Email marketing remains the most effective way to prospect, retain customers, and grow sales. At least, that’s the conviction of Myriam Forest, who is launching a new training course on email marketing. An interview on best practices for making email marketing an effective business driver.
There seems to have been a resurgence of email in marketing strategies in recent years. Is that something you’re seeing too?
Myriam Forest: Absolutely. I’d put it down to a general fatigue with social media, especially since AI has surged in prominence over the past few months. On one hand, more and more content is starting to look the same, and on the other, brand posts are getting less and less visibility. So companies are turning to other channels — including good old email marketing.
Not only is it far from dead, it’s actually performing extremely well. It’s like we’re rediscovering it.
It’s true that it’s a historically established marketing channel…
Myriam Forest: …And it remains one of the best-performing in terms of ROI among web marketing channels! For one thing, you don’t have to fight against social media algorithms, which ultimately gives you much better visibility.
It also allows for more personalized content. You can do very granular segmentation and build something almost intimate — a more personal connection with your audience. Which, in the end, makes a bigger impact.
Not to mention the low barrier to entry — even free if you have a small list. Everything can be handled easily in-house and at far less cost than turning to tools like digital advertising.
As you mentioned, it’s a “owned” communication channel, which is no small argument in an era of AI agent disintermediation.
Myriam Forest: I do spend a lot of time raising awareness about this notion of autonomy with organizations. Right now, I’d say it’s not so much AI agent disintermediation per se that’s the main concern (though it’s worth being mindful of). It’s more that many companies are at the mercy of arbitrary decisions about their social media accounts — account suspensions, fraud, loss of access.
After investing years of time and sometimes money, businesses lose their Facebook and Instagram pages, usually with no recourse. Largely due to arbitrary decisions handled by AI and a lack of access to real humans in customer service for social platforms. That’s why it’s so important to maintain control and ownership of your database.
The principle is simple: people on your list aren’t dependent on a third-party platform that could disappear tomorrow. As always, you should never put all your eggs in one basket.
What are the common mistakes you often see in organizations’ email marketing strategies?
Myriam Forest: The main one is treating email marketing as just a newsletter. This channel has many facets, including an automation component that shouldn’t be overlooked — because that’s precisely what allows you to personalize your message based on the customer experience.
To make full use of all the levers of email marketing, you need to think first and foremost in terms of segmentation, not just generic emails. For example, there are e-commerce techniques for re-engaging people who’ve abandoned their shopping cart. This isn’t a newsletter addressed to everyone — it’s a targeted, segmented communication.
On the flip side, what best practices do you generally recommend?
Myriam Forest: For starters, I often hear that a good email open rate is somewhere between 25% and 40%. I disagree! You need to push that further.
I work with clients where we’re hitting open rates above 65% by creating the right targeted content for the right people. It’s absolutely achievable if you know your audience well and offer them content they actually care about.
You also need to be careful not to fall into the trap of only promoting your product catalog. You have to constantly question the value of the information you’re sharing in your emails.
Finally, I’d be wary of the AI trap — letting it write 100% of your emails for you. Just like on social media, I think that’s the surest way to have users tune out your content entirely. Brand voice matters more than ever.
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