Why email beats every other marketing channel you use

And why social media is just a temporary distraction…

I often hear people saying email is dead. It’s been around for years, its time has come, it’s just spam. People are far more excited by the mass consumerism of social media, apps and Google tech. After all, it’s far more savvy to focus on the next ‘big thing’ – isn’t it?

Well the truth is we’ve been jumping on and off the bandwagons for years and arguably, we don’t really have much to show for it.

Despite the excitement surrounding Facebook fan pages, Google glasses or QR codes, they’ve failed to revolutionise the way we market and consume. More importantly every other marketing channel fails to achieve the results that email does.

If you don’t believe me then here’s a few points to consider…

It generates more revenue

Email is still nearly twice as likely to convert than the second biggest channel, searchlight (Monetate, 2013). It brings in nearly £25 of sales for every £1 you spend, making it more profitable than any other investment in marketing you’ll make (DMA, 2014). Many channels fail to deliver the goods and I’ve seen many false prophets in my time. Trust me, sinking your budget into banner advertising isn’t going to do you any favours when your boss asks you for the ROI figures.

It drives more engagement

Even the marketing channels that prove successful still don’t drive the engagement that email does. Recently I sent out a link on Twitter which generated around 25 clicks in an hour. When I sent the same link to an email list it received more than 600 clicks. Yes, my email list might be twice as large as my social media following, but it generated about 24 times more clicks.

It puts you in control

You can send your recipients what you want, when you want and you can choose what they see. Unfortunately you can’t say the same for social media – Facebook only shows fans of my pages a selection of updates in their newsfeed and they’ll only get served content Facebook ‘thinks’ they’ll like (Facebook, 2014). A bit too hit or miss for my liking! And in contrast to search or affiliation, with email I’m not competing for investment or keywords – someone isn’t going to steal my thunder overnight, meaning my customer won’t even see my message.

It adds value to your business

Unlike any other channel, you own your email addresses and the data your activity generates. The quality of the email contacts you have adds value to your business because they make up a valuable asset – your database. If you sell your business you’re also selling that database. When you use affiliation, search or social you won’t be able to sell on the data or the relationship.

It closes the sale

Any marketing channel can spark interest in a consumer but not all channels can prompt a purchase. If you look which channels close sales then you’re likely to see that more sales can be directly attributed to email than any other online marketing channel (Econsultancy, 2014). The path between receiving an email and making the purchase is a lot shorter than the slow burning effects of SEO and content – making it far more efficient at securing a purchase.

It’s the best fit for brands

Last time I logged onto Facebook it wasn’t to see what coffee Nescafe recommends I drink, it was for fun – to see what the people I care about were up to. As social media desperately tries to monetise its activity it’s increasingly pushing brands into our social lives. My newsfeed is cluttered with suggested posts, pages and adverts instead of my friends’ news, and it’s pushing me away. I log onto Facebook for fun, so Nescafe please get out of my face – I just don’t care. When I log onto my email I expect to see emails from brands and they won’t stop me seeing any news updates from Aunty Joan.

So there’s my reasoning. Next time someone tells you email’s dead, point them in my direction – I’ll let them know it’s still very much alive and kicking.