Email as the Digital Workhorse in the Spotlight

Email isn’t slowing down as it hits its stride during what we may look back down the road as the digital renaissance years. Digital communication channels are very fragmented across most demographics, but email sits across the center of them all as the one and only true hub. Mainstream and niche business publications continue to write about this, having seemingly discovered this cyber fountain of youth just now. Any savvy digital marketer already knows this. Even the weak or lazy email programs generate serious revenue and engagement.

It’s the ultimate permission marketing channel. That is why it works – subscribers ask for it and marketers deliver. Win-win.

Is email perfect? Heck no, but people are onto studying and fixing it instead of trying to kill it, as evidenced in this study titled Evolution of Conversations in the Age of Email Overload. Below are a few statistics to remind you why email stays in the spotlight with so many other channels, platforms, and messages gunning for its spot in the center of digital consumption.

1. Email averages 222 percent return on investment (ROI). (VentureBeat)
2. Email marketing was ranked as the best channel in terms of return on investment, with 68 percent of companies rating the channel as “good” or “excellent”. (Econsultancy)
3. Email is almost 40 times better at acquiring new customers than Facebook and Twitter. (McKinsey)
4. 91 percent of consumers check their email daily. (ExactTarget)
5. There will be 3.9 billion estimated email accounts by 2017. (Radicati)
6. When asked which medium consumers would like to receive updates from, 90 percent preferred an email newsletter. (Nielsen Norman Group)
7. 72 percent consumers sign up for emails to get discounts. (BlueHornet)

Don’t get me started on why companies are only spending just 16 percent of their marketing budget on email (according to Econsultancy) when it is so effective and powerful. At least, according to VentureBeat, almost 70 percent of marketers will be “using more email” in 2015 as compared to 2014. That’s higher than display, social, search, or anything else.

So let me say it again – email is and will be in the foreseeable future in the spotlight. There are so many exciting things and vendors active in this space, which is somewhat of a revelation to this veteran of email where consistency has out-hustled flash. With a future filled with innovate companies, engaged subscribers, and a high ROI, it should be no surprise that email continues to be in the spotlight.

Image via Shutterstock.