Let’s hope they move in that direction!

Thanks for the post. You raise some good points and I agree with you that open rates are not a successful barometer – CTR and Effective Rate are much better gauges; my point of the article was that email marketing is not effective because of the way marketers are implementing it. They use poor segmentation and list management, poor content, don’t test and have to compete with a number of other channels. Additionally, they spray and pray and send more email instead of sending quality email. I was trying to argue that marketers who take a more multi-disciplined approach to email and use it as one of several channels, in addition to following best practices will see more effectiveness in their email campaigns.

Open rates are not a proper barometer of a successful email program (reas Stephanie Miller’s piece on this blog) and to generalize declining click through rates seems pretty vague. I know our clients have seen steady improvement in their metrics, including their key business goals, the real measurement of email success.

Is email marketing really not effective because of Twitter? Even to a twittering audience, I don’t see the connection at all.

Is email marketing not effective because of list churns? While this is an issue for any email marketer, the fact that you may lose valid opt ins doesn’t mark the death of your email program.

I don’t see how Facebooks ends the utility of email marketing either and I am a huge fan of Facebook and LinkedIn. Sure, you have to figure out how the channels compliment each other but I don’t see a thesis that backs up your title here.

Facebook should be viewed as another targeting messaging platform, just like email albeit a different audience. This notion of one is the king and another must die is overstated and frankly, inaccurate, in my opinion. Recent digital history has shown us this.

Maybe I am missing something here but I would love to know more why you really think email doesn’t work anymore. I hardly think email marketing is flawless but for a targeted and measurable messaging channel to an audience that says “yes, email me”, the ROI and other benefits are hard to beat.