I would suggest that you are mistaken in your thinking. Just because you do something it is not logical to presume the majority are the same.
Email marketing is not "dead". In fact quite the contrary. Not to mention in terms of ROI it is still the most cost efficient method of electronic marketing.
A 2009 Global Consumer Email StudyA permission-based email is an email communication from a marketer to a consumer or business that has subscribed or opted-in to receive email communications from the sender. PBEs are more likely to elicit actions from APAC respondents including clicking on a website, signing up for more information, watching a video clip, clicking on an advertised link or purchasing on- or off-line. APAC also leads in reported usage of a PDA or Smartphone for email with 32%, significantly more than North America (9%) and Europe (7%).
In addition, consumers take a variety of offline actions including visiting a store (49%) and purchasing by phone (25%) or catalog (25%) which reinforces the need for marketers to implement a multi-channel strategy. Six out of ten (59%) APAC consumers report making an offline purchase as a result of email communications, followed by North America (53%) and EMEA (37%).
“In order to reach consumers at the right time with the most appropriate message, it is critical that multichannel marketers understand consumer behavior and properly adjust their message, timing, and overall strategy to ensure success,” according to Andrew Frawley, President, Email and Digital Solutions at Epsilon. “This research also clearly demonstrates that the email channel does not exist in isolation from other online and offline channels. Organizations must integrate these email best practices with communications in other channels to deliver the highest ROI programs.”
Merkle also issued a whitepaper last year, then based on their research provided added tips on effective email marketing.
The 2009 ‘View from the Inbox’ report reveals new insights into the attitudes and opinions of the average U.S. consumer toward permission-based email. Highlights include:
A Bigger “Inner Circle”: The Inner Circle is Merkle’s term for the companies that a consumer chooses to receive emails from. For the past six years, this number held steady at nine. Today, the new average is ten, signaling that subscribers’ capacity for brand engagement via email is expanding slightly.
Add Me to Your Contacts: Slightly more than half (53%) of consumers have added at least one company to their address books to ensure that emails land in their inboxes.
Not Relevant? No Thanks: Subscribers who opt-out of permission email cite that these emails lack relevance (75%) or are sent too frequently (73%).
Not So Fast:Slightly over half of respondents said that they were less willing to sign-up for email communications when compared to just a few years ago – showing that they are exercising caution. To grow their subscriber lists organically, marketers must continue to emphasize the value of their emails to consumers.
Common Disconnect: An inverse relationship exists between the emails that are valued by consumers, such as transaction-related confirmations (64%) and account summaries (55%), and the quantities that they receive, such as news alerts (20%) and offers (18%).
For the ‘2009 View from the Inbox’ report, Harris Interactive® surveyed 2,505 U.S. adults age 18 and over who check and/or send email at least once a week. The margin of error for the study is +/- 2.0% and the confidence level used to report comparisons between sub-segments of respondents is 95%.
A wealth of valuable information for email marketers can be found in
this 2010 articleFrom my own personal experience, I subscribe to several PBE (Permission Based Email) subscriptions, with one being several newsletters and feeds from TechRepublic.
In fact in the time I've taken to research and write this reply, I've received at least half a dozen of my daily emails from them. Even as little as an hour ago I clicked on an advertisement in one of them which led me to IBM's sponsored site
http://smartplanet.com. I found it so beneficial and relevant that I immediately bookmarked it, and intend to return to it daily.
In addition I also subscribe to a variety of retailers that I shop at frequently such as Home Depot, Best Buy, and my local grocery store, as well as online retailers such as Amazon, GoDaddy, and PapaJohn's Pizza, too. I frequently shop both online and offline as a result of advertisements I see in the emails.
No, email marketing is not dead. When used properly it can be highly beneficial.
//edit -- I probably should mention that any
unsolicited email that makes it past my spam filters, does get quickly deleted with very little to no attention paid to them.
June 24th, 2010, 1:30 pm
