E-mail Marketing Trends

With e-mail marketing there is so much out there to explore and test... The problem is that there is so much out there to explore and test!

I recently read an article by Karen Bannan, "Looking Ahead: E-mail marketing in 2008" at www.btobonline.com (see full article here). To summarize, she spelled out four main points:

1. E-mail campaigns will have more CRM integration. I definately see this as a trend in my own work. However, integrating leads is just one part of the equation. I'm sure all marketers everywhere have been plagued with the fact that we can deliver premium leads to our sales force, but once they are sent, we have no control over whether or not the sales force actually calls on them. This can be exceptionally frustrating because so much work goes into generating the leads and then, more often than not, it seems sales people can't get around to them, or the are too busy doing something else. Granted, this is a blanket generalization, but throughout my 15 years in marketing, this is a typical scenario.

2. Automated e-mail tools are going to be used more. In my current organization, I have relied predominately on our tech team to ensure the messages look OK over various platforms. I've always known that I should never rely solely on the tech group to ensure this and I'm going to look for some tools to really help perform these operations.

3. Aligning e-mail closer with all marketing elements. It's true. It's time that we start looking at e-mail as a strategic marketing element rather than a purely tactical one. In my current ogranization I don't have a big marketing budget. But I do have access to a programmer and a massive database (although it needs quite a bit of segmentation work.) The article mentions the strategy of creating search-engine friendly landing pages that then direct people to opt in for more information. This could also be a great strategy to get people directed immediately to other areas of your site.

4. Using video with e-mails. Ahem. Read my post below. 'Nuff said.