It was really not that long ago that many online businesses used an email marketing service to reach out and communicate with its customers. Then in 2006 social media was introduced and today it encompasses well over a billion customer accounts. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and many others have seemingly taking over the interests of many businesses looking to stay in touch with their customers.

However, despite the proliferation of social media networks their structure is not nearly as conducive to staying in contact with businesses save for a very general way. Save for the personal messaging systems, most posts on social media sites will often go unnoticed or simply become part of the noise that becomes less personal, less effective and leaves many small businesses struggling to retain their customer base.

Fortunately, the email marketing service still has its place and, in fact, there are several reasons why your business should continue to use it.

Personal

There is something far more personal about receiving an email that is simply having a post placed on your social media news feed. Emails are more personal because they cannot be seen by anyone else, so they act as a private island that businesses have access when reaching out to their customers. The same is true when they open and read the email

Mathematics

Despite the explosion of social media accounts, there is still three times the number of email accounts as compared to Twitter and Facebook put together which means a higher likelihood of reaching the customer when using their favored email account. While most people have multiple email accounts, they will generally provide the one that they check the most often.

Formality

Email has that interesting combination of being personal, like a letter sent from a friend to your mailbox and yet still have the formality of a business letter. This adds a layer of importance that should not be overlooked as customers recognize that you are sending them information that they have a special interest. The formality of the email is such that it provides a special attention that is simply not the same when it comes to social media sites.

Attention

With the introduction of spam filters, most people have anemail that is mostly free of spam and other useless content. This means that your email will have a bigger impact and get more attention than ever before. For businesses that are looking to make an impact, email still provides a powerful way to grab the customer’s attention.

Space

There is far more space to fill your email with important information which can really impress the customer. While it should be well organized and not sales-driven, an informative email can have a really substantial impact because you have the space to present more ideas than what most social media posts or tweets will allow.

In the end, the email marketing service still beats out social media when it comes to reaching out and staying in contact with your customer base.