For those of us watching the email industry, the last twelve months have been very exciting indeed. High profile acquisitions of specialist email businesses by some of the biggest players in CRM, such as Oracle’s purchase of Responsys, or IBM’s purchase of Silverpop are proof that email is still the most vital element of any digital marketing strategy. The world’s biggest CRM providers have now woken up to the need to integrate email into their marketing propositions, and their purchasing of existing solutions rather than taking the time to develop their own shows just how urgent this need is. The reason for this urgency? These businesses have realised what I have believed all along – that without email, targeted marketing simply does not and cannot work. There is no other way to make sure the right content goes to the right person at the right time that is cost effective. After all, everyone has an email address. To not have one is the digital equivalent of being homeless. Without an email address, you cannot shop online, bank online or engage with social media. Furthermore, iOS and Android devices now require an email address to set up and it will surely not be long before this a requirement on all internet connected devices. Therefore, email should underpin any digital marketing strategy, partly because it is so universal. A very small percentage of people do not have one and this figure will continue to shrink over the next decade to almost zero. […]
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