Online marketing firm StrongMail and partner firm ThreadMarketing have launched a new report looking into email marketing campaigns across five industry verticals.
As part of the research, the firm produced the top 5 trends to watch in email marketing sector over the coming year.
The “Top 5 Trends to Watch” featured in this latest report provide critical insight for generating the highest ROI from an organisation’s email marketing campaigns, including the effective application of movement in email, cohesion across multiple messages and the use of referral marketing to expand reach.
1. Getting Your Email Moving Email marketers have been striving for years to determine the most effective application of movement in email. Whether it has been the proper use of animated gifs or the holy grail of video in email, marketers have struggled with applying them effectively. This quarter, both Intercontinental Hotels Group and Fandango have both engaged their recipients through the relevant application of motion without compromising the marketing message.
2. Tying it all Together Unless you are seeing follow-up messages to offers being received, the idea of carrying content through more than one message seems to be a lost art, unless you are Fandango. Not only did they send a dedicated message about the upcoming release of The American in theaters, they also carried the messaging through subsequent messages, achieving recognition of the content and keeping it top of mind.
3. Taking the Subtle Approach The tides seem to continuously turn between direct, sales-centric messaging and the soft-sell approach in email. This quarter, many of our favorites chose the subtle approach. The Limited and FranklinCovey both had direct calls-to-action in their messaging; however, it became secondary to the content focus. The first goal of these messages was to either educate or engage – which, once achieved, makes the progression to conversion more natural.
4. Leveraging Word of Mouth If you’ve been in email for more than a day, you know that its strength is not in acquisition – unless you are using your existing and engaged customer base to help you out! Equifax reached out to its email subscriber-base (which is where most of your best customers exist) and asked them to tell their friends about their experience with the brand/product. And the incentive to win an iPad is a great way to say thanks!
5. Let the Content Flow The amount of content you put in your email is always a concern…too much and no one will read it, too little and no one will understand it. But it isn’t all about how much – sometimes it has more to do with how it is organised. In the FranklinCovey example, you will see that they’ve effectively organised a lot of content without it feeling daunting.
The “breakthrough” campaigns featured in this report were selected from more than 100 email campaigns in Q3 2010 for excellence in the following areas: outstanding content and creative execution, application of sophisticated email technology, use of innovative digital marketing techniques, and a commitment to an exceptional user experience.
Q3 2010 Email Breakthrough Report Winners
• Winner: Fandango
Industry: Media, Entertainment and Publishing
Campaign: FanMail
• Winner: FranklinCovey
Industry: Technology
Campaign: FranklinCovey.com Relaunch
• Winner: The Limited
Industry: Retail
Campaign: Looks that Work Day to Night
• Winner: IHG
Industry: Travel & Hospitality
Campaign: The Anywhere Challenge
• Winner: Equifax
Industry: Financial Services
Campaign: Refer a Friend to Win an iPad
“With Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo! all beginning to look at engagement metrics to filter incoming mail, it’s more important than ever to apply the latest best practices to increase opens, clicks and conversions,” said Kara Trivunovic, senior director of strategic services at ThreadMarketing, a StrongMail Company. “Adopting the proven and cutting-edge techniques featured in the Email Breakthrough Report Q310 will help you boost engagement metrics and deliverability, while also creating more loyal and profitable customers in the process.”
The report is free and available for download at: www.strongmail.com/Q310-Breakthrough
Report Methodology
A panel of email industry veterans assesses more than 100 email programmes from specific industries and narrows them down to three finalists within five verticals. From the three finalists in each vertical, a “Best in Class” is selected to be featured in the quarterly Email Breakthrough Report.
www.threadmarketing.com
www.strongmail.com