Many marketers thought the growth in SMS, push notifications, and the movement towards omnichannel marketing strategies marked the beginning of the end for email marketing.

Sure, there was still going to be a place for it, but email, being an older technology that harkened back to the dawn of the world wide web, had this “dethroning” a long time coming.

What’s interesting, though, is that as these other channels have increased in popularity, their limitations have also become apparent. No one channel has been able to replicate the effectiveness of email on its own - at least, not yet.

Why email is the backbone of a successful omnichannel marketing strategy

Salesforce recently conducted a study that found while SMS and push notifications are now making up a larger portion of overall marketing communications, at the same time, email volume has actually increased. In other words, these new channels haven’t become replacements for email — instead, they have increased the utility and effectiveness of this channel.

The truth is that no other communication channel can do what email can.

While SMS tends to have open rates as high as 90%,the true level of engagement is almost impossible to report on - and really means nothing without the clicks. In addition, the stronger privacy and carrier restrictions of SMS mean that marketing through SMS isn’t always as effective in terms of deliverability.

There are fewer hoops to jump through with push notifications than email and SMS as far as carrier/provider filters, but they’re also limited by the recipient’s device settings, user activity, and more.

The list of differences goes on, but what’s interesting to note is that email remains the most reliable means of marketing communication.

The reasons for this reliability are unique to email and include:

• Email's legacy nature as one of the earliest and most accessible parts of the internet, and ensuing long-term cultural usage.

• Email allows personalized control of the inbox and subscribed content, long-term storage, and communication with both familiar and unfamiliar people around the world with few restrictions.

• Email is one of the most reliable communication channels in terms of deliverability, especially on a one-to-one level.

• Email lets users easily preview and identify important messages from generic promotions

• Email is less intrusive than other communication channels, like SMS and push notifications, which demand engagement immediately.

I could go on, but even with just these aspects in mind, it’s easy to see how email has survived for as long as it has as one of the strongest, most reliable marketing channels, and why it should still be the backbone of any omnichannel marketing strategy.

How to optimize every marketing channel to build marketing momentum

To realize the full power of omnichannel engagement, each channel should be used for a specific purpose that maximizes its potential.

Here’s a breakdown of some of the ideal use cases for each channel and how email supports them:

Display advertising

Communication type: One-to-many.

Channel purpose: Driving brand awareness.

Limitations of this channel: Targeting, keywords, relevancy.

How email supports this channel: Collecting email addresses upon ad clicks through promotions or content can help you to generate leads, which you can then nurture on an ongoing basis.

Funnel stage: Top of the funnel.

Content and SEO

Communication type: One-to-many.

Channel purpose: Driving brand awareness, engagement, and trust.

Limitations of this channel: Search terms, algorithm changes, website activity.

How email supports this channel: Once a person has discovered your content through organic search, you can invite them to subscribe to your newsletter for more content, allowing you to stay in contact with them and build trust over time.

Funnel stage: Top/middle-of-the-funnel.

Live chat

Communication type: One-to-one.

Channel purpose: Active engagement with prospects and customers; providing support and useful content.

Limitations of this channel: On-site or in-app only.

How email supports this channel: After the chat has closed, a copy of the transcript can be sent to the user by email; to follow up on questions or topics of interest, allowing you to continue the conversation with them even after they’ve left the website.

Funnel placement: Mid/bottom-of-the-funnel.

Social media marketing

Communication type: One-to-one and one-to-many.

Primary uses: Driving brand awareness, building a community, and engagement.

Limitations of this channel: Targeting, algorithm changes, relevancy.

How email supports this channel: Like live chat, email is an effective way to stay in direct contact with people following engagement with everything from organic and promoted posts and live events like AMAs, to support requests that come in via social media.

Funnel stage: Top/middle-of-the-funnel.

SMS marketing

Communication type: More effective as one-to-one, but can also be used one-to-many.

Primary uses: Similar to email, but with higher reliability for transactional use cases.

Limitations of this channel: Strict carrier/country requirements impacting the deliverability environment, which is more likely to impact promotional than transactional messages.

How email supports this channel: Email can help you to maintain a regular cadence of communication with a higher confidence of deliverability, while also providing the ability to prioritize and limit SMS usage to when it's most impactful.

Funnel stage: Mid/bottom-of-the-funnel.

Push notifications

Communication type: One-to-one and one-to-many.

Primary uses: Reminders and alerts that help users make the most of their platform.

Limitations of this channel: Browser and device activity and settings.

How email supports this channel: Regular engagement is difficult via this channel, so, as with SMS marketing, email can help you keep up a regular cadence of communication, and allow you to limit the usage of push notifications to where and when they will be most impactful.

Funnel stage: Mid/bottom-of-the-funnel.

Why getting email right is more important than ever

With the above in mind, it’s clear that each channel has its role to play in a successful marketing strategy.

Through it all, email remains the more direct and reliable means of maintaining brand visibility and awareness with already introduced leads, making it the strongest supporter of seeing your leads become customers.

Honoring the role and limitations of email in your omnichannel approach can help make sure that your overall marketing strategies achieve their greatest potential.