Is Email Marketing Dead?

I get asked frequently if I think email marketing is going to get taken over by Facebook and Twitter. I say “Heck No!”. And it’s not because my business is tied to Email Marketing either. I’m a consumer of both Facebook and Twitter. I love them both, but I’ve never bought anything based on the information I've read on either. However, many people are still making a lot of money via Email Marketing.

“Email Marketing used correctly is still the greatest weapon in social media a person can undertake in business.” Kurt Johansen – Australia’s Leading Email Strategist- www.kurtjohansen.com

Kurt went on to say that he finds that since Facebook is connecting with ‘Friends’, people don’t think of buying from a friend. It just doesn’t feel right. But email is known more for connecting with clients/customers and therefore is more open to online sales.

Email marketing needs to be done right however and I’m seeing a whole lot of not right. You need to be consistent, make purchasing easy for the reader and you need to add personality to your content because we all know that people buy from people that they know, like and trust. Also don't use boring subject lines.  "Monthly Newsletter", "September News" and "Current Updates" are putting me to sleep. No wonder you aren't getting good open rates. Many readers will decide to open your email based on past content and your subject line. Put a little information about the information they will find in the email to entice them to open your email. 

Finally, this is something I sometimes have difficulties with myself, adding ME to the email marketing. Sending out blasts of promotions is NOT Email Marketing. And that’s why I’m against the standard DBWS corporate emails. They are just that…blasts for an opportunity to buy. Where’s the personality, where’s the content? Thank you Stampin’ Up! for allowing us to create our own emails now in the new release. I suggest every demonstrator should at least be sending out your events this way via DBWS if nothing else. But I also suggest sending out your blog post via email marketing too. Why not. People generally don’t visit blogs unless they are reminded. We are just too busy this days.

I also want to add that please do not feel your Email Marketing isn’t working for you when your open rates aren’t above 50%. It still works AND is the most cost effective means of connecting with your customers. Remember the days of sending out print copies of newsletters, the cost and the ordeal? Whether your customers open your email or not, they are still thinking of you in a good way. And that’s what we are really going after isn’t it? To stay in our customer’s minds so when they are ready to purchase, they will connect with us. How many times have you wanted to buy something and thought, what was that person’s contact information. Heck, what was their name? Within minutes, you are rushing kids to school, handling up-teen things on your to-do list and feeding the dog. You forget the need every happened. Email keeps you connected and here is why…

“Nine-three percent of U.S. online consumers receive at least one permission-based email message per day, making it by far the most broadly used of these channels for consumers looking to engage brands online. As such, it is likely to drive increased purchase intent among the largest number of online consumers.” – MORGAN STEWART of MediaPost.