Did you think that email marketing is a trend of yesterday and has been surpassed by social media marketing (SMM)? Well, it is time to think again! According to many studies, email marketing is still being used widely. Many business owners and digital marketers place their faith in email marketing as a successful marketing channel. So no, it would not be wise to write it out from your book just yet.
The main thing to note is that email is still very much the mainstay as it used to be a couple of years ago. Almost everybody checks their email first in the morning and, surprisingly or not, they do so even before checking their social media profiles! Yes, it is still one of the most useful cards in the marketing deck, but there is also no denying that there is now an acute need for a change of tactics in email marketing. The main reason behind this need is, of course, the changing attitude of target audiences toward an email blast.
Where will email marketing stand in the next couple of years?
There is no saying for certain where email marketing will be in the next few years. However, gurus do agree on one thing – factors like personalization, devices, content, data, and automation will play huge roles in the overwhelming development of email marketing. The discussion and predictions about the intensity of email’s success are still on among industry experts.
The most prominent points to note from their predictions are as follows:
- Information work flow will be readily accessible within reduced costs with the help of data ecosystems.
- Artificial intelligence will be executing campaigns.
- Videos will be the most sought after features as far as functionality is concerned.
- Email systems will inevitably be shifting towards data.
- Machine learning start-ups will roll out innovations frequently.
- Marketing and engagement applications will leverage integration platforms and increase reach considerably.
- The definition of marketing technology will change over the course of time as account-based marketing and dynamic content functionality come together.
- Agencies will have to become increasingly creative and master Automation fast.
- Demand for on-premise and Hybrid email will continue to rise.
Defining ways email is evolving in 2017:
Email marketing has been through quite a bit of transformation in the recent years and also in 2017. Take a look at the wave of changes that have transformed email so far:
- The customer journey has risen to become the most crucial factor.
- The focus of reporting has shifted from customer to consumer.
- Digital marketers have taken it upon themselves to deliver to messaging apps too.
- Email service provider and marketing cloud service providers have started to consider providing a shared IP option to their clients.
- Marketers are also pondering the idea of one-click conversion technology to simplify and streamline the email conversion process.
Some email marketing trends have been dominating 2017. Take a look at them before you finalize your email marketing strategy for the rest of the year:
- Chatbots are everywhere, and email marketing is no exception. Bots are running highly successful campaigns all around
- Emails have become shorter to keep up with the attention span of the readers. As per recent data, emails up to 150 words are most useful.
- Context data is of utmost importance as it helps to make email a real-time service.
- Predictive lead scoring has become easier with machine learning and artificial intelligence.
- Emails are more personalized and are composed in a more conversational tone than before.
- Segmentation and personalization will soon be automated with machines matching the receiver of emails with the content.
- Behavioralas well as demographic data is used across multiple campaigns to produce a streamlined customer view.
It is evident from the above discussion that emails have changed much with recent innovations. Now that you have a clear understanding of the importance of email marketing for your business, it is time to curate a strategy that would fetch you the desired results. While automation is changing the process more and more, there is also the need to create an emotional connection with the subscribers through storytelling. It is now time to incorporate transactional emails in your strategy and make emails an interactive experience for everyone involved.
You can, of course, avail the services of a reputed SEO firm in Virginia Beach VA, but it also a good idea to keep yourself updated with the trends, changes, constants, and predictions in the arena. Put much thought into customizing the emails. Know for sure that as marketing automation keeps setting the bar higher and higher, the importance of emails will only increase.
