Email Marketing Isn’t Dead. Far From It.

Social media is getting all the attention, but email marketing is still king.

Email is still a reliable and effective marketing channel. Sure, it’s not as new as social or text marketing, but it’s as reliable and profitable as ever. In fact, according to Direct Marketing Association, email marketing provides a $39.40 return on every dollar invested into it.

A few more interesting facts:

• There are three times as many email accounts as Twitter and Facebook accounts combined.
• Email is almost 40 times better at acquiring new customers than Facebook and Twitter.
• 66% of consumers have made a purchase online as a result of an email marketing message. 
• One in five of consumers said they read every email newsletter they receive just to see if something’s on offer. 
• People prefer being sent an email over face-to-face communication or instant messaging. 
• 48% of consumers say that they prefer to communicate with brands via email

(Sources: Direct Marketing Association, Forrester Research, McKinsey & Company)

As Fast Company explains, email has a purpose in evolving digital marketing, serving as an important tool for digital communication among a range of different tools. It’s not going away any time soon, because it’s more convenient than the paper-and-ink communications it replaced. 

Just think about this: 

• You can’t embed a file directly in a Tweet.
• Would you trust Facebook, with its odd history of rights control, with a corporate Excel file?
• Legions of gray-surfers have adopted email as a way to keep in touch–they won’t be switching.
• Millions of BlackBerry and iPhone users will testify to mobile email’s convenience.

Let’s examine further that last point. Mobile email is changing the game. The rising use of smartphones means that more and more shoppers (and all other users) check their emails. In fact, Bloomberg reported that 45% of shoppers now open their email through a mobile device.

So, in a marketplace flooded with apps and social media, old-school email marketing is showing new signs of vitality. It’s not an “end of an era” for email. Far from it. 

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