Email says … “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated”

Deliverability.com http://blog.deliverability.com/2008/10/email-says-the.html

The good folk at Exact Target have a new study out and it got a media hit over at Promo Magazine:

Gen X Persuaded by E-mail, Direct Mail Over Social Marketing: Study
Oct 27, 2008 6:01 AM

Consumers 18 to 34 report they are more likely to respond to an e-mail marketing message or direct mail than to one they get through a social network, according to a joint research project by Ball State University’s Center for Media Design and e-mail service provider ExactTarget finds that:
“It is too easy to assume that the media consumers choose for their own news, information and entertainment are by default the best media to use for marketing messages,” Ball State CMD director of insight and research Mike Bloxham said in a statement. “This is a dangerous assumption to make in a time when consumers are becoming increasingly aware of their level of control over their media experiences.”

This makes sense to me on a number of levels. (I should qualify that what follows is my opinion only, I’m not a marketer, so I am going on intuition, common-sense and gut instinct here).