Have you heard? "Email is Dead!"
It's a phrase that gets trotted out every so often in an attempt to be edgy, to generate controversy (thereby increasing engagement), and because AI content generators aren't quite ready to generate new ideas yet.
It's good to know recycling is alive and well.
But is this really the case? Is email actually dying as a marketing channel?
By now, email isn't a fresh idea. It's been around for decades. It's not shiny. Plus, social media and paid search have gained considerable ground as marketing channels.
It's easy to assume that because email isn't the newest, it's on its way out. And while email may not be the first choice for personal communication, reports of its death have been highly exaggerated.
How exaggerated?
Consider this: Every day in 2020, about 306 billion emails were sent and received.
306 billion emails. Every. Day.
By 2022, estimates are that this number will rise to about 347 billion emails per day and 375 billion by 2025.
4.03 billion people worldwide use email, and this number is expected to increase to about 4.48 billion by 2024. 90.3% of people in the United States have email, and 99% of us check our email every day.
For comparison, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger combined have about 3.5 billion monthly users (who are definitely 100% real people and not bots).
What about the return on investment for email versus other marketing channels?
For paid search, like Google Ads, you can expect about $2 in revenue for every $1 spent. Not bad, right?
Litmus' latest survey reveals that the current ROI for email is 36:1 (they indicate it might be higher than that right now, but the latest statistics in which they have confidence indicate 36:1). So for every dollar spent on email marketing, the average return is $36. Other recent surveys put the ROI at 42:1. Google who?
Other research results in the same message: Email is the most profitable marketing channel. So if you're not generating revenue through your email marketing strategy, then you may be doing it wrong.
Email has undoubtedly changed since the early days. With more than 300 billion emails sent every day, there's a lot of competition for your audience's attention. As a result, impersonal, generic, business-as-usual emails not only won't be opened, your contact may never see it.
Email service providers began cracking down on perceived spammers years ago and now assign Sender Scores to organizations that send out emails. ESPs notice when your audience isn't opening or clicking, or they unsubscribe, or worst of all, they mark your messages as spam.
When too many of your contacts don't resonate with your messaging, your Sender Score plummets, and the ESPs redirect your future messages to the spam folder. And not just for the contacts who marked it as spam...
For your entire audience.
The key to leveraging email's potential as the profitable marketing channel is audience segmentation and personalization. Your contacts signed up for your marketing materials for a reason. They want to be understood. They want you to address a problem they have. And it's up to you to deliver.
Using Motiva's automation tools, like multivariate message testing, per-contact send time AI, Persona reports, and more, you can see exactly how well your message resonates with a particular segment.
By building a personal relationship with them, you are increasing engagement, customer loyalty, and ultimately delivering on email's promise of great returns.
Want to see how Motiva can help realize the earning potential of email marketing? Schedule a Demo today!
