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No, email marketing is not dead.
People think email marketing is dying because email is relatively “old” technology, especially when social media and SMS exist.
But neither of these can replace email marketing. Here’s why:
People Hate Ads
When was the last time you were excited to see an ad on your Instagram feed?
For most people, the answer is “almost never”.
In mid-2023, YouTube had waged war with ad blockers.
And as of this time of writing, they’re losing that war.
Why have people ditched cable/satellite television in favour of streaming services like Netflix or Prime Video?
Because people hated commercials.
In general, we love consuming content, but we hate when it’s disrupted by boring salesmanship.
Especially when it’s irrelevant.
And that’s the keyword: irrelevant.
The truth is that marketing works. But the key to great marketing is not just clever copy and design,
it’s whether the ad is relevant to them or not.
And that’s where email marketing shines ✨
Email Marketing =
Relevant Ads
Check your inbox and count how many promotional emails you have.
If you’re like most people, you’ve probably subscribed to a few newsletters; probably for your favourite clothing brands and personal care products.
Why? Because you’ve chosen to receive promotions from these brands.
And unlike social media, you can always stop receiving these promotions by unsubscribing.
Email Marketing vs.
Social Media Marketing
If email marketing is not dying, then why does social media have the spotlight?
Simple: because that’s where people spend their free time.
But just because people spend more time on social media than checking emails, that doesn’t mean that email marketing is dying.
In fact, they have different strengths and work very well together, covering each others’ weaknesses:
Social media is great at driving traffic to your website and creating brand awareness, but it’s difficult to get consistent sales without paying for ads.
Email marketing is great at converting leads and retaining customers, but relies on a source of traffic to generate an email list.
They exist at different ends of your conversion funnel, and a brand can’t succeed without either of them.
Read more: Email Marketing vs. Social Media Marketing
Emails vs. SMS
So what about SMS?
Since more and more brands are adding SMS to their funnel these days, many think this is a sign that email will soon be replaced — especially because SMS has a higher conversion rate than emails.
But that’s because SMS serves a different purpose.
Although they function similarly, in what we call digital direct marketing, SMS is way more personal than email.
Question: would you rather have your boss email you, or text you? If it were me, I’d rather they email me.
What about your close friends? You’re likely comfortable with them texting you.
This is the same with marketing, SMS converts better than emails because people have consented to more direct messaging, not because SMS is more direct.
And yet, a vast majority of people would rather give away their email than their phone number.
In fact, across all of our accounts we’ve noticed that e-commerce brands average 15x more subscribers on their email list than their SMS list.
Read more: Email Marketing vs. SMS Marketing
Conclusion
So if people ask if email marketing is dying, the short answer is no.
It has lost a lot of priority to social media and SMS, but email is still a core re-marketing channel for a vast majority of brands.
Whatever that can kill email marketing needs to do what email does, but better in every way.
With that said, email can still be a challenging channel to manage because it requires a lot of technical knowledge of:
- email automations
- managing monthly broadcasts
- segmentation strategies
- list hygiene and cleaning
- deliverability
- data privacy regulations
Which is why marketing agencies prefer to outsource the technical work to white label email marketing agencies like us, so that they can focus on managing clients.