Why An Email List Is the ‘Cool Kid’ of Martech

Mary Rose Maguire
5 min readJun 26, 2019

Maybe you don’t have an email list.

Or you have a list of people but not sure what do with them. Or… maybe you’re wondering why I keep yapping on and on about email marketing.

Email marketing has experienced a lot of grief for not being a “cool kid” like social media. Supposedly, no one reads emails, anymore.

But we know that’s not true. In fact, here are a few stats to blow your mind:

  • You are 6x more likely to get a click-through from an email campaign than you are from a tweet.- Campaign Monitor
  • Email is 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook or Twitter. — McKinsey
  • 81% of online shoppers who receive emails based on previous shopping habits were at least somewhat likely to make a purchase as a result of targeted email. -eMarketer
  • When it comes to purchases made as a result of receiving a marketing message, email has the highest conversion rate (66%), when compared to social, direct mail and more. — DMA
  • Email subscribers are 3 times more likely to share your content via social media than visitors from other sources. — QuickSprout
  • 72% people prefer to receive promotional content through email, compared to 17% who prefer social media. — MarketingSherpa
  • Including a call to action button instead of a text link can increase conversion rates by as much as 28%. — Campaign Monitor
  • Email marketing drives more conversions than any other marketing channel, including search and social. — Monetate
  • A message is 5x more likely to be seen in email than via Facebook. — Radicati
  • 4.24% of visitors from email marketing buy something as compared to 2.49% of visitors from search engines and 0.59% from social media. — Monetate
  • Sending four emails in a month instead of one significantly increases the number of consumers opening more than one email — WhoIsHostingThis “Email Deliverability 101.”

Often I’ve told clients and prospects that having an email list is like owning a home. No one can just knock on the door and kick you out because you hate broccoli.

Compare that to the fickleness of social media. You never know if you’ll anger the Silicon Valley Gods. An innocuous tweet may cause your account to be “shadow banned” (your updates won’t show up in your follower’s timelines).

Or a comment on Facebook thrown out in the heat of the moment may land you in “Facebook Jail” (where you won’t be allowed to update your page or comment on anyone else’s page for a few weeks).

If you’re using social media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.) for business, know that you’re living on “rented land.”

Those social media giants of course have the right to run their business the way they want. But it means that your marketing messages may not be heard.

I’ve significantly decreased my activity on Facebook and admittedly, my Twitter account has cobwebs. Out of all the social media platforms, I use LinkedIn the most.

Personally, I’ve not seen a strong ROI from my social media activity. But my email list?

I get nice responses from people all the time. But here’s where it really gets good.

An Email List Identifies Your “Tribe”

I’m using the term “tribe” as a general way to describe the type of clients, customers, and prospects who are attracted to you.

With email, you’re able to quickly see those who are engaged with your message versus those who aren’t. But don’t dismiss those who don’t seem to be interested.

People are busy but it doesn’t mean that there won’t be a day when they need your expertise.

Meanwhile, paying attention to those who are engaged is worthwhile.

It’s kind of like high school…

(Do we ever really grow beyond the social constructs of high school?)

My high school class consisted of 113 girls. I was usually friendly to all of them, hung out with a few circles, but only close to a handful.

That’s how it is with email.

It’s Like a Wedding Guest List

You may have an email list of hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands. But as a business, you’re not going to be “close” to everyone.

So you check out who is engaging with your content ‒which will typically be 20% or less of your list.

Just as you didn’t have a close, personal relationship with everyone who attended your wedding (or your high school class), the same goes for email.

If you have someone opening your email on a regular basis and clicking on links… you don’t want to treat them like a stranger sitting next to you on a plane.

Instead, you want to send them a nice invitation to enjoy a lovely dinner in your home, complete with all the frilly stuff you only put out when special guests visit.

I’m not saying you literally invite people over… (unless you really, really love being a party host).

But I am saying that you treat those engaged list subscribers differently than everyone else.

Because they are special.

However, you won’t know this until you start emailing your list on a regular basis.

If you have questions, let me know. I have a lot of ideas on how you can let your “tribe” know that you appreciate them and give ’em some love.

Those who are your tribe will feel rightly cherished. And your profits will tell the tale.

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About the Author

I’m Mary Rose ‘Wildfire’ Maguire, a direct response copywriter, digital marketing consultant, CMO for Mickey Maguire Photo, and brand and email marketing fangirl. Tireless advocate for finding pain points and testing response. David Ogilvy is my invisible mentor, along with John Caples and Claude C. Hopkins. You can find me on Twitter or LinkedIn yakking endlessly about marketing. And especially on my website, maryrosemaguire.com.

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Mary Rose Maguire

Direct response copywriter & crack-shot email marketer. Voracious reader. Live, eat & sleep marketing. http://bit.ly/HireMaguire