As a marketing tool, email is not dead—nor should it be. Yes, we’re often annoyed by the never-ending deluge of messages that hits our inboxes every day. But email is effective. According to Cynthia Price, director of marketing at Emma, “ … it continues to be the channel that gives marketers the biggest bang for their buck.”
Here are five interesting trends discussed in “Five Superhot Email Marketing Trends.”I’m summarizing her points here and recommend that you check out the article for the real meat.
- “Mobile keeps gathering speed.” In 2015, mobile topped desktop traffic. As Ms. Price puts it, “An inbox in the pockets of 186 million people is a game changer for marketers. Use responsive design and mobile templates from email service providers to make sure your emails look great on the small screen.” (An interesting statistic: More than 71% of recipients delete a message immediately if it doesn’t display well.)
- “Recipients get real value in their inbox.” Aim for relevant, personalized content. Personalization is becoming more important as subscribers adopt email aggregation services and new email interface features. “The best brands will differentiate themselves by building an experience in the inbox that customers look forward to.”
- “Interactive content commands attention.” Adding video can boost click-through rates by 300 percent. And dynamic content can increase click-to-open rates by 73 percent. Ms. Price notes that companies are beginning to experiment with requiring readers to take action to get a special deal or promotion.
- “Brands will send more user-generated content.” Vastly greater numbers of consumers trust peer recommendations that brand-originated ones. So it makes good sense to show pictures of customers wearing and enjoying your products. This is pretty easy to do in the era of Instagram.
- “Automation will take off finally.” Automated email messages not only save time but also deliver higher open and click-through rates. For example, “welcome” emails enjoy 50 percent better open rates. “Birthday” emails increase conversions by 60 percent. Automate lead nurturing and see customers make larger purchases.
Actually, I’m one of those odd folks who loves email. Sure, I groan about how it clogs my in box, and I unsubscribe to quite a few services. On the other hand, email delivers useful information of all sorts, whether it’s sales-related or not. So I click—and learn.
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