Email Marketing Report: Optimizing Performance in 2017
Email still reigns supreme as the top channel marketers are utilizing this year. In fact, according to a new study by True Influence, marketers are twenty times more interested in email than mobile. Online video marketing is not far behind. The study, which looked at the online research data of marketers, found the greatest increase of interest in those topics. Together, searches related to “email marketing” and “online video marketing” comprised 78 percent of total intent signals for 2017.
Intent signals include online and digital activities such as visits to web pages across the internet, email opens, white paper downloads, etc. Interest in email marketing alone generated more than 90,000 unique domains and 5 million intent signals.
Goals for Marketing Success
In recent research conducted by Ascend2 and Return Path, more than half (52 percent) of B2C marketing influencers said improving email personalization was their top email marketing priority. 47 percent and 44 percent of influencers value increasing engagement and improving customer retention, respectively.
However, collecting quality customer data (46 percent) and increasing customer engagement (44 percent) are the two most significant barriers to the success of a B2C email marketing strategy.
Most (91 percent) of B2C marketing influencers agree that email marketing effectiveness is increasing to some extent, with about half of those (45 percent of total) describing the increase as significant.
Achieving the most important goal of a B2C email marketing strategy (improving email personalization) requires a plan of action utilizing the most effective tactics such as individualized email messaging (48 percent) and behavior-triggered emails (47 percent).
Improving One-to-One Experiences
While email marketing strategies are continually evolving, at the heart of email marketing is creating connections with consumers. One-to-one messaging, highly personalized experiences, and customer-centric strategies are key to email success.
In 2017, personalization will evolve even further into marketing to a “segment of one”. Personalization is already gearing up to be one of the biggest digital buzzwords in 2017. According to eMarketer, 70% of people already expect a personalized experience. But this year, marketers will push the envelope and take personalization even further.
Email personalization reduces unsubscribe rates and has a major impact on boosting revenue. A report by Silverpop found that 50% of consumers unsubscribe from an email list due to irrelevant emails. This impact of unsubscribes adds up to a loss of 60% in future lifetime value (LTV) (AgilOne). However, when emails are personalized, the average click-through rate is 2.5 times higher with an average increase of 5.7 in revenue.
Marketers who realize the full impact personalization can bring to the table are now experimenting with numerous data points to add value to their emails. Research by VentureBeat shows that marketers can use data such as location, transaction history, demographics, open time, social profiles, and more in their personalization techniques.
95% of email marketers see open-rate increase with personalization.
Other Trends to Watch for in 2017
- Live Shopping Cart: Adding a live shopping cart in emails helps subscribers to not only remind subscribers of what they’ve left in their shopping cart but also makes it easier for them to edit their cart, without having to leave the inbox. You can also utilize this space to remind your customers about orders they place on a regular basis.
- Video: Including video in an email can lead to open rate increases of 19% and click-through rate increases upwards of 50 percent. Another great way to give the illusion of video in email is to use an animated GIF. Before adding videos to all your email campaigns, remember that not all email clients support the ability to play the video right in the inbox. HTML 5 (the newest version of HTML) is far more robust and offers more options where video is concerned.
- Rotating Banners and Sliders: Both the elements offer the chance to add multiple images, which can be linked to respective pages. Rotating banners boast of another benefit- they provide an opportunity to add multiple CTAs. While sliders give a 2D effect, rotating banners give a 3D effect.
This year, marketers will raise the bar yet again in their email strategies. By thinking outside of the box, bands can make sure they stand out in the inbox.
