During Connections 2014, I had the chance to chat with LiveIntent's Nick Dujnic about the convergence of Marketing, Sales, and Customer Service and how brands like Best Buy, Fitbit, Sony, Trunk Club, and The Honest Company are successfully using data and 1:1 interaction technology to deliver a personalized experience to customers.

And of course, the one channel that each of these brands views as indispensable is email.

But that wasn't really surprising, because email has become "The Linchpin" of 1:1 digital marketing. Even though today's consumer engages with brands across multiple channels, the channel they prefer above all others for receiving product promotions and customer service alerts is email.

"Email has become 'The Linchpin' of 1:1 digital marketing." @joelbook
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When a consumer becomes an email subscriber, this action not only grants permission to the brand to communicate with that customer directly, but it actually hands the brand the key to connecting with that customer across multiple touch-points and channels. It makes it possible to deliver personalized messages that elevate and support your customer's journey's with your brand-from product evaluation and purchase to product usage and re-purchase.

The email address is no longer just something from which people send and receive email. It's what they use to log into social sites and apps. It's how they complete purchases from online retailers. It's how they subscribe to newsletters and streaming services like Netflix and Spotify. A person's email is now their online identity.

As a result, your customer's email address is now more than just a place you send updates, offers, and newsletters. It's an identifier that makes all the data connected to that customer actionable. It's how you bring that level of personalization and relevancy through any platform or device that these customers use their email as a login, not just in the emails you send.

Take LiveIntent.

LiveIntent is a smarter way to buy and sell ads in email, and a testament to the power of the email address in connecting customer journeys. By targeting ads to the email address of the person opening any email newsletter across their exchange, they not only help brands drive new, highly-qualified customer sign-ups, but also proactively reach current customers outside of direct email communications with messaging specially tailored to that customer's stage in their journey.

That's why the most important question you ask when starting a relationship with a customer is: "To ensure you receive product offers, invitations and information relevant to your interests, may we add you to our private list of Email Subscribers?"

Be sure to watch my full interview with LiveIntent below: