March 23 , 2010

Email marketers plan advanced campaigns, study

Trying to stay relevant to customers

E-mail is a well-tested marketing tool, but rising volume and cluttered inboxes mean marketers must find ways to stay relevant to consumers.

The “Email Marketing Industry Census 2010” from Econsultancy and Adestra found that while most marketers worldwide were using basic segmentation techniques and cleansing their e-mail lists regularly, other advanced e-mail practices were followed by only a minority of respondents.

Marketers were planning to adopt more techniques, including advanced segmentation (42%), personalization (37%) and behavioral targeting (34%). These are the same methods respondents to a survey from GetResponse said they would use to attract consumers’ attention this year.

Social media integration is also becoming increasingly important for e-mail marketers. While 37% of Econsultancy respondents encourage social sharing of e-mail content, a further 31% planned to add this functionality.

Usage rates were similar among small and medium-sized business marketers surveyed by GetResponse.

Social connections are also becoming bidirectional: Marketers are not only encouraging users to follow or fan their brand within e-mail messages but they are also including e-mail marketing links within their social media presence. Close integration between the two channels means more opportunities for consumers to interact with brands they way they choose.