Archive for Trends
The Trends To Watch In 2011
The meaning of mobile will change. Last month I reported that mobile usage had exceeded 10%, making it a trend for 2010 but also something to continue watching. Well, I think not only is mobile a trend for 2011 (and probably 2012, 2013 …) but what we mean when we say ‘mobile marketing solutions’ will change. With millions of iPads on the market and other tablet devices set to join them, the ground is shifting. These devices create an email experience that is very different from even the best smartphones, but they don’t exactly replicate the experience of a “regular” computer. You need to start to think about your customer’s email experience in ways that go beyond “mobile” and “not mobile.”
The battle for webmail dominance continues. Both Yahoo and AOL have announced plans for interface changes. I’m looking forward to some really cool stuff here. I don’t know exactly what they have planned, but I’d bet on innovations that help people manage email better.
The tweaking of individual level inbox filtering. These are new tools for mailbox providers that will continue to tune the usage of inbox filtering.
An increased security focus among email marketers. Many readers of this column are probably aware of last year’s spear-phishing attack on the email marketing community. Especially for those with the keys to large data assets, the need for heightened alertness has become more urgent. This year I think you will see both providers and clients taking measures to be sure they and their customers stay safe.
An increase in email security that builds on top of DKIM. The good news is that more mailbox providers and security vendors accept DKIM. But there are some key capabilities that need to exist to allow most mailers and mailbox providers to take advantage of the security provided by email authentication.
The straight jacket of flat HTML will be removed. This is the year that we’ll see wider rollout of experiments by large webmail providers to allow JavaScript and Flash-like functionality in the inbox.
What are the trends that you’re watching in 2011?
Repost from MediaPost by George Bilbrey
Email Marketing Trends 2010 vs 2011
It has been interesting to see changes in trends and new thing that are having an impact on email marketing. As we face the New Year, people are speculating on what email marketing trends will be present in 2011. Listed below are just a couple of expected 2011 email marketing trends that you may want to consider adding or refining in your email marketing strategy.
Email Newsletters: In 2010 experts strongly advised small businesses to invest in email marketing, encouraging marketers to keep lists clean to avoid high bounce and undeliverable rates. This year some experts are taking budget limitations into consideration and for small businesses who aren’t able to spend more in 2011, experts are suggesting they focus on measuring the overall value of their email campaigns and estimated its expected return. Additionally, trigger emails are expected to rise in an effort to boost retention and further engage with clients.
Social Media Marketing: Businesses were expected to adopt more social media methods such as a Facebook and a Twitter account in 2010. Today this expectation remains as Facebook approaches its 60 millionth user and Twitter hits 150 million users.
Mobile: Increasing sales of smart phone devices would cause mobile applications to rise along with mobile web browsing last year. In 2011 the mobile boom continues as smartphones are expected to outsell PCs this year.
Online Video: With so many positive attributes of online video (ie.: inexpensive, easily accessible, engaging and interactive, viral and shareable, etc) in 2010 experts predicted an increase in video-email. This year video continues to be an effective sales channel. In 2010 over 13 million hours of video content was uploaded onto YouTube resulting in more than 700 billion views. For 2011 experts are predicting a push toward audience buying within video as well as integrating 3D and HD technologies and creating an interactive environment for customers.
10 Key Online Marketing Trends for 2010
More Channels, More Data, and Better Tools
Online marketing is facing unprecedented change, brought on by a volatile economy, the meteoric rise of new channels, and the increased demand for financial accountability. 2010 is already shaping up to be an exciting year for online marketers.
1. Marketing Budgets and Focus Continue to Swing Online
2. Marketers work harder to keep email relevant
3. Search continues as an online marketing mainstay, but complexity grows
4. Marketers expand targeting and personalization on their websites
5. Adoption of other online channels persist
6. Mobile continues its march toward greater significance
7. Marketers continue to nurture social media
8. Web analytics unifies online data across channels
9. IT Bottlenecks drive adoption of on demand marketing solutions
10. Online Marketing suites bridge the gap between analysis and action
For more information about these trends, check out 1to1media.com
8 email statistics to use at parties
One of our email gurus at V12 Group sent me this great article today and I had to repost!
EmailMarketingReports.com states:
Any self-respecting marketing channel is incomplete without a set of cool numbers to go with it: numbers you can print on a t-shirt and impress your friends with (if you have the right sort of friends).
Social media has them. Now it’s email’s turn…
- If email was a country, its 1.4 billion users would make it the largest in the world. Bigger than China, bigger than the populations of the USA and European Union combined.
- 247 billion emails are sent each day. That’s one email every 0.00000035 seconds.
- In the time it takes you to read this sentence, some 20 million emails entered cyberspace.
- Every second, the world’s email users produce messages equivalent in size to over 16,000 copies of the Complete Works of Shakespeare (assuming a 30KB average email size).
- 13.4 billion: the number of direct marketing dollars forecast to go on email in the US in 2009.
- $583 billion: the return from that investment if you use DMA figures on email marketing ROI. That’s four times the market value of Microsoft.
- 181: the number of marketing emails it would take to produce enough revenue to buy one share in Microsoft.
- 83,689,738,832,367: the number of marketing emails it would take to produce enough revenue to pay the US National Debt.
[Aside 1: When you see email stats like the above, you gain a new appreciation for the work of those companies and organizations managing email.]
[Aside 2: And when you consider that many of these emails are spam, you can understand why ISPs and others have bigger problems to worry about than whether legitimate marketing email is reaching the right destination.]