Email remains king ??… Here is why.

Gmail recently turned 20 years old ??, and it seems like a great time to reflect on one of the oldest and dearest digital marketing channels, email ??.

The channel is edging towards its sixth decade therefore, it pre-dates the internet as we know it today.

How has this humble but complex channel withstood all the changes and rise of the internet, social media & other alternatives? The answer is pretty simple; it still works quite well.

In fact, it works so well that over 340 billion emails are sent every day globally.

What has kept email at the top?

Users of a certain age or generation will have varying attitudes toward email but, there is no denying that it remains the go-to-tool for most work and personal communication of importance.

Email remains the official channel of communication, globally. Everything else is great and some even faster, but nothing is more official than email and that is one of the reasons why it reigns supreme.

The professionalism it lends to communication remains unmatched. This has been ingrained in the work and professional cultures the world over and until a new channel can have such a global reach, collaborative & reliable scale, email is here to stay.

Throughout most of my career as a marketer, email has always been the building block of any campaign and over the years, I have worked with some amazing email & push specialists to refine design and execute stellar email marketing strategies.?

At BrighterMonday, where we send over 2 million emails a year with the channel accounting for more than 40% of the annual sessions and 25% of the platform users, email took on a whole new level of importance in our strategy.

Email marketing wins because of the following reasons;

Direct Communication: Email is as direct as digital marketing can get. Executing an email campaign reaches the audience directly through their subscriber emails. It remains the preferred method for B2B campaigns with 93% of marketers choosing email over other channels.

Unlike social media platforms or search engines, email is immune to the “dark magic” of algorithms which can affect visibility.

Personalization: The room for ultra-personalization on email remains immense, from addressing recipients by name to tailoring content based on their preferences and behavior. Personalization enhances engagement and relevance, and marketers can gain extra-ordinary improvements in engagement metrics between personalized & generic content.

Permission-Based Marketing: The email channel still grants the most user protection and options unlike some other digital marketing channels that rely on interruptive advertising, it is permission-based. Subscribers' opt-in to receive emails, indicating their interest in the brand's offerings, which often leads to higher engagement and conversion rates.

35% marketers reach out to their audience three to five times a week using email and with more frequent users of email checking their inboxes at least fifteen times a day!

High ROI: Email consistently delivers one of the highest returns on investment (ROI) compared to other marketing channels. Its low cost, combined with its ability to generate significant revenue, makes it an attractive option for B2B & B2C campaigns.

According to Marigold’s 2024 Global Consumer Trends Index, 50% of the consumers made a purchase from an email from last year compared to 48% from social media ads, 43% from social media posts, 24% from SMS & 21% from banner ads.

Measurable Results: Email marketing platforms provide detailed analytics that allow marketers to track metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and more. This data enables marketers to continuously optimize their campaigns for better performance.?

For example, in 2023, we sent more than 2.1 million emails, generating over 500k impressions (opens) and 16k clicks across all our campaigns (average 3.2% CTR) compared to 4.2 million impressions, almost 11k engagements & 60k clicks (average 1.43% CTR) generated from 855 posts across our social media platforms in the same period.

In brief, email had 2x better CTR than the average across all our social media platforms in 2023.

Automation: Email automation allows marketers to send timely and relevant messages to subscribers based on triggers such as sign-ups, purchases, or abandoned actions.

Automation streamlines the process and ensures consistent communication with subscribers while also enhancing the user-experience from welcome emails and new job listing notifications, it all flows more easily and efficiently than on any other platform.

Integration: No tool is more integrated with workflows than email. The sheer ubiquity of email often means that it is the first point of integration.

Email integrations to customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, applicant tracking systems and so much more make it robust and pretty irreplaceable as a marketing & communication channel.

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While email may not be the sole solution for every marketing need, its versatility, effectiveness, and adaptability make it a crucial component of any comprehensive digital marketing strategy.

Ultimately, the effectiveness of email versus any other channel as a marketing channel depends on your specific business objectives, target audience, and the nature of your content and communication needs but if you can incorporate it into your execution plan, leverage a great database, conduct A/B tests and experiences, you will have a great campaign!

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