We’ve all heard it – email marketing is dead in 2018. In fact, if you do a google search for a phrase like “email marketing is dead” you’re going to see nearly 100K results saying just that!
The truth is, many marketers are preaching that email marketing is dead in large part based on the feedback from consumers saying they “don’t want to be marketed to”.
I hate to say it, but to stop email marketing because of that feedback is a bit misguided. If you should never email your prospects again because they don’t want to be marketed to, why should you continue to make commercials? Or billboards? Or social media ads? We keep marketing because the real truth is that people don’t want to be marketed to – when they don’t want to be marketed to. This doesn’t mean we should never market to consumers (via email or any other platform) again, it simply means we should market better, and in ways that don’t intrude on consumers but rather, offer an opportunity for them to see what you have to offer.
In fact, according to research, 80% of marketers see email marketing as the greatest driver of customer retention (I’ll add ‘when done correctly’ – more about that later). Research is also showing that both ROI and open rates (especially on mobile) are steadily increasing. Adobe did a study that showed that 50% of consumers actually prefer to be marketed to via email. Think about it. Sending your message via email allows consumers to choose when to view your marketing message – they can decide to access your latest sale announcement when they’re already thinking about purchasing. You’re not shoving a message down their throats during a commercial break when they’d rather be watching their favorite episode of Survivor. Ultimately what this means is that email marketing is far less intrusive than other forms of marketing. Checking email isn’t reactive, it’s proactive.
So we see that email marketing actually overcomes that huge hurtle of intrusiveness and allows consumers to choose when to view your message. Having said that, we do know that there are still a lot of emails that get deleted without ever being opened. Now we need to look at what kinds of messages achieve the best results and get opened most often. Tune in to my next post to see 3 ways to get more of your emails opened.
Sharing is fun!












