Obviously the short answer is “No.” Social media may have impacted the way we choose to get updates from our favorite sites, but people still make lots of money from their email lists.
Having said that, I personally read email newsletters less and less — especially ones related to Internet marketing. It seems that most of them are either sales pitches or they are sent too frequently.
If I do read a newsletter, I prefer it to be short, to the point and it should offer something different than the person’s website content.
The other thing with email is that my inbox is always so cluttered with personal messages, notifications, spam, etc. I often miss the newsletters I may want to read.
Social media is just more convenient for me to get news and information. With so many great apps that allow you to filter and sort how the information comes in, it’s easier to follow the content I’m interested in.
Quick Note: I don’t consider a weekly blog email sent by Feedburner a newsletter since it’s just an e-mail version of this blog post. I’m referring to email newsletters in addition to/separate from Feedburner blog broadcasts.
How I Use My Newsletter Today
I was never been big on e-mail list marketing. It took me awhile to get the hang of it because I didn’t develop a strategy at first. As a result, my open rates were always dismal. I never took the time to learn the art of email marketing…
…until recently!
Last year I revamped my newsletter strategy and now I only use it for news and announcements (product launches, advertising opps, etc.) When people sign up, the form specifies how I use the list, so it sets the subscriber’s expectation.
So overall, I think e-mail marketing is still very much alive. However, as the Internet evolves (social media) and people’s attention spans get shorter and shorter, many marketers have had to adjust their e-mail strategies.
How about you? Do you use e-mail marketing? If so, has your strategy changed since the introduction of social media? Have you noticed any significant trends with your list?
Perhaps you use social media and e-mail marketing on a regular basis to promote your business/announce updates? How do your strategies differ? I would love to hear from successful list marketers. Please share!
Interesting to see how email marketing has changed in 2013. Everything is mobile and some email “opens” are going down hill.
E-mail marketing is still pretty used these days with coupon offerings and there’s still money in it. The key is not to be extremely agressive and to use it especially with your loyal clients, as someone have already pointed it out.
Both emails and social networking sites are useful. I think e-mail marketing still play an important role in online business.Coupon is a great strategy.We also have to use Social Media.You need to learn new approach.This is my opion. Email news letter can never vanish, it may be true that it may have lost some of its charm. I think that Social media will change the course of online bussiness in the near future.
I still loyally open emails from anyone I know I can trust to deliver quality information. Social media is fine, but there’s still a place for building a relationship over email. It also allows for more privacy.
Customers tend to prefer email back from newsletter for the inquiry rather than social media because they would likely to stay anonymous and better serve through email compare to Social Media.
i even create a tab in social media to ask them subscribe for newsletter as well.
I think email and social networking both has significant value in business and entertainment.
Both emails and social networking sites are useful. Social networking sites are widely used for connecting with friends, relatives and other people; it is becoming popular among businessmen, while email is still being used for official purposes.
For more details visit `http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_marketing’.
I am agree with your posts. Traditional email marketing, along with snail mail direct marketing, is still essential. and social media is also very essential for growth the business market.
I guess, social media is gaining lot of attention from PR industry and due to this some rules are changed … even I will support you point that Email newsletter isn’t a lost art!
yes, social media has put an impact on Newsletter since things are not same as it was before but still it has delivered results time after time…
Email Newsletter is a refined form of gathering news and what have full control on what we actually want from particular site, where as in social media you need to find or just need to be lucky to find a informative post from heap of information which is less relevant. So my vote is definitely going for Email Newsletters ..
thanks for Sharing Lisa…
I think e-mail marketing still play an important role in online business.Coupon is a great strategy.We also have to use Social Media.You need to learn new approach.This is my opion.
I think e-mails still carry significant value in marketing your website. It can be a medium for you to offer things that those who do not subscribe cannot access.
E-mail newsletters definitely do not have the importance that they once did, but still are a great addition to your social media efforts.
Social media creates the awareness to the public but newsletter is mostly to your loyal followers.
