Guest Post: Why Email Will Never Die

Email has changed the way people communicate in the modern world tremendously. However, despite its significance, some experts feel that email is on its last legs. While email might sometimes feel somewhat slow in today’s fast-paced world with its focus on instantaneous responses, there are a number of advantages to email that will keep it relevant — even preferable — for a long time to come.

#1: Email is Always Compatible

No matter what email service you use, and no matter what email service your recipient uses, they work together. In an age rife with technological incompatibility, that is no small advantage. When you send an email, you know that the person you send it to will definitely be able to read it and that they will be able to reply to you without dealing with irritating system errors or needing to download any additional patches or drivers. You cannot say the same for most messaging systems, which generally require both users to have installed and set up the same program in order to communicate — or at the very least to install additional utilities to make otherwise incompatible programs work together.

#2: Email Allows for Time Management and Structured Information

Have you ever tried to send a long communication over any instant messaging program? Eventually you come up against the character limit — or at the very least the practicality of the program’s view screen. This can be a problem for people who are trying to send a long list, or who have a lot of information to communicate.

Additionally, instant messaging, video chat and similar programs are meant to simulate a conversation taking place in real time. Responses are expected to be rapid-fire back and forth between participants. Email allows you the time and space to carefully think through what you want to say. Not only can this ensure that your response is complete and accurate, it also allows you to easily maintain a record of all conversations — which can be very important when dealing with sensitive matters.

#3: Email is Familiar and Established

It may sound simple, but email’s biggest advantage could be the fact that most people are familiar and comfortable with using it. Even if a technological advancement occurred that somehow rendered email completely unnecessary, it would likely take many years for email to disappear as a system of communication simply because people have grown accustomed to using it. People know how to use email and they know that it works; those two factors together are quite powerful in light of the average consumer’s resistance to change.

#4: There are No Preferable Alternatives

Despite the common complaints about walls of spam and inconvenient inboxes, there simply are no good alternatives that can accomplish what email can accomplish. Instant messaging, video chat and similar programs can be very useful in some situations, but their role is still limited. Most major email providers are continuing to evolve their services as they incorporate text and video chat, media sharing and similar capabilities. In light of email’s sheer usefulness, there really is nothing available that can replicate and replace every possible function it serves.

About the author
Marty Diamond is the founder of DiamondWebsiteConversion.com – the conversion rate optimization (CRO) specialists. If you are interested in learning more about CRO from Diamond then please visit their website.

Image credit: James Cridland