the customer acquisition data<\/a> from online predictive analytics firm Custora showed for the second quarter of 2013 \u2013 corresponding to 70 million users. Granted this data is limited to US consumers; but the magnitude of difference makes it near impossible to believe that the situation in India would be any different.<\/p>\n Time for another statistic. The latest Custora\u00a0data released<\/a> for the first quarter of 2014 says email marketing drove 18% of all online orders, while social channels drove just 1% (note that orders are different from customers). Also, organic search is the single most important customer acquisition channel \u2013 generating 24% of all orders. Another 20% of orders were driven by search engine marketing (SEM).<\/p>\n More interestingly, Custora also found that the customers acquired through emails are likely to generate significantly higher sales over a longer period; compared to those acquired through Facebook and Twitter. The predicted Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) of customers acquired through email marketing stood at 12%, compared to 1% for Facebook; and a\u00a0negative<\/strong> 23% for Twitter\u00a0(all\u00a0percentages\u00a0relative to the average CLV). Simplified \u2013 if your average CLV is Rs. 100\u00a0-meaning\u00a0that your\u00a0average customer spends Rs. 100 over his\/her\u00a0lifetime – your average customer acquired from email will buy goods worth Rs. 112 over his\/her\u00a0lifetime, and one\u00a0from Facebook will buy goods worth Rs. 101, whereas Twitter-sourced customers will only buy goods worth Rs. 77.<\/p>\n What these findings mean is that firms looking to generate online sales may be well advised to focus their prime efforts on email marketing, while still maintaining a baseline outreach via social networks. Better still, an integrated strategy may lead to more effective customer acquisition and retention. On the flip side, what remains unanswered is the role social network marketing can play in building a brand\u2019s equity among consumers \u2013 never mind that that itself is a topic for a separate blog post, or a few.<\/p>\n Still, there are other triggers to look beyond social networks when outlining your digital marketing strategy. Facebook has admitted<\/a> that its news feed ranking system deliberately limits the organic reach of posts, in order to have users \u201cmore active and engaged with stories that appear in their newsfeed.\u201d Of course,\u00a0the social network\u00a0still prods businesses to run sponsored updates in order to better their chances of landing in targeted users\u2019 newsfeeds; which sometimes leads\u00a0to annoyed marketers\u00a0as the following shows:<\/p>\n Engagement on 11 Million Fans Vs 50,000 Followers, same post, same time. – Facebook Organic Reach is 100% Dead. pic.twitter.com\/PE1RUns1A5<\/a><\/p>\n — RHYS HILLMAN (@rhyshillman) June 25, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n