I think newsletter has its own way to communicate to the intended users and social media has its own way to inform the message. Both have importance based on the nature of communication.
Very useful reading through this as I am deciding whether or not to launch a newsletter. My sense after reading this is that my time would probably be better spent focusing on email marketing.
email marketing is and old method to promote products, and piss me of when i get them
Social media I believe has not killed newsletters. People still spam there articles by way of email but it should be seen as another tool of engagement with the audience.
Yes, I think it has, Social media is not going to go away and is only going to build in the future, still, I think there will still be a market for newsletters.
I feel that any site you are really interested in can’t send you enough important information. It’s not the amount of information that’s sent it’s that the information arrives however you want to digest it.
I think that Social media will change the course of online bussiness in the near future.
Email will be useful in the future but Social media will also be great for reaching out to subscribers.
As i have heard of Aweber a lot and lisa you are saying you are using it, i think now i also need to give a try for these and email marketing.
It is actually difficult to say and people are earning from email marketing as well as social moedia, however yes people using social media are large in numbers in comparisons to the email marketing.
I believe its effected it somehow, but not enough to stop people using them, i myself have never used a email newsletter as i find that i get alot more spam emails from signing up to them
I think email marketing is still essential.
Email marketing is still currently one of huge factors for today’s blogworld. Though the amount might be less than that of social media
I also don’t read so much newsletters anymore. But it’s not because of social media, it’s because of RSS.
Lot’s of newsletters consists just of some blog posts. That means most of the time I already red that post or I wasn’t interested in it. It’s very rare that there is some exclusive information.
Social networking has definitely impacted on the my content and what I communicate through newsletters .
I still believe in the efficiency of Email Newsletters. Though there are a lot very accessible news in social media, there are still some value in newsletters as they provide more detailed and crucial information. When the strategy is right, both the social media and using email newsletters can complement each other and create a successful business.
It depends on the industry you are in but, I think email marketing is still essential. It’s still the best way to remind them you are there.
I have used email marketing to some success (though its always been a small list, a couple thousand). I haven’t used social media for much in the way of serious advertising because of the “serious factor.” It isn’t taken serious by many of my customers. Frequently, many companies simply wont use or even tolerate things like FB, Twitter, or even Technorati. I think the tides will change but right now…not so much
How would you email market if there is not enough people on your list and if you do not have much information to share?
I’ve never tried email marketing but social media is definitely working well for me. Facebook, Twitter and social bookmarking sites are my main traffic sources aside from Google.
Email news letter can never vanish, it may be true that it may have lost some of its charm. Email is the basic necessity and can never be stopped. Social media has grown a lot but i know many people who do not use it, rather they make use of and email.
I believe it is still fine to use emails. It depends on your market but I have four different emails set up with four different approaches and all work perfect for me in engaging with my readers.
I don’t think that social media has killed email newsletters and email marketing. I have seen a lot of my friends who are still interested when they get any mailed newsletters to read it and share with friends. No Doubt social media has grown in leaps and bounds and no one can stop it exponential growth. Good read and happy to know some interesting point.
I think part of it has to do with the age of your subscribers. Since a significant portion of our patient base are older, the emails that we send tend to get opened more frequently. We are still a bit hit-or-miss with our social media messages, and are still trying to find our demographic out there in e-land.
I have never really into email marketing, and never have any experience with them. But I do have a lot of list, that’s I think is a wasted opportunity for me. I do hope that email marketing will still alive regardless of the emerging of other 2.0 sites because I just wanted to learn more about it, and of course hope to profit from it.
I’m in the midst of learning how to work with email-list, do you have suggestion?
The thing that bothers me about social media is that when you are using it too promote a business, many highly regulated businesses such as banks, IT companies, government, etc. have systems and procedures in place to block such traffic and searches of the internet. If you are targeting such businesses a plain email maybe the only way of getting noticed.
