A survey from McKinsey & Company defies popular wisdom heralding the newest forms of communication as the best: for marketers, the survey says email is a more effective way to gain customers than social media like Facebook and Twitter.
Despite Gmail separating promotional materials into their own separate tab, email still kicks all others forms of contact’s butt when it comes to attracting new customers – email works almost 40 times better than Facebook and Twitter combined, according to their results.
People who click on emails are three times more likely to buy something than people who click through from social media, and when they do decide to make a purchase, the email group tends to spend more money.
The report comes with two important caveats, however. One: this may not last. McKinsey reports that email-checking behavior is changing, and has declined 20 percent between 2008 and 2013, owing to the up-cropping of alternative ways to get in touch. “Investments in these new channels are absolutely necessary for marketers to make increasingly sophisticated use of social networks and other channels to engage with consumers and convert interest to sales,” the report reads, almost as a warning: yes, email is still more effective, but these other channels are becoming better places to acquire customers.
With Facebook and Twitter making all sorts of tweaks and overhauls to maximize their appeal to marketers, the effectiveness gap may narrow soon. But for marketers with a finite budget, this may serve as a reminder to pay attention to email.
