Yes. I agree that it will be dead. But I also believe that you will keep people coming in to your lists before the e-funeral is really happen…that’s my prediction, Dr. Mani

So my email would have been drmani@doctor.com.au

If there were more than 1 ‘Dr.Mani’ – and you know there aren’t! – the surname would be added, and then date of birth if necessary.

The nice thing about this would be that anyone could get in touch with you if they knew your name and occupation.

However, they likely didn’t factor in the extent of email abuse and spamming, with resulting safeguards ISPs were forced to implement. Today, there’s nothing LESS unique than an email address, I use around 35 of them ACTIVELY and have another 70 or so set up to autoresponders!

@Teeg – for years, I’ve hoped against hope it wouldn’t come to it – but sadly, considering response rates, I felt it’s time to write the dirge to email marketing. Sure, it’ll gasp along for a bit longer before finally breathing its last, but…

@communicatrix – I think that would become the next ‘killer app’ – if someone could come up with a meaningful, customizable way to aggregate content/material for our tastes from various social media networks. Oh lordy, I would too do anything for that

@Arnold – predicting takes little guts. Acting on them does, though

@Becky – I too agree that interpersonal interaction, even if only through the faceless digital media, needs to get more ‘intimate’ and individualized to translate into higher returns.

@Mark – I agree about the demographic sectoring of the prediction, but my focus was more on the fact that email doesn’t get delivered, leave alone get read and acted upon. That’s kind of universal. Good to hear your response rates are holding. Mine plummeted – and I tried ALL the tricks in the book to get them back up!

@John – How about we brainstorm on an e-funeral event – online?! We’d give anyone access… if they opt-in to our email lists

Thanks for the comments, folks.

All success
Dr.Mani

Surely it depends on the demographic?

If I had a product aimed at the teens or twenty-somethings, then, sure, I’d not be pushing email that hard as part of the mix…

… but I don’t…

… I have a product whose core market is 30s-50s, and in that group, email has close to 100% penetration, but very few have Facebook accounts, let alone Twitter or a personal blog.

I run an opt-in mailing list – I send out a customer newsletter about twice a month (up from once a month a year ago). On days when I send that out, blog hits go up by over 100% on that day and over 80% the following day.

My newsletter typically consists of an ENTIRE article in the newsletter, plus links to half-a-dozen small articles on the blog.

Death of email marketing? Don’t think so.

Ask me this time next year

Mark in West Sussex, England

One way is how you think about and treat your customers. It has become popular and the norm on the internet to automate the customer service end of things. As a person, I want to know that there is someone who cares that i just spent my money. Many times marketers don’t want to have to deal with customers. I think it is these businesses that will eventually get swallowed up. They are the ones who create the most noise in any case.

I would like to add that going forward, interaction with your customers in going to be key. Just giving them a satisfying experience isn’t going to be enough. Business owners are going to have to surpass what they have been doing and make their customers their fans. Word of mouth marketing, I like to call it. What better advertising for your products and services? Think about it…

Becky

Overload is definitely happening *now*, at least for us fogey-types. The idea Chris Brogan (and, I’m sure, others–too overloaded to check!) brought to light about some central filtering/aggregating system that’s smart and basically functions as the in-point of your mothership. Oh, lordy, what I wouldn’t do for that.

RE: postcards, I think they are the direct-Twitter of the offline world. I could not care less if I’m part of a mass (or even targeted) mailing; drop me a quick line in your own, smudgeable hand, and I will definitely pay attention. Value-added hard-copy newsletters (or somesuch) would also be great and would stand out. Most are too self-serving.

And if you aren’t already on the way to being a global microbrand, hop to it! I wish I’d grokked that—and the importance of having my own, private health insurance—back when startup costs were lower.

I’m still not sure about the death of email marketing, although I would agree its role is changing. The thing that email can do, if it hasn’t been overused before, is to put information where it will be seen repeatedly.

A good email, full of information that is useful to the recipient with a few ads that offer items useful to the consumer is still one of the best types of marketing, in my opinion. A great example of this is Flylady. She sends out e-mails that people want to keep in their inbox and reread, often including a testimonial for one of the products that she sells. That doesn’t negate the fact that email is slow though.

Thinking about postcards. Will they really be cost/time effective for internet marketing? Aren’t they basically the snail mail version of Twitter?

The idea of an open social identity sounds scary to me. I really hope you are wrong about this one.

Tom Peters has been preaching microbrands for years. I’m glad to see the idea catching on.

It’s already been discovered: the email address. Can you name another unique identifier that spans international boundaries, still allows for some anonymity, and is easily understood and adopted by everyone who’s online?