Now Email Is Dead Too

November 9, 2009      Admin

First, direct mail was dead. Now email is dead. Apparently the only channel that’s alive is social media.

At least that’s the POV presented by Jessica Vascellaro in a Wall Street Journal article, Why Email No Longer Rules, published last month. She begins: "Email has had a good run as king of communications. But its reign is over."

The article has kicked up a storm of controversy in marketing circles, with most commentators saying Ms Vascellaro is simply flat wrong (see Fast Company, TechBlog). Various studies indicate email usage is in fact rising, especially among heavy users of social media and young people, precisely the groups she cites as the vanguard of email leavers. One ingredient in the mix — smartphones with internet connectivity … they seem to move users back to email.

Here is an article by Morgan Stewart of Exact Target (granted, an email marketing outfit) that provides a good rebuttal of Vascellaro’s piece, with links to relevant bits of research.

Bottomline: if you’re raising money via email appeals, keep right on truckin’! And mail some letters too.

Tom

P.S. If you really want to get ahead of the technology curve, skip online media altogether and jump right into fundraising by telepathy.
 

 

2 responses to “Now Email Is Dead Too”

  1. Stephen Best says:

    I could count the list of media that have died on the fingers of … Oh, that’s right. None have died.

    We even still use stone tablets.

    Regards,
    Stephen Best

  2. Rosaria says:

    This is very true and I cannot agree more! But there is a solution to email and direct mail being dead- Direct Mail online where you do not even need to pay for printing or postage. The name of this new technique is know as DROV- Direct Response Online Video. This allows company’s to : Use video to present the sales message, Provide a valuable purchase incentive to the prospect, and finally capture qualified leads immediately by email.

    http://www.ThePowerOfOnlineVideo.Com can create your company’s video if you want to start using DROV now!