Email Marketing by the Numbers: How to Use the World’s Greatest Marketing Tool to Take Any Organization to the Next Level

Email Is Dead! Long Live Email!

By Patsi Krakoff, Psy.D.President, Krakoff Wakeman Associates, Inc.Blog: http://www.coachezines.com

Email is dead. We can still use it to communicate with one another on an individual basis, but as far as content is concerned—RSS holds infinitely more value and promise. . . . I’ll likely continue to “do” email newsletters.

—Chris Pirillo, interviewed by Lee Odden

Portrayal of the demise of email reminds me of the British chant whenever there is a death of a monarch, “The King Is Dead! Long Live the King!”

Let’s get real. In response to the above interview, email marketing is not dead. It’s just evolving rapidly and only the strong will survive.

In February 2004, Jakob Nielsen reported that a study of email marketing showed that targeted e-newsletters continue to show strength:

E-newsletters that are informative, convenient, and timely are often preferred over other media. However, a new study found that only 11% of newsletters were read thoroughly, so layout and content scanability are paramount.

Email newsletters continue to be one of the most important ways to communicate with customers on the Internet. Newsletters build relationships with users. . . . Still, users are highly critical of newsletters that waste their time, and often ignore or delete newsletters that have insufficient usability.

The bottom line? Improving the quality of your content will ensure your email marketing and newsletters survive, get opened, get read, and work for your ...