You know why I love Gmail?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mdx/ / Photo courtesy of mdx on Flicker -> CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
By its sheer volume of available disk space, Gmail has become my paper trail.
I shop frequently online. I pay the majority of my bills online. My Gmail account (or should I say accounts “plural”) has become a sort of receipt tray for all of those transactions. And with labels and archives, I can track just about everything.
There’s been a lot of talk lately about how social is replacing email (with, of course, the requisite backlash from email marketers). And to jump on the backlash bandwagon, that’s simply not true. It’s not even true of the social media platforms–who, naturally, require an email address for sign-up.
Think about it. Social platforms like Twitter and Facebook understand that people are more likely to track their “interactions” with the platform through email. (Transactions being follows, new friends, Zynga games, what have you).
After all, why would Facebook be working on “Project Titan,” an email platform if they didn’t think email was the “hub” as has been the talk of late?
Just some food for thought. Here are my questions to you:
- Do you also use email as a kind of paper trail?
- Do you think your customers do?
- Would your email marketing strategy change if you knew they did?
- How would your email marketing strategy change?
Give it some thought and let me know.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I thought email was the digital glue?
Ha ha. I DEFINITELY use email (gmail) as my “paper trail”. Archive nearly EVERYTHING!
DJ Waldow
Director of Community, Blue Sky Factory
@djwaldow
.-= DJ Waldow´s last blog ..You Are How Others Perceive You =-.
DJ: Pretty incredible that email can be used that way. I’m sure people do it but don’t even think about it (consciously). I wonder what kind of affect it would have on marketing if email was openly regarded this way?
.-= Scott Cohen´s last blog ..An Email Snob Interview with Janine Popick =-.
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