The Enduring Value of Email and E-newsletter Marketing

Have you ditched email in favor of social media and other new communication channels? That could be a big mistake. Email and e-newsletters still provide value to businesses – and recent research shows that consumers still want email-based brand interactions. Let’s explore why email and e-newsletter marketing still deserve your attention.

Email Is Still the Channel of Choice

When you need to interact with a company, how do you make contact? If you said email, you’re in good company. The Global Consumer Products Engagement Report from Deloitte and SAP Emarsys reveals that consumers prefer email for interacting with brands over all other channels, with 36% of respondents citing it as their favorite channel. This is compared to only 29% who chose the brand’s website, 26% who chose mobile apps, and 21% who chose social media.

Businesses have a lot of options for interacting with customers, and it’s easy to become distracted by new channel options. However, email remains and tried and true solution. Despite increased competition from apps and social media, email is clearly here to stay.

Email Has a Great Reach

According to Statista, 92.4% of internet users in the U.S. use email – it’s even surprising there are still internet users who don’t use email.

Social media is also popular, but it’s fragmented. According to Pew Research Center, 83% of U.S. adults use YouTube and 68% use Facebook, making these the two most popular social media platforms. There are many other platforms, though, including big names like Instagram and LinkedIn and newcomers like Bluesky and Threads. Many users join and then quit platforms as they try to find a good match, which makes it hard to reach people consistently.

This doesn’t mean companies should give up on social media – it’s still a good way to reach a wide audience of people who might not otherwise stumble across your brand. Likewise, brand websites are a great way to reach people who are searching for information online. However, when you want a reliable way to reach nearly every American, it’s hard to beat email.

You Control Email and E-newsletters

In early 2025, Instagram switched from a square-based layout to a vertical rectangle layout. It was a big change that caused a lot of images created for the square layout to suddenly look awful.

Of course, that’s nothing compared to when TikTok became unavailable in the U.S. due to an impending ban. Although TikTok soon came back online, the brief loss was still disruptive. Furthermore, the future of the social media platform remains unclear.

Social media platforms are constantly changing their layouts, rules, and algorithms. They rise and fall like trendy nightclubs, leaving businesses scrambling to keep up. With email, you stay in control of your message. Again, this doesn’t mean that businesses should abandon social media – it can also deliver a good ROI – but it’s smart to have a backup in case something unexpected happens.

Overcoming Challenges to Succeed with Email Marketing

Email provides great reach, puts you in control of your marketing, and is what many of your customers want you to use – but that doesn’t mean email marketing is always easy.

For one thing, engaging customers is hard no matter which channel you use. The Global Consumer Products Engagement Report found that consumers have become harder to engage and retain, with 69% of marketers saying it’s more difficult to engage meaningfully with customers.

Plus, getting your emails past spam filters may be a hurdle – something recent inbox protections have made even more difficult. Marketers also need to comply with the CAN-SPAM Act and new data privacy laws. On top of everything else, it’s important to provide emails your audience actually wants to receive – otherwise they’ll just hit unsubscribe.

Email marketing may be challenging, but, with the right strategies, you’ll be successful:

• Provide useful content that focuses on the consumer. People won’t sign up for ads – they want information or offers that will help them. An e-newsletter is a great way to do this.
• Write subject lines that grab attention – without getting caught by spam filters. There are some that words trigger spam filters and that you should therefore avoid.
• Stay in regular contact without overwhelming your audience. You don’t want to flood your recipients’ inboxes, but you do want to stay top of mind. An e-newsletter is a practical way to stay in touch with helpful information.
• Keep up with new data privacy laws to ensure compliance. Consider both state and federal laws.
• Build an email list by enticing your audience with worthwhile content. Give users a reason to provide you with their email address and earn their trust.

There’s one more strategy that may help: working with a content provider that understands the ins and outs of email and e-newsletter marketing and is familiar with your industry. Inbound Insurance Marketing is your source for insurance-focused copywriting and design. Learn about our email and e-newsletter services.