All the marketing hype today is about social media. But continued research shows that email is still far more effective than social media in attracting customers .  Facebook was almost insignificant as a customer channel. A minuscule percentage of customers connect and purchase via Facebook. Twitter is an even weaker way to draw customers.

According to Forbes a recent study by predictive analytics firm Custora discovered that customer acquisition via email has quadrupled in the last four years and now accounts for almost 7 percent of customer acquisitions. Organic search is the most powerful acquisition channel, accounting for 16 percent of customers acquired, while Facebook and Twitter lag far behind.

What’s more, customers who come to businesses via email tend to shop more and spend more.

The Custora study shows email customers are 11 percent more valuable than average. Organic-search customers are 50 percent more valuable than average. Facebook customers are average, and Twitter customers are 23 percent less valuable than average.

Ha?

Email is effective because it’s permission-based. The people on your email list have given you the go-ahead to send them messages. They’re bought in. And, with the prevalence of smartphones and tablets, they’re always listening. In fact, email is the number-one activity for people on their phones.