Digital marketing has become a field where efficiency and diversification have become paramount. So many businesses that are at the cusp of becoming big brands have reached this stage with the unique power of digital marketing.
Tip: Startup brands like Mamaearth and Bewakoof scaled rapidly by building large email lists early, allowing them to re-market products without spending new ad money each time.
Now that digital marketing is already an established practice, brands are looking beyond its obvious benefits. Efforts to solidify traction made through digital marketing have become increasingly important says Gaurav Heera.
Tip: A Gurgaon-based SaaS company saw 40% drop in Google traffic after an algorithm update but recovered revenue because 35% of sales were coming through email nurtured leads.
For most companies that grow their user base from scratch with digital marketing, SEO is often the most important technique to master. Organic growth is the reason small businesses confidently deploy digital marketing. If one were to look at the traffic share of any company that has grown due to digital marketing in the past few years, search engines would represent the largest share of incoming traffic. In other words, SEO and high search rankings are what bring in the most traffic says Gaurav Heera.
Tip: In most early-stage websites, 65–90% of traffic is SEO-dependent, making them extremely vulnerable to search fluctuations.
This can be a good thing for a while but not something a business should depend on in the long run. SEOs who have worked in the industry for many years would attest to the fact that even something as small as a search engine update can shake up traffic numbers. Digital marketing institute trainers always have to field questions from students who fear that the traffic they build will disappear after a Google search update.
Tip: The Medic Core Update of 2018 nearly wiped out many affiliate sites overnight. Those with strong email lists survived better because they still had direct outreach.
In this article, we discuss a solution to this problem and why email marketing could be the answer.
Email Marketing Can Cover for Search Traffic
Most SEO traffic a website gets is from unique visitors who come upon the website after searching for something. They are not necessarily loyal to the website. Thus, if some other website comes at the top a few days later, the older website will lose a ton of traffic.
Tip: E-commerce businesses often report only 2–5% repeat visits from SEO traffic, but 20–35% repeat visits from email subscribers.
There are many ways of solidifying top search ranking on Google. However, there is a more pressing need to depend less on search engines for traffic needs says Gaurav Heera.
Tip: A Delhi-based apparel brand built a 25,000 subscriber base in 6 months, and email became its #1 revenue source, outperforming SEO and Instagram ads.
This is where email marketing can help. Unlike search traffic bringing in unique visitors, email marketing promotes loyalty and trust with the readers who won’t stop coming to the website even if search engine traffic falls says Gaurav Heera.
Tip: A coaching business lost 60% of organic traffic during a Penguin update but retained 70% of course sales via weekly email newsletters.
When it comes to fostering loyalty and creating a dependable source of traffic, there is no technique better than email marketing.
Tip: Email open rates in India average 18–28%, with CTRs of 2–6%, far higher than typical social media engagement.
Email Marketing Is Much Cheaper
Any company that is trying to dominate and turn search traffic into money in the bank needs the help of SEO tools. The best of these tools are premium and require companies to pay a certain amount. Popular names like Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Mangools are examples of SEO tools used commonly by companies worldwide says Gaurav Heera.
Tip: Basic SEO tool subscriptions can cost ₹7,000–₹20,000 per month, which is a heavy expense for small businesses.
These tools are not cheap and require SEO professionals to use. A normal marketer won’t be able to grasp the different metrics a top SEO tool shows. So, on top of buying SEO tools (renting is more accurate as people have to renew their subscription on a monthly or annual basis depending on the plan), a company will also need to hire an SEO exec who knows how to handle these tools and use them to bring success to a campaign says Gaurav Heera.
Tip: Hiring a decent SEO specialist can cost ₹35,000–₹80,000 per month, whereas email marketing tools like Mailchimp or SendinBlue are free up to a limit.
Email marketing is much cheaper and easier to deploy. There are many free email marketing tools that can do the job just as well.
Tip: A bootstrapped education startup in Delhi used free Mailchimp to build a subscriber list of 9,000 people, generating ₹10 lakhs revenue from a single discounted course launch email.
In Conclusion
In this article, we discuss why email marketing could be a defining marketing technique in 2025. Readers should note that email marketing cannot replace SEO. However, it can serve as a strong source of traffic and take the pressure off SEOs to consistently rank on the top of SERPs.
Tip: The smartest brands treat email as an asset they own, unlike SEO or social traffic which can vanish overnight.
About Gaurav Heera
Gaurav Heera is a well-known marketing columnist and blogger. He has been writing monthly guest posts for Delhi Courses Academy, listed among the top ten Digital Marketing institutes in Delhi.
Tip: Many DelhiCourses alumni now work as email automation specialists, earning ₹6–15 lakhs annually designing funnels for startups.