Email marketing! Who had email marketing on their bingo card for 2024?
Yes, friends, it’s still important.
(Email marketing. Not bingo. I mean, bingo might be very important to you, and that’s fine. But we’re a marketing blog, so we’re here, naturally, to talk about email marketing.)
Anyway, where were we? Oh yeah. Email.
It’s still important.
Actually, it’s very important.
Yes, email marketing is still a thing in 2024. Just like it was in 2023. And 2022. Come to think of it, email marketing never really went away. In recent years it’s taken a bit of a backseat to the flash and controversy of social media, but it continues to chug along in the background for many businesses, even if their primary markets are hanging out on Facebook or TikTok. And if you’ve got a diesel repair shop, you should get in on that.
Why?
Because we’re marketing experts and we said so.
And because it’s just a really, really smart business practice.
1. EMAIL REACHES A LOT OF PEOPLE
There’s about four billion people checking their email daily. Sometimes they look at it before they even get out of bed. Some of them, like this writer, are probably checking multiple times per day because they jump every time their phone vibrates.
But Dieselmatic, you’re saying, billions of people use social media, too.
True! But those billions aren’t all on one platform, are they? They’re somewhat segmented between Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, X/Twitter, and maybe Threads. Most people following you on social channels aren’t going to see everything you post. But if you send it to their email? It’s there, waiting for them to open at their leisure.
2. THE PEOPLE YOU’VE EMAILED WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU
People have to opt-in to get your emails.
In layman’s terms, that means at some point you have asked for their email (whether that’s during the invoicing process or when they land on your website), and they have handed it to you. They expect to hear from you. And if they like the work you do, they’ll want to hear from you.
We’ll get into why in Point 3, as that’s important information, too. But because there’s an expectation set already, they’ll be more inclined to open things received from your shop’s email address.
3. YOU CAN SEND OFFERS, REMINDERS, COUPONS, AND MORE
So let’s take the two points above and create an equation:
People check their email a lot + they want/expect to hear from you = They’re likelier to open your emails.
Think about how you use social media. There’s a lot of scrolling, right? Something really has to catch your eye for you to stop and look at it.
With email, however, you might see an interesting subject line from a company you use frequently and open it out of curiosity. Particularly if your shop is offering a promotion or a discount—a fairly recent survey indicated 62% of email users would open a promotional email.
How can you put that knowledge to work for you?
Your emails can offer:
- Seasonal service discounts (winterizing trucks)
- Exclusive offers and discounts just for those on your email list (it can be as simple as “Thanks for being on our email list! Here’s 10% off!”)
- Birthday/anniversary discounts
- Holiday promotions
- Events or other announcements (like open houses or new services/parts in stock)
And don’t forget the tried-and-true newsletter, which businesses of all stripes have been sending weekly or monthly since the Third Age.
4. YOUR LIST IS YOUR OWN
As much as we like social media, we always issue this caveat: your shop is at their pleasure. If you build up a following of 100,000, that’s fantastic, but if FaceTok or whatever shuts down, so does that following.
It’s why we encourage shops to maintain a modern website. It’s their home on the web. It means people can find them if they leave the Instabook, or if the Instabook gets sued into oblivion.
Your email list is yours. If all the social media platforms abruptly go bye-bye, you can still reach the customers and potential customers who have graciously offered you their email. Your deals and updates can still reach them. That’s big. That’s important.
That’s reachable revenue.
EMAIL MARKETING AS A COMPONENT
Like many things in life, marketing is one part research, one part alchemy, one part luck, and…um…often a whole lot of effort and stuff and…well, that comparison kind of fell apart, didn’t it?
Let’s put it this way. When used properly, email marketing can bring in revenue. How much? Well, one study suggests $36 for every $1 spent. That’s…a lot. Even half that would be a lot. So why not add email marketing to your overall digital marketing strategy?
If you’re one of our partners, soon you’ll be able to do just that. Very soon, in fact. We’re going to have more details for you shortly—just keep an eye on your email.
(See what we did there?)
But wait, you’re exclaiming, Dieselmatic is offering email marketing services?!
BINGO.