Email Marketing still won’t die.

This is likely old news by now, but newsworthy nonetheless. As reported by a recent Forrester Research study, a very healthy 97% of consumers now use email, and 94% of marketers are now using email as part of their larger marketing mix.

This is especially significant considering just 4 months ago studies were showing that only 81% of marketers were finally warming to email marketing and its obvious ROI and all-around cost-effectiveness.

As industries and their various players seem to be getting more tech-savvy and open to internet-related marketing and sales opportunities, email can and likely will play an increasingly important role in online marketing initiatives. Email continues to act as that crucial ‘link’ between a new user and a selling/marketing company, and thanks to the 97% of consumers now on email, utilizing this channel to the fullest is only common sense for the future.

One thing that will change? The (welcomed) movement away from ‘shotgun’ or ‘spray and pray’ email marketing (AKA broadcast email), and towards an advanced level of email: increased data segmentation, better consumer targeting, and more recipient relevance (AKA 1-to-1 email).

Keeping it all relevant and targeted will only help marketers get the better open and CT rates they crave, whilst allowing consumers to actually receive something they want to receive.

Finally, it seems authenticated email and VEI (Visual Email Identification) might be making some headway. This is even better news for email marketers, coupled with the overwhelming stats above. Rolling out authenticated email will surely be the next large step (after CAN-SPAM) to alleviate some of the pressures that SPAM continually presents to permission-based email marketers.