My first job on the Web was in email marketing and I’ve been involved with it to some degree ever since. I have been trying to think up a juicy post on the subject and I think I have finally got it.
I believe it’s time to take the word “marketing” out of the term “email marketing”. Brilliant huh? Here’s what I’m trying to get at. Email is a channel or a communications tool, not simply a form of direct marketing. I think email has received such a bad rap over the years because one of its first real business uses was to direct market to customers. Businesses became so excited at how cheap and easy to do it was that they didn’t put any thought into it. You know, the old “throw enough sh@t at a wall, some of it will stick” approach. This, coupled with list purchasing practices and the lack of overall creativity, really turned off a lot of people to their inboxes.
Well, times have changed and email is as important as ever. It’s time we stop using the catch-all term “email marketing” when discussing ways to utilize the email channel. “Email is the digital glue”, is a quote I really like from a video series filmed by Ellie Mirman at this year’s Email Summit. Off the top of my head I can think of three great ways to use the email channel that are not direct marketing related.
- With all of the social media hype a lot of us have forgotten about email. Email is by far the most used channel on the Web for sharing content. I see this firsthand at Boston.com and one of our partners, ShareThis, recently put out some great data on sharing including how people share (email led the pack accounting for 46% of shares).
- Transactional emails are a huge opportunity area for businesses of all kinds. They are the best performing emails because they contain something of value for the recipients and, if integrated into a product/service the right way, they can also provide a lot of value for the sender (business). Take Netflix’s transactional email that is sent once a DVD is returned as a perfect example. Yes it’s nice to know your DVD has been received, but the real value here for both the customer and Netflix is the rating functionality. I’m willing to bet that a large percentage of user ratings come from these transactional emails and we all know how important these ratings are to Netflix’s business model.
- Sites leveraging “group buying power” have had a lot of success lately by providing users with great daily deals. I think it is pretty obvious that users are not proactively navigating to these sites everyday and since RSS hasn’t caught on with the mainstream yet email has been the flagship channel delivering these daily deals to them. Much like transactional emails this is a great example of directly integrating the email channel with your product/service.
What do you think? Is email as important as ever and are my three uses of the channel at all valuable? If anyone’s out there… (I’ve always wanted to type this) fire away in the comments.
Dave,
Great stuff and I agree with your stance in regards to approaching email as a communication channel. For me it’s not so much about whether you consider it “marketing” or not, rather it’s about recognizing that email is not about hammering people with your self-serving message. The example of transactional emails is right on – I’d also add that in addition to being valuable, they’re also timely and relevant – all ingredients for a mutually valuable email.
Thanks for plugging the video series!
Ellie
Thanks for stopping by and for the comment, Ellie. “Mutually valuable email”… I like that!
Well done, Dave. I definitely like the premise. It sort of attaches a catch phrase to the critical evolution of the channel. The problem with many “marketers” moving away from this mentality is pretty simple: it takes more effort. And as long as the throwing shit approach works, or gives the appearance of working, in terms of positive ROI the list growth is out-pacing the attrition, I don’t see them moving away from it any time soon — especially as companies get leaner and budgets tighter. Relatively speaking, e-mail is still a new medium and until there are more guys out there like you and me to help facilitate this tidal change, I fear that the marketing will be inextricably attached to the e-mail. Everybody knows what they should be doing, but it’s an entirely different matter to actually execute it.
positive ROI *and the list growth…
i should’ve been a copy editor
Dave, I think you’re absolutely right that we need to stop talking exclusively about email marketing, as servicing is also a valuable and potentially lucrative (and/or cost-saving) opportunity. However, I would suggest that it’s more relevant to talk about “digital messaging”. “Digital” expands beyond the channel and speaks to the ability to integrate email with mobile, social, and other channels. “Messaging” is more inclusive of transactional and servicing emails – though I would suggest that all emails sent by a business to customers contain marketing to some extent. Your thoughts?
Thanks for the comment, Gretchen. Great point on “digital messaging” and integrating email with other channels, which I think was actually validated for us by ExactTarget’s acquisition of CoTweet today.
Great post from the folks at SendLabs on this same topic.
http://blog.sendlabs.com/2010/03/email-is-dead-twitter-doesnt-think-so/
I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment and companies need to recognize that emailing their customers is a privilege — they must deliver value. Sadly, too many are still using the “spray and pray” method and lack any real integration. Email “marketing” is too often an afterthought. Though, I don’t think it’s necessarily because they don’t grasp the concept that email can be used much more strategically (and therefore effectively), but probably a function of budget and resource restrictions, which ultimately points to a lack of commitment by senior management. Unfortunately, the continued misuse email just cheapens the medium for the more conscientious emailers.