11 Email Marketing Trends for 2005

Email marketing arrived in 2004. Despite the huge attention and real issue of over bloated inboxes due to increased volume of spam, no marketer could ignore the value and importance of email in their overall marketing program. What’s in store for 2005? Following are 11 trends EmailLabs has identified for 2005:

1. The “Email Marketing Manager” Role Emerges as a Full-Time Position – At most companies today email marketing activities are only the partial responsibility of one or several people. But the combination of strategic importance and increased complexity of email marketing will drive the creation of full-time “email marketing managers” or “directors” at many companies. This role will be responsible for, or manage, the entire chain of email activities including privacy and opt-in policies, design and content development, centralized email database management, vendor selection and management, delivery improvement, legal compliance, frequency management, segmentation strategies, list management, reporting, corporate email strategy and beyond.
2. “Email Delivery Divide”: The Haves and Have Nots – 2005 may be remembered as the year the “Email Delivery Divide” began. Email marketers that deploy best practices, adopt emerging authentication, accreditation and reputation technologies and solutions and allocate the necessary resources will achieve superior delivery rates. On the other hand, significant delivery challenges will likely affect those companies that do little and don’t or can’t allocate the appropriate resources to delivery (either internally or by outsourcing). Additionally, by the end of 2005 we should start to see winners emerge in the areas of authentication protocols and third-party accreditation services.

3. Increased Integration with Corporate Databases and Other Applications – In 2005 look for more companies to integrate their email response data and preferences with their CRM, SFA and other databases, leading to more personalized and segmented approaches across all marketing activities. Additionally, look for increased integration of metrics and reporting interfaces between Web site analytics tools and email marketing applications. 

4. Use of Advanced Email Technology Features Grows Rapidly – The days of “load and send” are long over. Smart email marketers are focused on increasing response, conversion and retention rates using a combination of personalization, segmentation and “triggers.” Increasingly segmented and triggered emails will be driven by behavioral data, such as which specific links a recipient clicked, whether someone did or did not open an email, what pages they visited on the company’s Web site or whether they did or did not make a purchase or take a specific action. (According to Jupiter Research, less than a third of marketers are currently using click-through data for segmentation.) Further, many companies are automating these tasks and/or integrating their email data with other customer data via an API (Application Protocol Interface).

5. Design Takes on Greater Importance – Roughly 95 percent of all commercial email messages are sent in HTML today. As a result, design has become critical on a number of fronts. This includes designing for challenges such as blocked images, the increased use of the “preview pane,” inconsistent rendering by various email clients and using images instead of text to minimize against overzealous content filters. Further, while the typical consumer or business prospect may subscribe to dozens of email newsletters and promotions, they are likely to actively read only about 15-20. As a result, layout, readability and usability are critical to differentiating emails from “competing” emails, conveying value and trust, driving action and retaining subscribers.

6. Marketers View Email in Larger Context Than Just “Marketing” – Email marketing technology has enabled marketers to deploy sophisticated email communications – including advanced segmentation, personalization, tracking and more. But “non-marketing messages” often receive minimal attention. In 2005 look for email marketers to interface more with other departments to increase the quality, effectiveness and brand building components of these messages. Tactics will include switching to HTML from text, monitoring delivery rates, tracking open and click-through rates and improving from and subject lines and design.

7. Resource Constraints Fuel Demand for Consulting Services – While some companies will increasingly hire internal personnel dedicated to email marketing; others will choose the outsourcing model and hire email marketing agencies and consulting firms to help achieve greater results with fewer internal resources. From delivery to design, marketers will turn to consultants and email service providers at a record pace in 2005 seeking to improve results across their email marketing initiatives.

8. Companies Continue Shift from Software to Hosted Model – Because of email marketers increased need for services and expertise beyond the “software” itself, companies will increasingly switch to or choose ASP solutions over installed software. Drivers of this continuing trend include the need for ISP relations, adopting emerging authentication protocols such as SPF and Domain Sender, integration with other solutions such as Web analytics tools, delivery monitoring and access to consulting services and best practices knowledge.

9. Only “Spammers” Will Spam – The CAN-SPAM Act and the growing use of anti-spam filters has done little to stem the tide of spam emails. But in 2004 the attention paid to the CAN-SPAM Act, privacy policies and delivery best practices raised the minimum bar for companies sending “legitimate” email messages. In 2005 most legitimate marketers will be forced to improve their email practices, if they haven’t already, or they will find that their messages will be neither delivered nor opened.

10. Marketers Place Greater Emphasis on List Quality – Permission email marketing is different from traditional direct marketing. Because of the superior tracking capabilities of email, marketers are better able to focus on retention and conversion from existing subscribers, rather than just mailing more of the same to more people. In 2005 look for savvy email marketers to spend as much or more energy retaining, “reactivating” and recapturing subscribers and maximizing return through behavioral segmentation and analysis, than on growing their lists.

11. Marketers Cede Control to Customers; Focus on Building Trust and Lifetime Value – Permission email marketing is perhaps the ultimate democratic form of marketing communication. Customers choose to: opt-in or not, if and when to open, read and act; whether to provide more information for personalization; and if they no longer wish to receive the emails. In 2005, marketers, who were previously unconvinced of this power and control that customers have, will change their ways. They will be rewarded with better delivery and responses rates, stronger customer relationships and increased trust in their brand. Marketers will deploy various tactics to increase trust and enhance relationships including: ensuring only permission-based emails are sent from their company, switching to a double-opt in subscription process, use of fewer or no pre-checked boxes and have more transparency in privacy policies. With increased trust consumers will provide more preference information enabling marketers to delivery higher value emails through increased personalization and segmentation.