YES! I use email marketing a lot. I do see an uptick in store visits right after I send out an email update. I usually use it as a way to summarize my weekly communications in Facebook. Here's my "technique" I usually do when creating an email marketing communication. I'll post most frequently (daily sometimes) on Facebook, but a lot of my customers are not on Facebook. So when I create a new email for my customer list, I'll summarize what I talked about on Facebook since my last email. This works as both a review for people who are on Facebook, and new content for those who are not on Facebook. I'll also attach a special offer or coupon just for email subscribers.
But I find it's tricky to keep a balance of just the right amount of emails...too many and you'll get unsubscribes, so make each communication unique and valuable.
Note: I wish seeing/editing segments of customers on the Marketing email creation area was easier to use. Many of the auto-generated groups of customers overlap, so I don't find it intuitive to select what groups I want to send out to. Just a minor issue, but overall I'm happy with how the email marketing tools work.
