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RSSIn the last year or so, my fellow Insider columnists and I have written about why email is neither dead nor dying, despite what naysayers insist. What will wound email is the enemy within: not spam, regulation or even the SMS/Facebook/MySpace generation, but our own ignorant practices.
Stupid is as stupid does. If Forrest Gump were an email marketer instead of a shrimper, he would explain that when otherwise smart marketers do stupid things, they are, in essence, stupid.
Marketers who do commit mistakes or deploy lame practices fall into four general categories:
1. Inexperienced marketers who truly don't know any better. 2. Marketers at all levels who know what to do but simply lack the time or resources to do the right thing. 3. Marketers who are guilty, from human or technical errors. 4. Those who choose to ignore common sense, best practices, legislation -- or are pressured by bosses or aggressive goals.
For inexperienced marketers, the amount of information, articles, seminars, Webinars, conferences, white papers, etc., that are available is almost mind-boggling. If someone new to the email marketing space can't get educated, then they clearly aren't trying or are better suited to a shrimp boat.
The reality is that most marketers fall into category No. 2. They have 15 to 20 different marketing responsibilities, and getting it done takes precedence over getting it done right. For these folks, the only answer is "Stop, smell the roses and better communicate email's value and ROI to management."
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Loren McDonald will be there speaking during "Looking Past Email Measurement" on December 09 at 9:45 AM. Top executives will be there. Will you?
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Human or technical errors happen. But through formal processes and testing, 99% of most errors can be eliminated.
Our biggest challenge is the last group: those that choose to ignore what I refer to as generally accepted best practices (GABP, stealing from the financial community's GAAP standards).
I don't have the answer to deal with these marketers. Bad and shameful practices are prevalent in all areas of marketing. All I have to do is open my postal mailbox every day to see deceitful copy on envelopes, too much fine print, overmailing of offers and other bad practices.
At least with email, we can hope that spam complaints, CAN-SPAM violations and blacklists ultimately get the message across to these bad actors.
Examples of these stupid practices and mistakes are numerous, but here are just a few to enjoy with some of Bubba's shrimp:
Ignorance is (Not) Bliss
Lazy is as Lazy Does
To Error is Human
Bad, Forrest! Bad!
Momma always says there's an awful lot you could tell about a company by the emails it sends. Well, Forrest, I may not be a smart man, but I know what stupid emails look like. And, so do your customers.
Have any "favorite" stupid practices or mistakes that I missed? Let me know in the comments box below.
RSS FEEDS
1. Gerard, not Gerald. As an email professional, you should know that getting a person's name correct is the first step in gaining that person's respect and trust.
2. If you are still with me, I agree with you that email will not just stop and get replaced by something else. But, the automobile took 50 years, the CD took 2. SMS/Facebook will take over email in less time than that... I have a 17 year old daughter who has as many email accounts as she wants and answers NONE of them. But, if I send her a text message, I get a reply in seconds.
Email IS dead. What we have right now is email on life support. LOOKS like it is alive, but not really. Just a bunch of older folks late to the party and feeding on the picked-over carcasses.
1 year, 5 years, what does that matter. If you don't currently have an email replacement strategy, you're already too late.
No one disagrees that email has issues. Most of us simply get too much of it (this suggests that it is in fact NOT dying) and spam and phishing are still annoying. But email as personal communications vehicle and marketing/information channel is still quite effective. And the industry continues to grow quite strongly.
For email to die, something has to take its place. Cars replaced horses as the primary form of transportation. But we also have many forms of transportation. I will fly to the upcoming Insider Summit in Florida and take the BART train to San Francisco to the eMA conference next week. Similarly, I just posted on Facebook, IMed today with some co-workers, did a Webinar, talked on the phone - and did a heck of a lot of email.
My 13 year old, however, communicated mostly via text message. Most of her music is digital via iTunes/iPod (she does have a bunch of CDs) - and I have gone digital as well with iTunes/iPod (much of it converted from records and CDs). Email is not going to die anytime soon and be replaced as the reel-to-reel, record, 8-track, cassettes and now CDs have (are) been. For most of us, we will start using text messages more, waste time in social networks, ask co-workers questions via IM and read blogs via RSS feeds. But email will still be there for you to complain about - probably for at least another few decades, or more.
I think you are both wrong... time will tell. Same thing that happened to BBoards and ListServs will happen to email.
Tuck this away, take it out in 5 years. We'll see who is right.
1. Unfortunately, the spell checker doesn't know the difference between - tenet and tenant - nor did the writer of an email I received the other day. The world is so full of terrible spellers and emails with misspelled words lose credibility.
2. Most of us are muti-media creatures. So even though I get your email I may want to respond by mail or phone. So many emails I get don't give me options. But the general rule is, the easier it is to respond, the more respondents show up. So make it EASY to find your phone number and mailing address.
And, Loren, I LOVE your notion of GABP.
Email is dead. Anything you do is just putting lipstick on a pig. Anything you do in a year or so is mortuary science. And I'm not a naysayer, but I'm also not an ostrich. Anyone NOT looking for communication systems to replace email is just plain stupid.