As a BIG proponent of email marketing, I found a recent study published here: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.san&art_aid=96664 to be very interesting. The study shows that Email is not a favored marketing channel for students.

According to the study, 61% high school and college age students read marketing emails "rarely to never" while 66% rarely or never take action on marketing email. Students spend more time with text messaging and social networks. How can we more effectively reach out to this audience? Most college students do not feel that companies' advertising is not effectively speaking to them personally. Email marketing should be about building relationships. As a marketer, you have an opportunity to find out what your targets interests are and speak directly to them. By segmenting, you can reach out to young adults in a unique way.

Here are just a few ways to make your message more relevant to your young adult audience:

Rely on past behavior
Has she bought something from you recently? Customize the message based on her past purchase. Maybe there are new accessories for the item she previously purchased, or maybe its time to upgrade. Personalizing the message "Hey ‹FNAME› - I hope you are enjoying the ‹PRODUCT› we sent you last ‹MONTH›. I just wanted to let you know about the new ‹PRODUCT› and offer you 20% off if you purchase by ‹DATE›."

Encourage Sharing
Young adults spread the word about their favorite products and deals virally. Make it easy for them to forward to a friend and post to their Facebook profiles. Think about ways you can reward them for spreading the word. Send them a free gift or coupon for every 5 friends they tell or even a simple thank you.

Spread Your Wings
Don't rely soley on email. Get a Facebook profile, encourage subscribers to "follow" you on Twitter (post "exclusive" discounts to your twitter page) and look into other social and viral avenues. iContact provides a free blog and posts your message to iContact community and adds social networkings tags directly to the bottom of your email. Its a simple way to really expand your network and exposure.

Give Them Options
Why not add some options to your newsletter sign up page? Allow subscriber to opt-in for Text Only messages or messages sent to their mobile device instead of email. And, remind them to "follow" you on twitter or become a "fan" on Facebook.

clipped from www.mediapost.com Though DMNews, Bokardo, and Skype & Harris Interactive have reported that email is a dying channel, says the report, speculating that students are now using email primarily to sign up for social networking sites and receive email alerts, the eROI study finds that: 83% of college students use Facebook, 65% use MySpace and 21% use LinkedIn The study identifies the channels are students using most. The preferred means of communication for college students are: Text messaging (37%) Email (26%) Social networking IM (15%) Instant messaging (11%) Social networking email (11%) And 12% of students check email on a mobile device Overall, concludes the study report, "... email plays an important role in college students\' life as a personal communication device, but not as a major marketing channel."