Email marketing has long been a part of many businesses' customer engagement strategy, offering them information about purchases, pending deliveries, upcoming product launches, and company news. But in recent years, email marketing has become more than just a necessary touchpoint for businesses and their active customers. It is now an effective tool in customer retention, which keeps customers past, present, and future connected with a business's vision, their internal updates, their opinions on industry movement, and so much more.

In this blog post, we explore the role of email marketing specifically in terms of customer retention, and how to effectively create a long term email campaign which captivates new customers and keeps past ones engaged and connected to a brand.

But first, what exactly is customer retention and why does it matter so much?

Why does customer retention matter so much in the modern business world?

Customer retention refers to the lifetime value of a customer - that is, a customer that doesn’t just buy from you once and then disappear, but rather one who remains engaged with the brand for months and even years to come.

It’s these loyal customers who form the most effective social media communities, who contribute towards truly effective user-generated content, and who form the backbone of brands as they expand and reach into new markets. For many businesses, it’s their repeat customers who make growth possible - and email marketing provides the perfect way in which to connect with them and give them direct rewards to thank them for their support.

What role does email marketing play in boosting customer retention?

In short, email marketing is a way of directly reaching the inbox of loyal customers, repeat customers, new customers, and prospective customers - giving them the kind of content they need to keep your business or brand front of mind.

Email marketing isn’t just a way of keeping your audience informed; it also acts as a way for them to be able to contact you, to keep up to date with deals and discounts, and to remember when you are marketing specific products and seasonal launches. It acts as an extra string to your customer service bow, which ensures that customers feel cared for by you - able to reach you when they need to, and an important part of your community.

Another thing worth noting is the balance between the cost of email marketing and the impact it has on the lifetime value of the customer. Email marketing is a distinctly cost effective way of reaching a large portion of your audience at once, especially when compared with ads and PPC campaigns which come with a much higher price tag.

Here’s how to make email marketing work for you.

Tips for creating a successful email marketing campaign

The beauty of email marketing is that you can have as many different email campaigns and series’ on the go as you like - with different funnels for regular customers, disengaged former customers, new subscribers, and completely new prospects.

A successful email marketing is built from personalised subject lines which spark a high open rate, exclusive offers, insight into launches and restocks, and of course tons of valuable information and advice on how to use your products and get the most from every purchase.

Here are some of the most effective emails that contribute towards customer retention, and which keep customers engaged with a brand or business:

Welcome emails - critical for first-time customers, those who subscribe to your email marketing, and those who become a part of your network via other avenues on social media or other platforms. The way you welcome customers to your community will make or break their relationship with you as a business - with some of the most effective tools being a welcome discount code or access to exclusive information about your brand or products.

Reminders about deals - customers love a deal, and if they’ve forgotten to use a specific discount code or to make the most of an offer you have on then a reminder email can go a long way towards warming them up for purchase.

Gifts and offers - not only do exclusive gifts on special dates of note, and customer-only offers make for excellent content, but they also lend themselves to hugely compelling subject lines which spark a high open rate.

Value emails - last but not least, emails which don’t necessarily sell or market anything, but which instead focus on simply giving the customer insight or valuable information. This is an incredibly effective way to draw attention towards your brand without directly trying to sell something and will help customers to see you as a valuable and trustworthy source of information when they need it.

Email marketing is something that we value incredibly highly at Social Loop, with our marketing team offering a plethora of support services to clients in need of email support. For more information on this and our other services, get in touch with the Social Loop team today.