Email is Dead.

This article made me think. (Technology professionals say email's popularity will decline) Canada.com.

I believe we lost the power and effectiveness of email – the (one time) Killer App on da Net, when the PDA hit a certain saturation point. We are tethered to our iPhones and Blackberries, we can't even go on a golf course without checking our mail! In fact, at the last three meetings I went to I thought half the participants were sitting very quiet, eyes down, silently in meditation.

And what happens when we do check mail when we are ooot and abooot?  Nothing. Nope, nothing, not really. Maybe you get a short burst of "OK!" or a really, really long reply … "Yeah, OK!" I swear most emails do not get responded to. Hell, email from a Smart Phone makes Twitter seem like the length of a chapter out of War & Peace.

I officially pronounce email dead.

So, to celebrate, here is what I did this weekend …

I unsubscribed form 30+ email newsletters I receive  and I also stopped forwarding 4 of my five email addresses on my iPhone. I also cancelled three email addresses completely. I just get my business email on my iPhone now. I may just use that little iDumpling as a phone now. Novel idea! Well, there are always Angry Birds!

My personal email and the One Degree addy are still active on my desktop. Also, there have been "zero" (Read: None, Zip, Nada, McNyet!) emails, in the last year or so, that I could not answer efficiently in a timely fashion after I get back in front of my computer. Ahhh … Management of Time and Territory! I am definitely not that vital to the world around me. I am neither on call as a Surgeon at Sick Kids, nor the most popular girl in Grade 11.

I do not text on a regular basis – I sort of use it as a "homing beacon" if I am meeting someone … "I am by the damn ferris wheel, where the hell are you!" Or, more importantly "Hey, Biff – Tee Off at 1:40 tomorrow … you in?"

Like it says in the article "Texting is intrusive."  Well, if texting is intrusive, email is irrelevant.

Can't wait for the mobilization of the text marketing world by the marcom brainiacs. Rogers, my carrier, occasionally blasts something to me. Everytime they do that I lose a wee bit of respect for them. I think of it like customer service tourettes. Really tarnishes the brand. But they really can't help themselves. Can't wait till this is done in the same frequency and volume as my inbox was experiencing with e-mails boasting some new thing-a-ma-jig – hundreds of times a day!

The millions of e-marketing attempts by the "Herb Tarlek Sales & Marketing" hoard attempting to bond, relate, engage in conversations and "SHOW ME DA LUV", mostly failed. They were just not sincere.

I know you thought you were being sincere, but you weren't. I know you weren't sincere cause you never listened to me. 

The companies that have, or at one time, had me as a customer never went the next step. That next step being, choice & preference. My choice. My preference.

"When do you want to hear from us?"
"What products would you want more info on?"
"We know you bought this or that widget, here is some important special widget news!"
"How can we better help you, Mr Long-time Loyal Customer?"

These are simple questions … but I cannot think of a single company that I have given scads of money to or currenly give scads of money to, on a regular basis, that personalize their messages to me other than sometimes using my name to address me.

And it is  easy. You have all my damn data. I happily give it all to you. In fact, I happily put my hand up and want to be served. In case I am being subtle – "Hey Marketing Ejit! I want to buy MORE stuff from you!" But you just don't want to sell it to me .. do ya.

Be curious to hear your thoughts.