Assignment due 11/9: Clickz.com Article

“E-mail Resurges” – Kevin Newcomb (October 20, 2006)

Summary:

The article is basically about how e-mail has evolved since its inception. It’s an extremely valuable tool to marketers, as many marketers are realizing the high value in the use of e-mail to market. Once a “killer app,” e-mail is now universally applicable, and has the ability to bring together a whole company, in terms of integrating functions and helping the transfer of information between departments. It is a way to ease efforts in tying all departments together as a communication channel. People are beginning to realize that e-mail has more value than how it was perceived to have in its early stages.

E-mail is beginning to be seen as the “digital backbone” for marketers. It can be used for communication amongst the inner circle of marketers, as well as used to mass communicate to a large number of people through an e-mail list. This is great for PR announcements, news blasts, etc. Issues regarding e-mail are the effective design of the e-mail body, user experience in one’s viewing an e-mail, e-mail list growth and effectiveness in sending e-mail, deliverability and measurement standards of sending e-mail, building a commitment to e-mail of c-suite execs, and exploring integrations with other industry groups as well as exploring partnerships with them through e-mail. These issues are currently being explored and expanded upon.

There are interests in the use of the benefits of e-mail by major corporations, as well as niche companies. A company’s reputation can be perceived through their e-mails, by means of quality and e-mail delivery. People are more likely to filter away e-mails of unknown or disliked brands, and more likely to give some attention to those e-mails from companies with good reputations. It is important for a company not to release too much e-mail, for that can pose as an annoyance to the e-mail list recipients.

E-mail’s biggest roadblock is still, and always has been, spam. People are becoming more selective with e-mails, and their tolerance for spam can likely rub off onto other efforts of marketing from companies that they would potentially be interested in, which puts those companies at a harder position. However, it is still widely accepted that e-mail is becoming stronger in value as a marketing tool, as the e-mail and Internet become more comfortable to use for users and consumers.

My thoughts on this subject:

The reason I chose to write on this piece is because I agree with the author in that it is a very important marketing tool. I have had experience in the entertainment field, in which requires a lot of mass marketing of new media releases through e-mail. E-mail is convenient to use and a more efficient use of the company’s resources. It is a cheap way to get the message out to millions of e-mail list subscribers; with the only thing invested really is time to design the layout of the e-mail.

It's link to e-commerce:

This article does tie in to e-commerce, in that marketing is a part of the sales process. With almost all marketing e-mails, there is a link that directs the recipient to the company website. It is there that he or she has the ability to purchase a product or service, or become more informed of something of interest. E-mails allow a company to grab a target consumer’s attention towards a product they might be interested in, and from there, help them towards the site where the company can deliver to the consumer a better shopping experience. It is in that way that e-mail is very important to e-commerce.



Above: An e-mail I received from Sephora.com. It's design and layout was exceptional, and provided an online version of the Sephora store experience, including an array of many featured beauty products. There was an option to visit the site, leading the e-mail recipient towards possibly making an online purchase. Incentives to online purchases were offered, such as three free samples in addition to any online order made on Sephora.com.

With the e-mail service I use, Gmail (google mail service), there is an area to the right of each e-mail viewed that shows sponsored links. The links usually are related to the subject or content matter of the e-mail. For instance, the e-mail above from Sephora.com generated a number of beauty and health-related links such as a link to buy Philosophy brand products at drugstore.com, as well as one for American Beauty Cosmetics.