The Future of E-mail Marketing
by Gary B. Smith
AT A CROSSROADS, IRONICALLY, THE VERY ASPECTS THAT MADE EMAIL INTO
THE "INTERNET KILLER APP" HAVE ALSO SOWN THE SEEDS OF ITS POTENTIAL
DEMISE.
ON the one hand the use of e-mail has burgeoned, which is a tribute
to its practicality and functional success. On the other hand its
ease of use as a marketing and advertising tool has resulted in the
present spamming crisis.
The growth of e-mail as a tool for mass communication has been dramatic.
A report compiled in March of this year states that in many countries
e-mail has become more popular than postal mail, with the number of
e-mails being sent and received exceeding letters by almost 300 million.
On the other hand, research indicates that by the end of 2002, 35
percent of the 115 million e-mail messages that will be sent, will
be unsolicited, or 'spam' mail.
While e-mail has grown to be an indispensable tool for direct communication
and building business relationships, it has also developed into a
sophisticated and reliable means of marketing and advertising - an
Internet element that has become more prominent over the past six
months. The reason for this development is really due to the simplicity
of e-mail, coupled with its seemingly endless potential for continual
growth given the right Internet environment. In addition, the Internet
environment has now been provided with the availability of broadband,
which is becoming more and more accessible with each passing day.
The potential for e-mail to expand as a marketing tool has grown exponentially.
This includes new marketing environments, en masse communications
via e-mail, html e-mails; as well as animation, audio and now even
video. In theory and practice this should make for a very bright future
for e-mail as an ubiquitous tool for communications marketers. It
does - but the abuse of this technology leads to the overwhelming
amount of irrelevant postings we call spam. Many experts and Internet
raconteurs cast gloomy predictions for the future, to the extent that
some envisage increased spam has the potential to destroy e-mail as
a viable form of communication altogether.
Others however foresee e-mail in a positive light; they believe the
very popularity of e-mail provides the incentive for the development
of ways to combat spam and eradicate anything that will retard e-mail's
development. Albeit, one thing is for sure - the fight for the continued
mass usage of e-mail is one of the high dramas of the Internet.
Why is E-mail so popular?
The reason e-mail is so popular is found in its present widespread
usage. A major motivation for using e-mail is of course outlay; for
the price of a local phone call you can communicate internationally,
which means that the cost of communicating with global business partners
and for sharing data has been enormously reduced thanks to e-mail.
In addition, large documents, which can be compressed, can be shared
across time zones; another obvious advantage is the speed and immediacy
at which this can be done. One does not have to wait weeks for the
post to arrive in order to read the latest product update or financial
report that has been published today. Likewise, these advantages have
been added to by the technologies like video and audio e-mails. Another
advantage of e-mail, which is taken for granted, is the reduction
of paper and time spent on filing. It is easy to create folders to
file e-mails and even create a filter that will automatically place
your incoming e-mail in the correct place for retrieval.
E-mail is a key tool in the business world. It allows immediate connections
and interrelationships within corporate structures and can overcome
the anomie that results from anonymous hierarchical structures. Possibly
this is the core of e-mails' popularity and the best insurance against
its possible demise. It is also significant in that, through its immediacy,
e-mail has the ability to make large groups of people situated in
different cities and countries feel part of a single interactive whole.
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