Email Marketing Is a Double Win for Customer Acquisition, Retention

For both objectives, email is way ahead of other tactics. For most small and medium-sized retailers in the US, email marketing is tops when it comes to both customer acquisition and retention. According to research, four-fifths of these professionals said email helps contribute to this outcome.

Digital Tactics that Drive Customer Acquisition vs. Retention According to US SMB Retail Professionals, March 2016 (% of respondents)

Digital Tactics for Customer Acquisition

1. Email marketing - 81%
2. Organic search - 62%
3. Paid search - 59%
4. Social media - 51%
5. Retargeting - 49%
6. Affiliates - 31%
7. Referral marketing - 21%
8. Mobile marketing - 16%
9. Marketplaces - 15%
10. Comparison shopping engines - 8%
11. Other - 2%

Digital Tactics for Customer Retention

1. Email marketing - 80%
2. Social media - 44%
3. Paid search - 43%
4. Retargeting - 37%
5. Organic search - 36%
6. Affiliates - 21%
7. Referral marketing - 18%
8. Mobile marketing - 11%
9. Marketplaces - 11%
10. Comparison shopping engines - 5%
11. Other - 3%

This data reflects the tactics most used by US SMB retail professionals for customer acquisition and retention, as surveyed in March 2016.

In February and March 2016, content and demand generation services provider WBR Digital and emarketing marketing automation service provider surveyed 254 retail professionals in the US at companies with annual revenues under $100 million.

According to the data, 81% and 80% of respondents, respectively, said email marketing drives customer acquisition and retention. Email’s usefulness was followed by that of other digital tactics like organic search at 62% for acquisition and social media at 44% for retention, both rated effective by far fewer respondents than chose email.

A solid reason why could be that more and more marketers are pushing more personalization toward their email campaigns, making them more tailored to customer needs. In a separate May 2016 study, well over half of respondents across industries said they are personalizing email.

Marketing technology may also play a critical role in email campaigns. For advertisers, email marketing is a priority on their software must-have lists. In a separate US-based study, 88% of marketers worldwide said they used email marketing-focused software.