If I read another marketer who pens an article titled in the realm of “Email Marketing is Not Dead, Here’s Why” or “Think Email Marketing is Dead? Guess Again”, my head is going to implode. Guess what? We know it’s not dead. To be frank, I’m not certain I even recall the “Email Marketing is Dead” trend but I can say for sure that whoever followed it surely didn’t last long on the bandwagon.
In a world of ear piercing bespoke, innovation, buzzwords and “content is king” jargon, marketers are faced with the challenge of sifting through the noise to produce stand-out work. We’re no longer in an era where brands “must consider” creative content and “must consider” mobile in strategy; in fact, we’re in an era where mobile and creative are the ONLY things to consider. That being said, we see brands flock to platforms like Instagram and Snapchat because they are sexy and conducive to creative and mobile; but companies who do so and simultaneously abandon email are losing big time. I hate to say “Here’s Why” but Here’s Why:
Control – Venture Capitalist Hunter Walk tweeted on Sunday that views on his Snapchat Stories dropped 33 percent since the platform removed it’s autoplay feature on Oct. 7. Snapchat Influencer Sarah Peretz (dropped-out-of-college-six-months-ago-to-be-a-snapchat-influencer Sarah Peretz) deemed the change in the tool a “self-esteem killer.” These notions shed an incredible amount of light on the risk that brands and even people take on platform dependence. The lack of control that companies and brands have over platforms because they are constantly changing is frightening. Guess what? You know what platform has never changed and has allowed you to send essentially whatever you want to essentially whomever you want in a message since the beginning of time? Email. You can literally deliver creative content at scale without being affected by the platform.
Reach – Scrolling over an Instagram post is far easier than unsubscribing from an email list. Email campaigns have the ability to reach millions of customers, clients or users in a personalized way. Spam emails aside, and in addition to the fact that email is typically the first app a person opens on their phone in the morning, email lists are something that the user actually wants to be a part of. For companies and brands that do email correctly, this targeted method can have an insane ROI. It’s also a great way to work around push notifications with native apps. For companies and brands who want to drive traffic to their native apps, email is the best strategy to snare users who disable push notifications.
Lastly, think about how the way in which our society requires us to obsess over email. 91% of smartphone users check their email at least once per day. Of that 91%, can you imagine how many are checking often throughout the day? Or in my case, every 5 minutes?
Email marketing has lived a long, complicated life on the internet and has dealt with some serious competition from sexy new platforms. In today’s mobile, content driven market, email is a safe bet. With particular emphasis on control and reach, email will continue to live a long life. I’m sure there are tweens who would role their eye’s at this argument and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
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