I’ve recently had occasion to contact a number of professional service firms “out of the blue” about the services that they offer.
As an IT professional, I’ve naturally used email as my preferred means of communication. What concerns me is that in all cases, I’ve had to chase these emails because I’ve had no reply – no doubt because my original email has been eaten by my recipient’s anti-spam system.
This raises serious questions about the effectiveness of email for “first contact” communication and begs the question just how many leads are being lost by organisations in this recession!
Clearly, telephone contact or a written letter is probably both more efficient and more effective. In fact, as traditional (ie: paper-based) junk mail seems to be in decline, any written communication is more likely to stand out when marketing services to other firms, rather than being automatically hidden as frequently now happens with emarketing.
Where does this leave email?