Opt-in, Opt-out

Digital marketing, arguably, and especially in the B2C world- is one of the most effective methods of reaching your target audience. However, as more and more organisations jump on the digital bandwagon, the quantity of marketing noise from more and more brands which consumers are faced with has rapidly increased.

Take Facebook- personal profiles were hugely successful and once Facebook allowed brands to join the site and create corporate/ brand pages, they started popping up all over the place. From the biggest brands such as Cadburys, Starbucks and Tesco to the local pub, butchers and community centre all creating engaging content through online social media sources, utilising websites and sending out emails- they are all at it and I know my social media pages have started to become much less social and much more brand-focused!

With this ever looming presence that consumers feel they are being sold to, constantly marketed towards and annoyed by persistent messages- is email marketing still useful when reaching a consumer? Or will it go straight into the 'Junk' or 'Deleted' folder?

Usually when signing up to newsletters, entering competitions or buying products online, you usually have the choice of opting-in or opt-out of receiving emails from the brand. This allows the consumer to have full control over the marketing messages they receive.

This infographic from Marketing Week indicates how willing consumers are to sharing their data (such as email address, phone number or postal address) with companies for the purpose of marketing. It's really useful to understand how willing people are to let companies market/sell to them. The impression I have gathered from working in a B2B scenario is that people are far less likely to 'opt in' to receiving marketing messages unless:

a) they are being provided with something of value, whether that be content, information and help or a personalised message
b) there is an incentive to do so- discounts, a competition or another type of reward
c) it is a company they really trust, admire or like- this can make it harder for start-ups or less-established brands trying to reach new markets to utilise database marketing

Think about how much you click the unsubscribe button on the endless email messages you receive from brands, or how many times you 'Unlike' an organisation's Facebook page?

I believe the key to maintaining a consumer's interest in your marketing messages, whether that be email messages, social media posts or even post (who does direct mail any more seriously?!) is down to 3 things:

a) Consistency: you have to absolutely nail this one; don't post too much and don't post to infrequently. This is mainly down to experimentation of how the interaction with your posts differs depending on the frequency of them, for email this is click throughs, for social it could be shares, likes or comments etc.
b) Content: provide something of value or that email is going straight into the delete folder, or that post is getting hidden! Whether that be discount, free delivery for e-commerce, coupons or vouchers for in-store purchases, competitions, product launches or events.
c) Personalisation: this potentially may be the most important point in marketing messages- whether you are targeting a new customer, loyal customer or someone who hasn't made a purchase in a while, the marketing messages must be tailored, even if you offer them the same incentive! Make the customer feel as though they are unique, valued and not just another name on a spreadsheet and I believe you will nail email marketing!

Stephanie