Did you know that, even in today’s multichannel media environment, some customer segments are more difficult to reach by email than others? For example . . .
• 41% of U.S. consumers aged 65+ still do not have Internet access.
• 53% of U.S. consumers in this group do not have broadband.
• 18% of these consumers do not have smartphones.
Particularly for older retirees in lower income households, print remains a critical part of the multichannel mix. For many, it may be the only way to reach them. Even those who do go online may require text-only emails rather than the HTML versions many marketers are geared up to send.
But before you write off U.S. retirees as non-email-reading, non-Internet using consumers, remember that not all consumer segments look the same. In fact, among younger, more affluent, and more educated retirees, 90% have Internet access and 82% have broadband. That’s higher than the U.S. adult population overall. For this segment, email is an important tool for marketing communication, both as a primary means of messaging or as a follow-up to print communications.
So before you reach out, know your audience, their media use, and their channel preferences. It can have a critical impact on your multichannel mix.
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