• by Cory Treffiletti , Featured Contributor, 9 hours ago

As a marketer, I still hold on to hope for the idea that email is a viable medium, but over the weekend, my belief was shattered.  The fact is that you must be a little insane to click on any email these days, which has implications for marketers of all shapes and sizes.

Let me start with the fact that retailers abuse email repeatedly, in a way that makes me want to start over with a completely new address. 

I recently bought a shirt from a very well-known brand from its website, and as a result began receiving daily emails from the company.  I unsubscribed, but apparently that unsubscribe only applies to one form of their emails; they have some workaround that allows them to keep emailing me about different types of offers.   

I see this happen for every purchase I make. If I buy something, why does the retailer think I will make a new purchase every day following that?  At the very least, try once and then give me some breathing room.  At least let me receive my pants before you start trying to sell me new ones.

Now, the most challenging item is not that I get inundated with emails from brands I know, it’s that phishers are able to replicate them all so very well and pretend to be legitimate, trying to get information and credit card data from me. 

In the old days, it was clear which emails were false.  They were typically from a Saudi prince who wanted to give me money, or a bank that had uncovered some money and needed to wire it to me. 

More recently, emails seem to be from recruiters, retailers and other legitimate sources.  If you look at the email address, they are very good alternatives to the actual brand’s domain.  The names of those sending these emails are real names of real people, whom scammers uncovered by reviewing LinkedIn.  The landing pages are well-designed and clearly created to look like a standard brand’s site. 

Phishing has gotten very sophisticated, and it catches people all the time.  The only way to avoid the issue is to simply never click on an email again. 

That sucks for marketers who use email.

Now, being a marketer, you have to plan for this fact. It’s possible the only way to deal with it is to essentially expect a zero percent click-through rate.  You can even go so far as to say, “Don’t click here -- just visit our site directly instead” and maybe that will help consumers to understand this is a real email?  If they are discouraged from clicking, but they go to the site, that means they’re interested and they’re practicing safety  in email. 

Email is still a frequency medium for delivering a message. Maybe in B2B it can still generate traffic, but I truly believe that B2C email is dead in terms of driving attributable and measurable sales.  There’s just too much fraud in the space. You have to be crazy to be a consumer and still be willing to click on an email.  The only thing crazier is clicking on a link delivered in SMS or text.  That’s 100% something you should never do anymore.

Do you agree, or do you think I’m overstating the problem?