This is getting tedious. Here I am writing yet another post inspired by yet another spelunking analyst who thinks email is dead or dying. I actually feel a little guilty writing this because that little voice inside is telling me to leave it alone. However, I just can’t ignore it. I’m like a motorist who can’t help but look at an awful accident as they pass by.
The latest example is an eloquent post at TechCrunch where the author predicts that email is fading because (among other things) kids just don’t use it anymore. Of course, we then hear that familar response from other bloggers that when kids grow up and get jobs, they’ll use email. The whole debate is really starting to grate on me.
Email is social
The fundamental truth that most of these doomsayers seem to be missing is that email is social! By definition any interaction between two humans is a social one. The device or channel this takes place on is irrelevant so long as it accommodates effective communication and frankly, in most cases email does that better than other social channels.
Recently I attended a family gathering and I asked people how they perceived social and email. What I heard back is something I’ve been saying for a long time now, average people don’t think about the channels. They don’t sweat the details as do those of us who use them professionally. They simply move between them intuitively and use what best suits their needs at the time. Marketers are not normal users and neither are analysts and anytime an analyst offers an opinion, at best it’s simply a well informed one.
Different channels, different strengths
I don’t have to extol the virtues of email to you. If you’re a professional marketer then you already know it has unique abilities which channels such as Twitter and Facebook simply don’t have right now (transactional messages for example).
While other channels may give you a corner in a crowded cocktail party where any comment might be overheard or drowned out, email gives you your own home address. This is a distinction which can’t be overlooked or underestimated. We start out in life with very little to call our own, but as we grow up and develop our identities, we buy cars, we purchase homes and we set down stakes – an email address is one of those stakes we plant.
Sunshine, puppies & magic bullets
People write posts about email dying for the same reason I am writing this one, to draw readers and provoke discussion. You don’t get many views by talking about sunshine and puppies.
Perhaps we are spending too much time looking for the next magic bullet, the next shiny or the next miracle channel for marketing. We might all be better served if we spent more time discussing the message rather than the means. If the message sucks, no channel, however new or shiny is going to make your marketing any more effective.
Email is one of the most powerful channels ever created for communications and thus, it has become a very popular and effective marketing channel. It has been constantly evolving since its creation and it will continue to do so, but it’s not fading fast by any means. Email was the first social digital channel and shares the DNA which makes social media so powerful. Email isn't apart from social, it's a part of it.
