by Erick Mott
The often heard comment that email marketing is passé or Web 1.0, fails to appreciate the reality of interactive marketing and Web 2.0 communications today and what promises to be the reality in the future. In fact, interactive marketing and Web 2.0 communications will be adversely impacted without the use of trusted email as a relationship-building hub (think tire, spokes, axel and engine metaphor) for multichannel strategy and execution by businesses of all sizes.
Two recent studies and a webinar suggest that while new Internet and mobile technologies and channels -- and the user environments they enable -- are evolving into Web 2.0 and beyond, email will become more important, not less important, to the communications that matter most to consumers and businesses.
A survey conducted by Ipsos Research and sponsored by Habeas recently found that 67 percent of consumers consider email the preferred channel through which companies should communicate with them, and 65 percent believe email will still maintain this key position in five years. The Economist Intelligence Unit’s recent Digital Company 2013 study and white paper found that 87 percent of executives believe email will be the top communications channel for their businesses in five years and central to engaging, enabling and interacting with employees, prospects, partners, and customers. In both studies, despite the significant growth of other interactive marketing and Web 2.0 communications like web meetings, video conferencing, blogging, social networking and instant messaging -- consumers and businesses believe email is critical today and going forward.
Email is dependable, proven, and pervasive -- with the highest online channel adoption by consumers worldwide. Other communications methods may have an instantly gratifying, collaborative quality that excites, but when consumers and businesses need to exchange messages that contain relevant, organized and timely information, email is the preferred medium. One could argue that email is a social media too. You can engage dozens of friends and colleagues in an interactive discussion, where everyone is accessible and nobody has to sign up for a proprietary network to participate. All you need is an email address, PC or mobile client and Internet connection.
Even Facebook and Socializr, for example, depend on email as the messaging glue that connects individuals and maintains the social operation that is so critical to their success. In interactive and digital marketing, email may not be seen as cool or emerging, but the Economist Intelligence Unit data shows that businesses making real investments and concerned with ROI clearly view it as a very effective channel for customer interaction, transaction and retention.
This reliable killer app from the Web 1.0 era is being increasingly perfected. Consumer sentiments suggest that email will become more customized, personalized and transactional to better engage customers. The Ipsos study found that 88 percent of consumers are demanding more control over the nature of the content and the frequency of email communications (i.e. preference centers). People want their email, they want it their way, and they want it when they want it. Consumers get irritated and lose faith in online brands and experiences if their opt-in offers, weekly frequent flyer fares, customer support messages, web meeting invitations or their tax refund confirmation do not show up when they expect these messages.
In our multichannel world of the future, there will be a variety of communications channels, foreseen and unforeseen, but what the industry can count on is that email will be around in a big way. At the end of the day, the most critical tool in your interactive marketing and Web 2.0 toolbox will, in fact, be trusted email.
