By Richard Buss

The past few years have seen a large increase in social media’s use as a marketing tool, causing some people to question whether email marketing remains both practical and relevant. Without a doubt, social media use is increasing each year: It is estimated 78 percent of everyone in North America uses social media, and analysts predict that by 2018 2.5 billion people will be social-media-connected.

But even though new social media platforms seem to arise every other week, email marketing still commands the best return on investment.

According to Campaign Manager, every $1 spent on email marketing returns $38 in profit. A 2015 report by Adboe claims millennials use their email an average of six hours a day. Nearly one in three people use email daily.

It’s routinely said that email marketing is past it’s prime because “young people have no interest in it.” It’s true that today’s youth no longer use email as a social media platform, but they all still use email and eventually graduate to the business world. At the business level, email is still the most commonly used tool.

Just like social media and other, more traditional, marketing platforms, email is changing and evolving. Consumers want to be more informed, and have become much more mobile. It is estimated that 60 percent of all internet traffic is now mobile, and email marketing carries over directly into mobile traffic.

The CAN SPAM act has legitimized email marketing, making it not only legal but easier. Much of the “spam” we used to loathe has been replaced by a smarter marketing method that treats customers with respect and uses friendly customization. The Direct Marketing Association claims 86 percent of all email marketing includes personal customization. Good marketers have discovered personalization, combined with analytics, results in great ROI.

Online marketing is most profitable when multiple platforms are combined. It’s possible to combine social media and transaction points to turbocharge email campaigns.

While a lot of online social communication and interaction takes place on social media platforms, email is still at the core of marketing and ecommerce. When it comes to conducting business online, email is nearly always involved. Email is used for nearly everything, including managing social media accounts, resetting passwords, confirmations, delivery notifications and transactions. Businesspeople do not use Facebook Messenger to communicate, but instead use email. For someone who understands email marketing, it doesn’t get any better than that.

The explosive growth of social media is ideal for email marketers, because with marginal effort, social media can be used to leverage the market of a well-thought-out email marketing campaign.

While some might want to believe email marketing has seen its day and is past its prime, stats and analytics tell us otherwise. The growth of social media platforms might be explosive, but the reality is an impression on a social media site is a single impression. If you have someone’s email address, though, you can put your products directly in front of their eyes time and time again as often as you wish.

Richard Buss is the senior account manager for YNOT Mail and director of products and services for YNOT Group LLC.