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Is Email Marketing and Communication a Dying Practice?

Critical conversations have moved away from email in recent years. I was thinking about this because I recently exchanged business cards with a woman and immediately emailed her my contact info. These kinds of email introductions used to be followed up happily and quickly that day or within hours/minutes.

Not anymore. Days go by. Inboxes are too full. Spam filters send legitimate emails off the radar screen. It sucks, but it’s true.

So where have these crucial conversations gone?

  • Back to the phone – this is good for a number of reasons, and I’ve personally seen this occurring in my own business.
  • To SMS – Whether your contacts are close friends or important business associates, text messages seem to get much more attention these days. It’s the first thing people check, wherever they are and whatever time it is.
  • Facebook, Linked-In and Twitter (for some people) – I’ve had entire business conversations with people within Linked-In and Facebook.. the FB one was a friend already, however. These tools allow people to strategically filter their discussions by friend groups.
  • In person – Still the best way to discuss business.
  • Via Skype, IM, Chat and so forth – This could include a Web cam or HD conferencing. Again, the filtering factor of buddy lists and contact circles makes it useful to busy executives.

What’s your experience? Are you having any luck with direct email marketing? Are people you meet and email slow to respond? Please comment below to share your thoughts.

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  • http://www.targetedkilling.net/ Tom Hunter

    It makes one consider the possibility that tech devices that were designed to keep us better in touch – particularly with regard to business-related emails – have so over-saturated us that we now tend to lump all email coming into our Blackberries and other PDAs as more of an inconvenient blob that we must content with all day long. When we need a break, lets say at home after work, more and more we become accustomed to the peace and quiet that we find away from the incessant tones marking the arrival of new emails. I know I finally had to do away with my Blackberry and simply chose to use only my home computer or my office computer to conduct business. I no longer want that parasitic device attached to me 24/7. In sum, I think what was once a convenience (email automatically delivered to my PDA) soon became an albatross from which I couldn't escape. Thus, it was perhaps no surprise that I came to develop a natural aversion to email owing to what seemed to be its omnipresent nature. Now that I conduct my business only through my desktop computers, I have that separation from email communications that I needed in order to maintain a good quality of life.

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  • http://www.qualitywriter.com phildunn

    One of my buddies likened his blackberry to a dwarf in his pocket constantly poking him.

    I'm thinking that email may morph into something that looks like regular snail mail. E.g. you get bills and checks and junk/offers tailored to you (and in many cases not)… You just won't receive personal communications in your inbox any more.

    Business communications will be via collaboration tools and networking platforms like LinkedIn and Plaxo… and various CRM tools. Social will be on Facebook, Buzz, Twitter, etc… with some overlap.