I certainly hope that social media is not killing off email newsletters as I am about to start using one that I put in place last year. 🙂
I think I’m just going to use it to remind people of the recent posts I’ve published in the previous week.
I use email and social media marketing for my clients and myself. Email and social media are both effective, depending on your goal and target market. Marketing retail to kids? Facebook. Business to business? Email.
Even with the current social media sensationalism going on, email marketing still has the highest ROI of any kind of web marketing.
I see that you are using gmail to send you newsletters, how do you set that up?
I use Aweber.
i am the opposite – i find more junk in social media and rather easily navigate through my inbox to the important newsletters / emails. i believe email marketing is extremely effective if used with a solid strategy such as yours. exclusivity is helpful, and if you lay out expectations clearly at the onset and ensure your readers get exactly what they signed up for, they open rates and conversions will likely be high
I just started using AWeber to sell things. I give away my running book free to get them signed up, and then I offer things like a marathon program through the email. Had a record month in July, so email is a good addition for me.
Of course the answer is no to this question! Sending out newsletters is still a very good way of informing people about new product, new tips or giving some treats to your subscribers.
If you don’t like those newsletters you can always delete them.
It all depends on the niche I think. Some news letters should be retired – although can’t think of an example tright now. But like you say, they are often sales pitches which means I hit unsubscribe pretty quickly.
Email marketing is still my personal fave method of contact.
I think it has killed of a lot but there is still significant value in having a newsletter.
I think email newsletters are still very productive for shopping sites. For example if I shop at an online store regularly and they send out an email about a sale, I will definitely read. But with shopping sites, people expect to be pitched so it’s a little different than Internet marketing.
@Dave Ann is very good at what she does. I love her tips.
Lisa, although I’m new to the business, I never considered using newsletters because quite frankly, my habit is to delete the ones I receive. As a result, I believe others would do the same. I do believe that social media has evolved so rapidly that most everyone, both companies and individuals, have resorted to it as their outlet for getting out their news and product information. Quite interesting to read your point of view on the subject as well as know that it still is a lucrative way of marketing, if done properly.
Hey Lisa, I use my newsletter to send an occasional extra tip or something I won’t publish on my blog, or inform people in advance about something cool I might be talking on my blog later. I also sent several offers like Triberr invites, Google+ invites or other things I think they might find useful.
Hi Lisa!
I don’t really do a whole lot of email marketing. I may send a periodic announcement here or there, sometimes I try to extend the discussion of a recently popular blog post and on rare occasions, I’ve sent product reviews or announcements.
It’s funny that you mention Ana, because I love her approach to email newsletters – I can never resist opening her emails because the subject line is always so catchy. In a recent email, she talked about why you shouldn’t try to sell to your list, and I have to admit, I’ve always felt this way – sending sales letters to my list has always seemed unnatural to me. The occasional, “hey you might want to catch this discount” is acceptable, but flat out sales emails are just – for lack of a better word – annoying.
So, I use my list more for the rare updates – I think it’s more effective that way and the reason why my list has a high open rate.
I also like Pat Flynn’s approach to email marketing – he never sells, but always offers valuable information and strategies. I think that’s the best way to utilize a list.
I received email today from Ana Hoffman where she says “the most common gadget in the world is killing traditional eCommerce, and why tactics like upsells and continuity may be gone forever.” Could she be talking about newsletters? She also writes that “most online businesses (could be) impotent over the next 12 – 18 months…” – which means the whole newsletter approach might be an outmoded way of doing business online.
I believe social media would change the template of the web businesses very soon. Just wait and watch!
I’m not so sure that concepts like upsells and continuity will disappear. These are pratices that are fundamental to all kinds of business — not just online ones. They are ideas that have been around for a long time, and I’m not convinced that the advent of social media will change that.
Email marketing, on the other hand, is a whole other story. I do believe that email marketing is dying a slow death. Click-thru rates are declining, delivery rates are declining,…
Certainly, by delivering quality content, you can still do well with email. But I can’t help but be convinced that it’s gradually on the way out.
Michael