Email: Superhero of the Digital Revolution - Marketing Watchdog Journal

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		November 2008, Issue 57

Feature Article
Email: Superhero of the Digital Revolution
By Jeanniey Mullen, Founder and Executive Chairwoman, Email Experience Council; and EVP and CMO, Zinio and VIVmag

Where Were You When the Revolution Happened?

When is the last time you checked your email? It doesn't matter if you checked it at home, on a mobile device, or through LinkedIn, Plaxo or even Facebook. The point is: You are in good company if you are among the 60%+ reading this who answered "within the last hour." Oh, and by the way, an estimated 15% of readers like you have their Blackberry or iPhone right next to them while they read this. Is your digital device positioned at just the right angle so you can peripherally see the red light the second it comes on?

The truth is, over the past two decades, consumer habits have changed. We have become digital addicts. We have even coined a new phrase: The Digital Lifestyle. A digital revolution has occurred while we were eating, sleeping and even breathing.

Throughout history, the human race has continuously evolved as a result of various types of revolutions—industrial, religious and even philosophical. But regardless of what type of revolution, the result consistently ended up being an advent of instrumental changes in social activity, culture and even the economy. Sigmund Freud knew this well. He believed that the adoption of any change in our behavior is driven by our interest in survival. According to Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, humans make choices that will either help them maintain their survival or prevent destruction.

One Billion and Counting

Over the past 30 years we have been fortunate enough to live through one of the most dynamic and powerful revolutions to date: The Digital Revolution. In 1977, as we spent our evenings glued to the "tube" watching shows like The Jeffersons and Wonder Woman, 48,000 people were testing out a new way of life. They were using a personal computer. A mere 25 years later, in 2002, the adoption and use of personal computers had hit mainstream. With more than 500 million personal computers in use, the adoption curve had begun. Six years after, in 2008, the number of personal computers in the world reached more than 1 billion households. The one billion mark was the indication that a new revolution, the Digital Revolution, had arrived.

While often revolutions are initiated through the introduction of a new way to do something—potentially a new product—they are not really worthy of the name until the element the product supports encompasses the mind of users to the point where they adopt it so intimately they can't imagine life without it. It is at that point when a revolution has become a true success. As I mentioned before, revolutions change people, culturally, socially and even economically. And in this case, the digital revolution changed us all. It made us digital consumers.

Digital Consumers Unite!

Digital consumers are not just people using a device. They are people who have learned to manage their devices in ways that make their lives better. At the onset of the digital revolution, when the digital consumer came to be, the "device" that started it may have been the personal computer, but the activity that drove its adoption was email. Yes, email. Email was one of the original power brokers driving the digital revolution.

JCPenney, Gateway PC and John Hancock were among the true innovators of the digital revolution, leveraging this thing called email in the 1990s. Simple and fast, email became an instant hit among early adopters. Why? It brought significant benefits to the consumer lifestyle:

Discreet communications: Basically, email brought with it the ability to tell someone exactly how you feel about them, their product or their service, without having to face them, all the while you sit in your underwear!
Direct communication/Direct sales: In the early days of the Internet, email enabled frustrated consumers to send messages that expressed their feelings about products or services. One true story credits creating an immediate change to the way the SprintPCS ARU systems worked. Unhappy customers sent a massive volume of email to SprintPCS complaining about the unacceptable 4+ hour hold time for customer support, and SprintPCS responded quickly by developing alternative service options.
Speed: With email, people could now resolve issues, fast and with persistence. The SprintPCS story illustrates just how much email changed the brand/customer relationship in the early 90s.

As consumers, we have continued to evolve and change since the 1990s. We no longer expect to wait for things. We want what we want, when we want it, and we know there is digital device or development that will enable us to get to it. Simply put, digital direct marketing is king.

Respect the Power

This brings us to the power of email. Email remains one of the most effective channels to drive positive digital consumer experiences. Your emails still remain king in the midst of this digital revolution. As the world continues to evolve, your targets rely more and more on email, now more so on mobile devices than on the desktop. Respect the power this medium has—and will continue to have as we rely on it more and more—to help create loyal customers and profitable consumer conversations.

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Jeanniey Mullen is the Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Zinio, the global leader for digital publishing products and services. She holds the same position for VIV Magazine, the first fully interactive and all digital lifestyle magazine for women. An accomplished expert in the email and online marketing world, Jeanniey is recognized as a pioneer and visionary, advocating for, and driving change that redefines the impact of various marketing channels. Prior to Zinio and VIV, Jeanniey was the Senior Partner and Global Executive Director of the Email Marketing and Digital Dialogue Practice at OgilvyOne Worldwide. In 2005, Jeanniey founded the Email Experience Council, and currently maintains her role as its Executive Director.

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