Convergence is overrated and overused in the business community. But it is still of great relevance, when it comes to email marketing. The concept of "convergence" is instrumental to successful email marketing programmes, which bring returns on investment to both advertisers and subscribers.

Email communication and the send frequency are too often influenced by the schedule of promotions. Convergence is about passing through this rigid planning structure and about integrating email communication into the wider experience of the consumer.

Email marketing specialists should highlight how important brand uniqueness is to consumers, but they have to answer one question before anything else. What should consumers understand about that brand or about the related products and services, in order to create the best possible experience to consumers?

The next step is to identify opportunities to improve the brand experience of the consumers, by making the most of the email marketing. The objective of this step is to create a contact strategy that should integrate email communication into the client's interaction with the brand.

Apple: lessons learned

Think of the unparalleled integration of emails in the Apple stores. In the past, clients were waiting to be signed up in a record, then they would pay and get a receipt. What Apple basically did was to redefine the way purchases are finalised.

Now, the Apple salespeople accept card payments via electronic devices and whenever the transaction is finalised, they ask the clients whether they want to get a receipt via email. We should not underestimate the significance of this strategy. Apple managed to use emails in order to replace a more traditional process, that printed receipt.

Secondly, the email receipt is much more valuable to the client, compared to the printed version. Clients no longer have to wait for the printed receipt, whereas the electronic version is automatically stored in the inbox of the client and is much more difficult to lose than the original printout. On top of that, this sale validation formula provides a cross-sale opportunity for the brand. The real value of this approach is convergent. Eliminate the printed receipts, deliver them electronically and turn your communication in a manner of getting your consumers involved and of strengthening the relationship between them and the brand..

Conclusion

While "convergence" is quite a wide and often hard-to-define concept, its import to email marketing is obvious: no channel can work if separated from the others. For the time being, the access of consumers is too wide and yet insufficient in order to respond to forms of communication that do not even anticipate or expect...

While still strongly rooted in the consumer's experience, email marketing is sure to generate high profits and to remain a powerful marketing tool.