Debbie LaChusa

Today marks the first in a series of posts taking a deeper look at popular marketing techniques and asking the tough question: Does it really work?

There are many marketing and business advisors sharing advice on how to grow your business, make more sales, get more clients ... I know, because when it comes to Internet Marketing, an area I only ventured into 2-1/2 years ago, I have probably tried most of the ebooks, courses and teleseminars available.

Today I'm posing a question about what I guess could be considered a "tried and true" online marketing method: Email Marketing. You know, ezines, e-newsletters, permission-based, opt-in email marketing. All of the Internet marketing gurus recommend it, saying "to be successful, you've got to build your list."

I've been using Email Marketing consistently for the past 2 years. In that time, I have seen my opt-in rates bounce around from 9% to 59%. I have tested a squeeze page vs. a standard home page to see which garners the highest opt-in rates (after a year of testing, the jury is STILL out!). I've had to do more and more marketing to build my list and it's still not anywhere near the volume I'd like it to be.

I've watched my deliverability rates go down, down, down and the spam filters get tighter and tighter. I've watched the open rates, for my double-opt-in list (that means my subscribers say they WANT my email) go down consistently from well over 50% to about 20%.

This begs the question ... Is Email Marketing Dead?

Is there just too much of it out there? Are people overloaded with free information? Are all the spammers ruining it for the legitimate email marketers? Is it time to bury Email Marketing and replace it with RSS, blogs and other forms of information delivery?

I'd love to hear what you think, or hear about your experiences with Email Marketing. Please post a comment and share your thoughts.