Why China’s Version of Email Marketing Is So Effective

In the U.S., email marketing is the default way for brands to initiate and maintain relationships with customers, and it has been for years. But email isn’t popular in China — a lot of people use WeChat for all of their messaging needs, including for business. Private traffic is basically what Chinese brands came up with as an email-free equivalent... See more

The solution was private traffic, an umbrella term for various forms of digital brand outreach that are much more personalized than the one-to-many, one-way email marketing model we’re used to. The traffic is “private” because brands fully own the channels where they communicate with customers and can contact those customers anytime, as opposed to ... See more

Two-way interaction is what enables Chinese brands to bring community into the product experience. While you probably wouldn’t respond to a promotional email from a mattress brand and expect a real back-and-forth conversation, that’s exactly what happens with private traffic. Whether a Chinese customer is in a group chat with a sunglasses sales rep... See more

Now the question is: What will private traffic look like in the U.S.? I don’t know the answer yet because email marketing is still so prevalent. (And, yes, at least it works great.) But I do know that one-way blasts can’t compete with real-time, two-way messaging, especially when Gen Z’s on one end of the conversation.

Here’s one example of how private traffic might work: Let’s say you go to a store to buy a barbecue set. The sales rep might make a recommendation for a specific grill and say, “Hey, after you purchase this, why don’t you add me as a contact? You can message me if you have any questions about installation, or any aspect of using your grill. If I co... See more