Targeted email marketing is NOT dead! Why it’s a crucial piece of your integrated strategy

Al DiGuido, CEO, Zeta Interactive, kicked off the e-mail segmentation summit happening right now at eTail West by asserting that despite people saying over and over again that e-mail and targeted email marketing is dead, it most certainly is not.

“This is a topic we’ve been talking about for 10 years and 10 years later the topic is still pervasive,” he said. “What was supposed to kill e-mail? Social media? RSS? Here we are 10 years later and email continues to be the foundation of interactive marketing.”

He went on to explain how targeted email marketing must be seen as part of an integrated strategy. He asked the audience how many people thought they were doing a great job of leveraging customer data to build a good relationship with customers. Very few raised their hands. But when he asked how many thought that their customers are demanding they be more relevant, nearly everyone raised their hands.

Another hot topic he introduced is how social media can be used for e-mail; how important it is for companies to monitor their reputation in the social media world and then leverage that data in ways they market through e-mail.

“We need to use that information to build relevant email marketing,” he said.

The relationship between the information retailers gain from search and how they leverage search data to build robust customer relationships is yet another piece of the pie. Without using and understanding that data, it will be hard for retailers to effectively email market.

“Customers are leaving multiple touch points and leaving breadcrumbs in different places,” he said. “If we’re not picking up those breadcrumbs, we’re gonna hear the same thing again: ‘Why aren’t people opening my e-mails?'”

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