The slow death of newsletters and email marketing?

For many years, email marketing has been a consistent, stable and valuable channel for any brand. But with the younger generations entering the consumer market, how do they feel about email?

Many of you know, I have advocated for email newsletters for many years (it has been almost 10 years since we started Toast’s Newsletter) because of its direct access to audience, being free (mostly) of algorithms and with data points (email addresses) that truly belong to the brand.

But how is this channel going to evolve through time?

How is the younger generation using email?

We’d all be rich if I had a dollar for every time I’ve reminded my kids to check their email — mostly by texting them to say, “Please check your email”

This quote is from a New York Times article on the very subject of how email is considered an “old” channel by teens.

These teens will very soon (if not already) be on the radar of thousands of brands, which means that brand marketers will need to find ways to reach them, where they are, in the right context.

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Of all the available online depressants, email is the easiest to ignore, but digital natives never paid attention in the first place. For them, email isn’t annoying. It simply doesn’t exist. (source: NYTimes)

But how will we reach them? And what platforms will be available to us that don’t require subscribing, relying on, and basically giving the keys to our audiences to a large tech player like Facebook, Google, TikTok, Snap or other?

Is it text messaging? Will this stick through time?

What other channels will rise and shine?

Will email marketing really start fading out in the next decade?

I must admit I am worried about the marketers who might wake up a little too late.