eTargetMedia, a leading provider of Email Lists, Postal Lists, Data Append and Creative Solutions announced their 2019 annual predictions for email marketing success in the new year.  As we head in to the new year, most marketing budgets have refilled giving brand marketers a chance to refresh and re-strategize their email marketing campaigns.

eTargetMedia announces their annual predictions for email marketing success to inform marketers of the trends and developments that will take over the email marketing industry over the next 12 months as well as providing a review of upcoming email marketing trends. Among this year’s trends are  advancements in email marketing personalization, increased interactive content, the growth of mobile email sales and the increase of authentic email marketing brand experiences.

• Email Personalization– Email personalization advancements will allow marketers to put targeted content in front of the right consumers at the right time. Consumers are expecting quality content now more than ever and personalization is the key to delivering engaging email content to consumers.
• Mobile Email Sales – Over the last couple of years, data proved that consumers were cautious about purchasing items through mobile devices because of security concerns. That trend is changing with current data proving that consumers have embraced mobile  e-commerce and are now placing orders (including bigger ticket items) on their smart phones and tablets. In 2019, it will be more common for consumers to purchase products on mobile devices so email marketers will need to adopt their email strategy and develop emails with detailed product content and mobile responsive transactional elements.
• Increased Interactive Content– Interactive content is predicted to advance in 2019 giving subscribers an opportunity to engage and interact with emails more. Interactive content may include transactional emails with features like add to cart buttons, book hotels, take a poll, play a game, follow social media sites, watch videos and more. The interactive elements can help boost sales and build brand loyalty.
• Authentic Email Marketing Brand Experiences– Email marketing will deliver more authentic brand experiences in 2019. Trust in social media is fading due to recent scandals including sketchy data and privacy practices. Consumers are also aware of how much social media influencers are getting paid as well as understanding how easy it is to post fake news on social media sites. This mistrust in social media will give email marketers the perfect opportunity to connect with consumers in a more authentic way and allow consumers to connect directly with the brand.

“In the new year, we are going to see more personalized content delivered through email marketing, including more interactive content as well as more authentic brand experiences,” stated Harris Kreichman, Managing Partner of eTargetMedia. “Email marketing messages can deliberately be designed to react to customer behavior and deliver content that piques subscriber’s interests more.This innovation in technology will enable marketers to execute email marketing campaigns that perform better and more efficiently.”

eTargetMedia, based in South Florida, provides Email Lists, Postal Lists, Data Append and Creative Solutions to a wide variety of direct marketing customers. eTargetMedia is a member of the Data and Marketing Association. Visit eTargetMedia online at http://www.eTargetMedia.com

Despite whisperings of its decline in recent years, email remains a growing, go-to channel for marketers. However, for email to continue that success, marketers must consider how and why mobile use, increases in message volume and frequency and data-driven relevancy impact performance, as explored in a new eMarketer report, “Email Marketing Benchmarks 2016: Relevancy, Frequency, Deliverability and Mobility” (eMarketer PRO customers only).

A June 2016 survey of US marketers conducted by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and Demand Metric found that email had a median ROI of 122%—more than four times higher than other marketing formats examined, including social media, direct mail and paid search.

Agency professionals and in-house marketers worldwide are in agreement about email’s effectiveness, according to March 2016 polling from Econsultancy. Both groups named email marketing most frequently as a tactic able to provide a strong ROI, at 80% and 73%, respectively. The study also found that while respondents allocated an average of 16% of their overall marketing budget to email for 2016, the program contributed to 23% of total sales, a ratio that indicates email’s positive ROI.

Revenue from email has also improved year over year. A survey from the Relevancy Group sponsored by PostUp found that in December 2015, 24% of US email marketers said email marketing initiatives accounted for over a quarter of their overall revenues. This percentage was up from 13% in fall 2013.

Increases in ROI have been linked to the growing size of the email user base and market penetration. eMarketer estimates that there will be 240.1 million email users in the US in 2016, accounting for nearly 89.8% of internet users and 74.1% of the population. By 2020, that number will grow to 258.9 million users.

While it is true that email’s ROI remains high, marketers must continue to determine the best way to effectively measure their programs’ performance, as the audience and best practices continue to evolve.

