Email Marketing is one of the oldest forms of digital marketing. The first email was sent nearly 50 years ago (in 1971) and the first marketing email was supposedly sent in 1978.

Email was also one of the first digital marketing channels that I worked on. I have seen the strong role it can play in driving sales for businesses. And which is why, in general, the state of email marketing today disappoints me.

I truly cannot recollect any business whose email I look forward to receiving. Some of the better ones that I receive in my inbox come from thought-leaders. They seem to have a good understanding of what is it that their subscribers are looking for from emails, and they stick to delivering that in the simplest form with absolutely no bells and whistles. And you know what? It works! I can read the important points right in the email, without being distracted by unnecessary images. In many cases, I can get all the information I want right from the email without having to click to go to a Landing Page (though that option exists).

However, when it comes to ecommerce (including travel), the lesser said the better. I have unsubscribed myself from most mailing lists of businesses that I have shopped with. Why? It did not seem that they could be bothered to send me information useful for me. Receiving the same, standard one-size-fits-all message started getting extremely irritating after a while.

And one of the worst offenders have to financial services. It’s such a shame that, given the wealth of information that they have about their customers, they still do not seem to be using this to create interesting and relevant emails.

It is a well accepted fact that email marketing (to clean legally acquired lists) is one of the most effective and efficient forms of marketing. But to get these benefits requires businesses and marketers to invest in truly understanding their customers and building a robust customer data management strategy. The trick is not in the creative element of the email, but in the targeted and relevant messaging.

I sometimes wonder if, in their craze to adopt the latest ‘Next Big Thing’, marketers are forgetting to devote enough time to the basics. A well designed email marketing campaign has to be one of the first digital marketing strategies that any business should develop, if they are keen to derive the maximum benefits from their overall Digital Marketing strategy.