1whatEmail, the ultimate communication medium, can’t be replaced by anything else and will certainly develop and transform further - but for sure it will not disappear. By now, some webmail providers already offer video functions and emails can be built partially dynamic, making a real impact on email marketing.

Almost certainly, the advertising emails of the future will be – same as the welcome pages of the web stores – be set up with personal offers and list of last seen articles. Besides, most probably we don’t have to wait for long till purchases or orders can be executed directly out of an email.

Social Media vs. Email

While we must still be content with inaccurate reporting and analysis in social media marketing, email marketing provides fairly accurate and insightful statistics. By the use of target group segmentation, the success of email campaigns can be increased and positively influenced by the quality and relevance of the campaigns. Further, by forwarding and “share with your network” (SWYN) functions, the campaign can be quickly distributed on the net and read directly on smartphones. These advantages can hardly be outperformed by any other medium. Not to mention the best feature: Email is simply much more personal!

Email can niftily control the sales cycle

Email was widely accepted by the business community as the first broad electronic communication medium and was the first 'e-revolution' in business communication, since it is very simple to understand and solves, like postal mail, two basic problems of communication: logistics and synchronization: Email provides a way to exchange information with no set-up costs, not to mention that it is generally far less expensive than physical meetings or phone calls, and allows asynchrony and participants having independent schedules.

It is not only the technical advantages that make the email so incredibly attractive as a communication channel. In addition to marketing, sales and service benefit greatly from it as well. With multi-step email campaigns, for instance, recipients can be forwarded directly to the sales or service department, where they can get more support.

I guess, I could go on and on with praises for the medium, but just want to emphasize to conclude what its name directly implies: Email is simply faster than postal (physical) mail and often even more convenient than making a telephone call, bridging time zones easily and having in a way their own momentum.

Daniela La Marca