Why PR pros shouldn’t give up on email

In spite of the hoopla over video, hashtags, influencer marketing and Instagram, email remains an important tool for marketers.

There are an estimated 3.9 billion email users worldwide today who bring in nearly $40 billion in ad revenue, according to The Radicati Group. What’s even more encouraging is that the marketing research firm forecasts there will be nearly 4.4 billion people using email by the end of 2023, with ad revenues exceeding $73 billion.

The study suggests not only a healthy marketplace for companies, but also one where competition will be even tougher.

Here are tips to navigate this field, both obvious and some more provoking:

For Starters

Take the example of emails where the sender’s email address is preceded by “donotreply.”

That’s an immediate turn-off for many people because it clearly states that the sender has no wish to hear from the recipient. The same is true for auto-generated IDs from the brand’s email service provider.

For higher open rates and responses, particularly in B2C companies, companies can insert the name of someone with whom the recipient can make a connection and perhaps shoot a query. Better yet, they can use the brand name as part of the return email address (e.g. jsmith@companyname.com).