Email Use Going Strong, Just Changing, So Keep Up!
Everyone loves drama (hence the popularity of reality TV!), so I don’t think the cries of email’s demise are going to end any time soon.
Therefore it will remain our job as email marketing vendor to watch for the signs that prove otherwise. eMarketer just published more numbers that disprove the naysayers who keep sounding the death knell for email.
Although web-based email use might have declined, that doesn’t mean email use itself has declined. Keep in mind the continued growth in smart phone use and the numbers of people checking email on a handheld device.
And the numbers prove it. Email use isn’t declining but holding steady, according to the article:
“According to research from customer relationship marketing agency Merkle, 87% of internet users checked personal email daily in 2010, a number that has changed little since 2007. Among those with a separate email account for commercial email, 60% checked daily, down just 1 percentage point since 2008.” (Emphasis mine.)
Based on these numbers, email use has stayed pretty darn consistent! For over three years! That doesn’t look like a decline in use to me. How about you?
eMarketer also reports that social media users check their email more often, not less. Which makes sense when you remember that plenty of social media notifications are delivered via (gasp!) email.
Like I said, the cries of demise are likely to continue because bad news is more fun to report on than good news. But we email marketers can disregard the hand-wringing. Our job is to look at how email use is changing, not declining. Our email marketing best practices simply must adjust to things like mobile marketing and social media sharing.
Email use is going strong, even if it looks a little different. And email marketing best practices will ensure we continue to succeed as marketers, no matter these changes. We just have to keep up, not give up.
About the Author: LaRock
