Is Email Marketing Becoming Stagnant?
After reading this post on the No man is an iland blog, I feel compelled to respond and give my two cents. They pose the question “Why is email marketing becoming stagnant?” This is supported by the fact that B2C emails featuring both free and sales offers dropped in 2006. They hypothesize that it’s a combination of a few things including:
- Statistical anomalies
- New marketers still getting ramped up to the ins and outs of email marketing
- General malaise
- Over shooting their email list quotas
- The ever-annoying Outlook 2007
I agree with some of the points mentioned, but I do believe a few things have been left out.
Yes, Outlook 2007 is extremely temperamental and is difficult to code emails for (No background images!? Seriously!?).
Yes, I agree that the majority of emails that come through my inbox lack charisma and creativity.
And yes, there are a lot of fresh faces in the game, trying to make a name for themselves, but who are unfamiliar with the basics.
I think we have to consider that other sources for information on the web are more widely used, which may have influenced a drop in a B2C email presence. More and more companies are sinking their online budgets into ads, viral campaigns, and SEM. Yet, the most ROI-generating form of media online is still direct-email marketing.
So what gives? Does the problem lie with communicating these cold-hard facts to potential business? Is email inherently at a disadvantage since you can’t incorporate embedded flash or video on a widespread basis (as Mac Mail is the only client that displays video)?
The best way to solve problems like these is to collaborate with other email-marketing specialists.
If you’re in the email marketing game, I suggest you sign up for Email Marketer’s Club. We can use the EMC to band together, get a dialogue going, address these tough questions and get them answered once and for all.
Posted by MindComet on Oct. 18, 2007