There has been a lot of buzz around whether or not messaging apps such as Facebook Messenger, Snapchat and Slack will eliminate email for good, but email is a resilient ecosystem that took 30 years to evolve.
Yes, time and again , many have touted the demise of email, but it won’t happen.
In 2015, the number of worldwide email users was estimated to be about 2.6 billion and is predicted to reach 2.9 billion by 2019 with steady growth. That’s nearly three times larger than the biggest messaging app and almost double the most popular social network. In the same report released by The Radicati Group, it was revealed that the number of emails sent and received per day totaled over 205 billion last year.
Put simply, email is too big to fail — and that’s a good thing.
But, the real reason behind email’s clout is less about longevity and scale and more about the role and significance it has carved for itself over the years.
For business, it’s a massive lifeline. No one owns email per se. So, rather than build a bot or an app for the “next-big thing,” which inevitably means ceding control to a third-party, businesses prefer to send an email over any other form of online communication. Not to mention, email remains the most cost-effective way to reach customers.
Moreover, customers prefer email! A survey by MarketingSherpa found that 72 percent of consumers prefer email communication with companies over other channels.
Likewise, the ubiquitous role of email permeates your personal lives, making it nearly impossible to leave behind. Alto Mail users, for instance, share documents, photos, boarding passes, accommodation confirmations, and receipts, proving that email is more than just a way to send messages — it’s a digital shoebox for our personal history.
Email is also deeply intertwined with our online identity. Not only is it used for joining messaging services like Slack or Snapchat, email has replaced the home address and is second only to text messages and cellphone calls, according to Gallup .
For the full article please visit this article written by Marcel Becker at bizjournals.com.