SUBSCRIBERS RULE!

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Social Inbox Concept

Fear Not, Brave Email Marketers!

In the course of my career, I’ve come to realize that email marketers carry a disproportional amount of FUD (fear, uncertainty & doubt) compared to marketers in other disciplines.

I’m no psychoanalyst, but I’m guessing it’s due to the fact that email marketers exist at the whim of the ISPs and the myriad of ways in which they render, filter, and block emails.  I also suspect that despite the medium’s unassailable ROI, we all have a little bit of a complex because the cost-effective nature of email means that we command less of the marketing budget (and therefore, in-house respect) than our counterparts who wield large advertising budgets.

The FUD cloud that hangs over email marketing becomes all the more evident when you stand us side-by-side with the social media crowd.  Talk about extroverted!  Those folks love to talk, link, share, and pontificate — and they do so despite the fact that social media is struggling itself to command more of the overall marketing budget.  My colleague Morgan Stewart summed it up perfectly in his article for MediaPost’s Email Insider this week when he stated:

Social media folks understand authentic interactions with customers, they get customer relationships, they just haven’t figured out how to make money! Contrarily, email marketers know how to make money, but too many of us consider a deliverable email address a “relationship.” Let’s face it, we are socially retarded.

If only we could create that X-Filesque alien/human hybrid — the best of the email marketer and the social media guru — we might have an unstoppable force in the marketing department.

Well, guess what.  It’s happening.  As I discussed earlier this week, thanks to Yahoo, Microsoft, Gmail, and even AOL’s Bebo, 2009 stands a good chance to be the year that delviers us a viable social inbox — a space that brings all of our email and social interactions together in one place.

With email and social merged for consumers, email marketers and social media gurus will have no choice but to collaborate.

While this sounds wonderful to some, email marketers will have to fight off their FUD instincts.  It’s easy to see how social inbox features (such as the “From Connections” view in Yahoo’s social inbox beta) will strike fear in the hearts of email marketers who seek to sell rather than serve subscribers.

My firm belief, however, is that the social inbox holds great promise for email marketers.  Here’s why:

1. It’s an Inbox. Who in the online marketing world understand the inbox better than email marketers?  Our understanding and respect for the inbox environment should prove to be a tremendous asset as we seek to increase consumer engagement and response no matter the medium.
2. More integration means more use. The more communication tools that the social inbox can integrate into a single dashboard (email, IM, SMS, Twitter, social networks, etc.), the more consumers will remain in the inbox, and the more responsive they will become to relevant, timely messaging of all types.
3. Email’s strengths will shine. Email supports images, attachments, archiving, search, multiple recipients, and messages more than 140 characters.  The social networks depend on email to drive engagement, send account notices, and alert you as to new friends and followers.  In the social inbox, email’s strengths will shine as part of the expanded suite of communication tools that users have at their disposal.
4. Relationships will rule. The social inbox will reinforce the importance of relationships.  As a result, companies who take the time to understand and serve their email subscribers needs will be rewarded with above average response and an opportunity to extend those relationships into the social media (or vice versa).

While the social inbox will bring change, it will also bring opportunities to those who remain focused on the “four rights” — sending the right message, to the right person, at the right time, through the right medium.  So, set aside the FUD fellow email marketers, and focus on the fundamentals.  Subscribers will still reign supreme as the year of the social inbox unfolds.

Reading Is Soooo Overrated!

As Jeff mentioned in an earlier post, I recently worked with the folks over at Ball State Univerity’s Center for Media Design on a paper outlining personal and marketing communication preferences of 6 commonly targeted groups. It is always interesting to follow the coverage after releasing a major piece of research like this and to see how different people choose to cover it. Here is a short list of the more entertaining coverage we have received:

• “According to research conducted in part by Ball State University’s Center for Media Design…” No mention of ExactTarget on this one. But of course, this was a pick up by a competitor. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.
• “… from an ExactTarget-sponsored survey conducted by the Ball State University Center for Media Design.” I must admit, the two paragraphs on page 3 of the whitepaper about the methodology was a little on the dry side. But really, this was a collaborative project where they did some work and we did some work. We even had phone calls and stuff to compare notes, combine findings, and talk about which findings would be the most relevant to marketers.
  

  If I got credit for David Daniel's work!

• “A recent survey conducted by JupiterResearch for ExactTarget suggested that the 18 to 34 age group is more likely to be influenced by email marketing than…” Now how in the world did David Daniels work his way into this one? David does fantastic work and I enjoy hanging out with him at industry events, but c’mon. Wait, that gives me an idea…
• And this from a UK, “It might be worth noting at this point that ExactTarget are an email marketing company, but they did have the academics at the unfortunately-initialled BS University to back them up.” Gotta hand it to the Brits on that one… funny! That said, it is too easy to dismiss research because it was conducted in part by a email marketing company. The goal was not to prove email superior, it was to find the channels most appropriate for different types of communications. There is a clear shift toward social networks and SMS among younger demographics. Our research supports that, but we also found that assuming that subscribers want companies intruding into these mediums is simply wrong. Marketers must be delicate in their approach to these mediums.
• And my favorite from a company specializing in SMS, “I’d rather you text me!”

Perfect! That is what this is all about… preferences! Some people would rather you text them, others may want you to post to their wall on Facebook. But there is a huge problem we came across: it’s nearly impossible to predict! It is truly a matter of individual choice. Emerging channels–especially social networks and text messaging–are highly personal channels that the majority of people feel are off limits to marketers for one-to-one messaging. Banner advertising, okay. Fan sites, great! Promotional messaging, not so much.

To get the full scoop, download the paper and read it. If you really don’t have the time, let me point out the 3 key take aways: 1) Traditional direct marketing channels such as email and direct mail are not going anywhere. They are the foundation of direct marketing communications for all commonly targeted demographics. 2) For those subscribers heavy into SMS and social networks, it is nearly impossible to determine based on demographics alone what channel people prefer for promotional messages–so we need to ask. 3) Try emerging channels such as SMS and social networks, but take time to understand what subscribers expect through these channels and make sure you take permission very seriously. If you don’t, your subscribers will cease to be subscribers for long.