Marketers have a love/hate relationship with email marketing. Industry pundits declare “email dead” every few years or so. However, it is still the best communication channel between brands and customers and has grown consistently over the last decade. The landscape is evolving. Marketers fully need to embrace email as an essential part of their personalization and promotions efforts.
Given the framework laid out by the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) most recent report, brands are learning how to implement the concept of a value exchange. Examples include loyalty programs, better personalized consumer experiences, individualized promotions, or free content in exchange. All of these strategies are offered in exchange for consumer data.
Email is surprisingly resilient. It’s the communication channel that underpinned the invention of the internet. Marketers still use it as the single most pervasive mode of one-to-one communication for consumer messaging. Email is a ubiquitous and fertile testing ground.
With respect to data and consumer control, email is also one of the most heavily regulated modes of communication. Consumers are given multiple options to control settings of which emails they receive, unsubscribe, and alter other preferences. Their inbox is also theirs—it’s a space that they own and can browse at their pace, based on their interest.
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