The Pellucid Perspective - April 2011 - (Page 6)

COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY Is e-mail dead? By Harvey Silverman couple months ago I received an email from the industry’s most notorious serial e-mailer that stated in the subject line: Email is dead. Whoa, I thought, and quickly checked my pulse, for if this was true and I had just received an e-mail, might it mean that I had succumbed and that this e-mail was arriving from the afterlife? And what if…well, this publication is not about the existential, so let’s assume we’re all alive and wondering if, indeed, e-mail is dead. Just like in our article about Groupon for golf (The Pellucid Perspective, Jan. 2011), if you Google “is e-mail dead” be prepared to view and read a plethora of writings and musings on the subject. And in case you’re on life support and need to know right now, the answer is “No.” But e-mail is changing (hey, it is technology, right?) and worthy of an in-depth look at the key elements of change and how it might affect your particular business. Our initial research on the subject revealed that there are two camps writing sometimes conflicting stories that, upon closer examination, are somewhat self-serving. Those companies and experts pushing the social media technology phenomenon are A more inclined to try to bury email as an old technology, kind of like the persimmon woods of social communication. It looks pretty and still moves the ball (message), but not as fast or as far as metal (social media). On the other hand, those companies in the business of assisting marketers with email concepts, design, and deployment have financial reason to continue selling email as the communication method of choice. In the end, both sides make strong points and as our communication methods evolve, we can conclude that while email is not dead, it is changing in ways that are not easy for most of us to keep up with. Pellucid is a client of a full service provider of email marketing services focused on new customer acquisition. We have used them successfully for over four years in locating emails of golfers for our Voice of Local Golfer surveys, and customer acquisition programs. They have over seven million golfer emails in their database that we can filter by geography, gender, household income, wealth rating, even if they own a dog (it is truly frightening how much data is available about each one of us). But, that’s another subject for another article. For the purposes of determining whether email is dead, we went to them for some facts, and they directed us to resources provided by the Direct Marketing Association of America. Data released by the Direct Marketing Association for Q4 2010 shows an increase in email conversion rates of 16.1% over Q4 2009; and the Q4 2010 2.9% conversion rate (a conversion is a purchase from the email) is the strongest measured over the last two-year period. This analysis is compiled from 7.4 billion emails sent by Epsilon, one of the largest email marketing companies, in October, November and December 2010; across multiple industries and about 150 participating clients. (If the company Epsilon sounds familiar, they were recently the target of a major data breach, a possible subject for another article). The 2010 holiday season saw companies investing more in email marketing and saw better results, including a higher open rate (up 5%), and higher dollar amounts per conversion. Since population age has much to do with golf participation and frequency, it is interesting to review the comScore 2010 email usage statistics: Total web-based email usage declined by 8 percent in the past year • Email usage declined by 59% in the 12-17 age group • Email usage declined marginally among 18-24 year olds • Email usage declined by 18% among the 25-34 age group • Email usage declined by 8% among the 35-44 age group • Email usage declined by 12% among the 45-54 age group Important for golf is that in two of our bread and butter age groups, we saw an increase in email usage. The 55-64 age group increased email usage by 22% while the 65 and older age group increased email usage by 28%. Also important to note is that the (See E-mail on page 11 APril 2011 6 The Pellucid PersPecTive http://www.clubcar.com http://www.clubcar.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Pellucid Perspective - April 2011

The Pellucid Perspective
Contents
Cover Your Asset
NGCOA Ponders Becoming Southwest Airlines?
Is E-Mail Dead?
Foreclosures Opening New Avenues for Managers
Mar 2011 YtD Weather Impact, Feb 2011 YtD Utilization
An App a Day Takes Your Money Away
Comings & Goings
Golf Deals to Forget
Phoenix, AZ Core Business Statistical Area (CBSA)
Can’t Sell Your Home? Call Tullymore Resort

The Pellucid Perspective - April 2011