(English) Marketeers are all guilty at one time or another of being swept along with the latest ‘new thing’, and in recent years perhaps nothing has exemplified this better than the perceived importance of social media marketing. However, the recently released Pew Internet Survey conducted in May 2011, is a wake up call to manic marketers, on why social should not supercede email marketing just yet.
According to the study, which also highlighted the continuing importance of search engines in the internet lives of your customers, 92% of internet users in the United States use search engines and send email. The number of users using social networking services? A lowly 65%.
A figure of 65% is of course a lot of users, particularly when less than 5 years ago, less than 20% of US internet users were tweeting and liking to their heart’s content. Clearly then, email and search have competition, and who knows what the next few years will show, but right now, for pure bang for buck, return for investment and reward for effort, the statistics clearly indicate that a focus on email and search would reap the greatest rewards for your store.
Most tellingly perhaps, the Pew Survey tells us that 94% of internet users in the all important 18-29 category use email, with that number rocketing to 87% for those in the 65+ years age bracket.
Walking away from this study with the belief that social should not be part of your marketing efforts would clearly be a mistake, but the facts are clear – email, and search are still the dominant, demographic reaching mediums to interact and reach your customers; ignoring that in favour of the latest kid on the block would be certainly detrimental to your business.
Now you know how important email is to your customers, take a look at the Mailbeez Suite of Email Modules to assist in your marketing strategy.