Is Email Marketing Dead?

So maybe the title is a bit dramatic, but those were in fact the cries from a large number of marketing professionals at a recent trade show that I went to. However, when actually having a conversation with them the general consensus seems to be that email, as a form of mass communication has had its day. This to me seems somewhat ironic; try having the same conversation with the same marketeer as a potential customer. They will recommend that you do an email campaign.

Strange as this may seem, as I would have to agreed with them, but done correctly email is still the best form of communication. Social media is what is being muted as the next big thing, and as someone very cleverly pointed out to me recently, it is all about the media. It is not worth just turning up to social media, you have to work to get the message out within a social environment. So in conclusion, no I do not think that email marketing is dead, it just needs to be handled properly and used as a communications tool. Get the message?

And it’s not just us that say it, here’s some statistics on email marketing:

• Email marketing generated a ROI of £43.62 for every pound spent on it in 2009 (Direct Marketing Association)
• Email and e-newsletter marketing are considered a second-most effective tool for conversions (just behind CEO) (Ad Effectiveness Survey, Forbes Media)
• A 2009 survey of retailers found that “email is the most mentioned successful tactic overall” (Shop.org)
• In 2008, Marketing Sherpa did a survey of hundreds of marketers; pay-per-click ads ranked tops in ROI, with email marketing (to house lists) at a close second.
• A 2009 Marketing and Media survey had 80% of industry executives saying that email channels performed strongly for their company (Datran Media)
• Cost per order of £6.85 for email marketing, vs. £19.33 CPO for paid search (February/March 2008 survey, Shop.org)
• Datran Media’s 2009 Annual Marketing and Media Survey had 58.5% of industry executives planning to increase their investment in email, while only 5.7% planned to cut back.
• An April 2009 survey of senior marketing executives revealed that 46% of respondents planned to invest more in email (European Interactive Advertising Association)
• Across the board, it’s estimated that expenditures in email went from £600 million in 2008 to £700 million in 2009.
• A 2008 survey showed that 95% of marketers surveyed were using email marketing, with 4% planning to get on board with it by year’s end (Forrester Research)