Another report reports on the dwindling popularity of email. A new survey by Prompt Communications, a specialist in digital PR, marketing and social media communications, found that Facebook may be replacing email as the most popular way to stay in touch with friends online.
Prompt asked a sample of 300 consumers in Boston to explain how they use social media tools and more traditional communications in their daily lives. (via MediaBuyerPlanner).
It found that phone calls remain the most common method of communication, with 99% of respondents regularly using the phone to connect with friends and family. Facebook is now the next most popular communication tool, the survey said, with 96% of respondents regularly using it to connect with friends, followed by text messaging at 93% and email at 91%.
When asked which method they used most frequently, most participants chose text messaging, at 37%, followed by Facebook and then the phone (28%). Although respondents clearly feel that email is now less important than social media, only 20% said they could live without it entirely.
The Wall Street Journal Furor
This study follows a widely circulated Wall Street Journal article earlier this year proclaiming that social media is now the major online communications medium. The article created a furor online - becoming, ironically, one of the most emailed stories on the Journal's website, noted David Daniels, a Forrester Research Analyst, guest blogging on the Email Experience Council's site after the Journal article appeared.
"Email, however, is not going away any time soon," he said. "We need one in order to gain access to social networks, have an online banking account or order products online."
While the use of email for personal communications in some demographic segments is lower than in others, it underscores that marketers who use it need to be as relevant as possible to capture the user's attention when they are in their email inbox, he said.
The Role of SocNets
At the same time, social networks are clearly an integral part of people's online communication tools. Other studies suggest, though, that it is not a question of one supplanting the other, but rather of social media and email communication complementing each other.
Another Nielsen study found that, despite an initial hypothesis that increased time on social networks might be taking Americans away from their email, the heaviest social media users actually use email more, perhaps because of the steady stream of messages that social networks dump into participants' inboxes.
More recently, the December 2009 "Social Influence Benchmark Report "released by StrongMail found that email generates 86% of all online sharing activity, making it the preferred consumer sharing method by far. Facebook and Twitter are the next most preferred channels for sharing, but only represent a fraction of all activity.
The finding perhaps of most interest to marketers: sharing online content via email generates the highest conversion rates with peer-to-peer emails generating a 36.8% conversion rate, compared to just three percent for Facebook.
"When it comes to enabling consumers to share a brand or offer with their personal network, email remains an effective power house for getting the word out and driving conversions," said Ryan Deutsch, vice president of strategic services and marketing development at StrongMail. "It is critical that marketers understand how to identify influencers within their customer-base and engage them as brand advocates."