A February 2016 survey by analytics firm Origami Logic asked marketing professionals in North America how they used marketing signals or performance measurements “that bridge the gap between raw data and insights.” Nearly a quarter of respondents measured and analyzed email performance metrics weekly; 26% did so daily. Nearly a third only tracked up to three marketing signals and a quarter tracked four to six different marketing signals.

Email provider Epsilon’s Q1 2016 analysis of all emails sent from its platform to recipients in North America showed open rates on the rise, at 33.3%—higher than all quarters since Q1 2014. CTR, while still on the decline overall, had recovered slightly since Q4 2015, coming in at 3.4%. Most interesting to note was the nonbounce rate (i.e., the percentage of emails delivered), which, at 95.6%, is at the lowest rate since 2014. (This corresponds to a 4.4% bounce rate.)

Reprinted from: https://www.emarketer.com/Article/Email-Continues-Deliver-Strong-ROI-Value-Marketers/1014461

Channel remains popular because of its reach and steady performance

As a channel to reach prospects and customers, email continues to thrive, even as other messaging platforms emerge. Nine in 10 marketers in North America say they use email to engage their audience, according to a September 2016 survey by Winterberry Group and the Data & Marketing Association (DMA), the most commonly used channel over digital display, owned web content and search.

Email’s dominance holds true across industries. A May 2017 survey from DMA and Demand Metric of US marketers found that all of those working in healthcare or pharma as well as travel and hospitality used email marketing. Nonprofits (96%), publishing and media (93%) and business-to-business (B2B) services (90%) were also strong adopters of email. Among the industries that were broken out, marketers in retail said they used email the least, although usage was a still-healthy 81%.

Email marketers are mainly focused on acquisition, according to research from Campaigner. More than two-thirds (67.0%) of respondents polled last December cited attracting new customers as a leading marketing goal for 2017. Increased brand awareness and customer retention were also common goals, named by 44.8% of 40.6% of marketers, respectively.

The number of emails being sent and received is also expanding. According to a February 2017 forecast from the Radicati Group, 269.0 billion emails, including business and consumer emails, will be sent worldwide—every day. Annually, that number will grow by about 4.4%; by 2021, 319.6 billion emails will be sent and received daily.

Marketers continue to allocate more budget to email marketing. A Q3 2016 survey from email service provider (ESP) Emma found that 58% of marketers in the US planned to increase email marketing in 2017—a higher response than any other channel.

This continuation is partly due to its solid return on investment (ROI). According to April 2017 research from Econsultancy in association with Adestra, 73% of in-house marketers worldwide said that email marketing provided a strong ROI in 2017, making it the marketing tactic that received the highest percentage of responses in the survey, even slightly in front of SEO. Back in 2008, SEO ranked higher than email.

Clearly, email continues to bring in revenue. According to a June report from OneSpot, conducted by The Relevancy Group, US marketing executives said email attributed 21% of the total revenues in Q2 2017, up 17% year over year.

Reprinted from: https://www.emarketer.com/Article/Many-Marketers-Email-Still-King/1016393

For most small- and medium-sized retailers in the US, email marketing is tops when it comes to both customer acquisition and retention. According to research, four-fifths of these professionals said email helps contribute to this outcome.

In February and March 2016, content and demand generation services provider WBR Digital and emarketing marketing automation service provider emarsys surveyed 254 retail professionals in the US at companies with annual revenues under $100 million.

According to the data, 81% and 80% of respondents, respectively, said email marketing drives customer acquisition and retention. Email’s usefulness was followed by that of other digital tactics like organic search at 62% for acquisition and social media at 44% for retention—both rated effective by far fewer respondents than chose email.

A solid reason why could be that more and more marketers are pushing more personalization toward their email campaigns, making them more tailored to customer needs. In a separate May 2016 study from Evergage and Researchscape, well over half of respondents across industries said they are personalizing email.

Marketing technology may be playing a critical role too for email campaigns. For advertisers, email marketing is a priority ask on their software must-have lists. In a separate study from US-based email marketing firm dotmailer, 88% of marketers worldwide said they used email marketing-focused software.

Reprinted from: https://www.emarketer.com/Article/Email-Marketing-Double-Win-Customer-Acquisition-Retention/1014239