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Email Marketing

EMAIL MARKETING MONTH: From CRM to scaleability – How to found the right solution for your needs

For most Marketing Managers, email remains a powerful tool for customer engagement and brand promotion. However, navigating the vast landscape of email marketing solutions providers can be a daunting task. Here are some top tips to help you find the perfect partner to elevate your email marketing efforts, based on inout from attendees at the Digital Marketing Solutions Summit…

1. Define Your Needs & Goals:

Before seeking external solutions, take a step back and define your email marketing goals. Consider:

  • Target Audience: Understanding your audience demographics and their preferred communication channels is crucial.
  • Campaign Types: Will you focus on regular newsletters, promotional emails, or a targeted email automation strategy?
  • Data Management and Integration: Does your chosen solution integrate seamlessly with your existing CRM or marketing automation platform?

2. Deliverability and Compliance:

Landing in the spam folder defeats the purpose of email marketing. Look for providers with a strong track record of high email deliverability rates. Additionally, ensure the solution complies with UK data protection regulations like GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) when managing customer email lists.

3. Functionality and Features:

Modern email marketing platforms offer a plethora of features. Consider your needs when evaluating potential solutions:

  • Email Design Tools: User-friendly drag-and-drop editors allow you to create visually appealing and responsive emails without relying on coding expertise.
  • Segmentation and Targeting Tools: Segment your audience based on demographics, interests, or purchase history to deliver personalized email campaigns.
  • Automation Capabilities: Automate email workflows, such as welcome messages for new subscribers or abandoned cart reminders for a more efficient marketing strategy.

4. Reporting and Analytics:

Data is key to measuring the success of your email marketing efforts. Choose a provider offering comprehensive reporting and analytics tools to track key metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates.

5. Scalability and Flexibility:

As your marketing efforts evolve, your email marketing needs will likely grow. Look for solutions that can scale with your organization, accommodating increasing subscriber lists, campaign volume, or additional features as needed.

6. Ease of Use and Support:

A user-friendly platform is essential. Evaluate how intuitive the interface is for both you and your marketing team. Does the provider offer readily available support resources like training webinars, online tutorials, or a dedicated customer support team?

7. Cost Considerations:

Email marketing platforms typically offer tiered pricing plans based on features and subscriber list size. Consider your budget and prioritise features most relevant to your needs. Some providers offer free trials or entry-level plans with limited features, allowing you to test the platform before committing.

8. Security and Data Protection:

Data security is paramount. Look for providers with robust security measures in place to protect your customer data. These include encryption protocols, secure data storage, and two-factor authentication for user accounts.

Bonus Tip:

Seek out independent reviews and case studies from UK businesses using different email marketing solutions. Their experiences can provide valuable insights into the platform’s efficiency, user experience, and customer support quality.

By following these top tips, Marketing Managers can source the best email marketing solutions providers. The right partner will equip you with the tools and expertise to craft compelling email campaigns, ultimately generating better customer engagement and driving results for your business.

Are you searching for Email Marketing solutions for your organisation? The Digital Marketing Solutions Summit can help!

Photo by 84 Video on Unsplash

EMAIL MARKETING MONTH: Thinking beyond the inbox as part of customer experience

Despite the rise of social media, good old fashioned email remains a powerful tool for UK businesses. However, the days of generic blasts to mass audiences are fading. Today’s digital marketing managers are embracing a more sophisticated approach to email marketing, leveraging new technologies and data-driven strategies to reach inboxes and nurture customer relationships…

From Batch and Blast to Personalisation at Scale:

Traditionally, email marketing involved sending the same message to a large subscriber list. Now, personalisation is key:

  • Segmentation and Targeting: Segmenting email lists based on demographics, purchase history, and online behaviour allows for targeted messaging that resonates with specific customer segments.
  • Dynamic Content: Dynamic content ensures each email feels personalised, displaying relevant product recommendations, offers, or loyalty program updates based on individual customer profiles.
  • Automation Workflows: Automated email workflows nurture leads, trigger re-engagement campaigns, and celebrate customer milestones, fostering stronger relationships.

A Symphony of Tools and Services:

Email marketing is no longer a standalone activity. Digital marketing managers are utilizing a range of related services to enhance their campaigns:

  • Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems: Integrating email marketing software with CRMs provides a holistic view of customer interactions, allowing for personalised email content.
  • Marketing Automation Platforms: These platforms automate email workflows, segment lists, and track campaign performance, streamlining campaign management.
  • Data Analytics Tools: Analysing email performance metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and unsubscribe rates helps refine strategies and optimize future campaigns.

The Future of Email Marketing: Beyond the Inbox:

The future of email marketing in the UK is likely to see:

  • Focus on Customer Experience: Emails will become more interactive and content-driven, focusing on providing value and fostering engagement beyond the initial click-through.
  • Omnichannel Marketing: Email marketing will be seamlessly integrated with other marketing channels like social media and SMS, creating a unified customer experience across touchpoints.
  • The Rise of AI: Artificial intelligence (AI) will further personalise email content, predict customer behaviour, and optimise send times for maximum engagement.

Building Trust and Value is Key:

Success in email marketing hinges on:

  • Building a Permission-Based List: Acquiring email addresses organically through valuable content and opt-in forms fosters trust and higher engagement rates.
  • Prioritizing Data Security: Ensuring compliance with data protection regulations like GDPR is paramount for maintaining customer trust and avoiding hefty fines.
  • Delivering Value: Focus on sending emails that genuinely benefit recipients, whether it’s providing helpful content, exclusive offers, or valuable industry insights.

Email marketing isn’t dead, it’s evolving. By embracing new technologies, data-driven approaches, and a customer-centric mindset, digital marketing managers can ensure email remains a powerful tool for driving engagement, nurturing leads, and fostering long-lasting customer relationships.

Are you searching for Email Marketing solutions for your organisation? The Digital Marketing Solutions Summit can help!

Photo by Stephen Phillips – Hostreviews.co.uk on Unsplash

Doubts over marketing email deliverability following Google & Yahoo policy changes

New research from email security provider EasyDMARC found that 25% of e-commerce retailers expect to see a notable drop in email deliverability following Yahoo and Google’s email authentication policy changes in February 2024.

Both Yahoo Mail and Google Gmail released statements confirming that beginning February 2024, bulk senders must deploy measures, including the Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) standard to ensure continued email deliverability. The measure better prevents phishing and spoofing attempts by automatically identifying and disposing of emails that impersonate sender domains by sending them to junk or rejecting them altogether.

Both Google’s sender guidelines and Yahoo’s sender requirements & recommendations have stated that failure to comply with the new sending standards could negatively impact email delivery.

For e-commerce providers that rely on email as a marketing and customer communications channel, such measures could negatively affect customer engagement and sales.

With four billion daily email users and an ROI of up to $42 for every $1 spent, email marketing remains one of the most popular and successful marketing strategies for retail organizations. To determine how retailers are protecting this valuable revenue driver in light of the new guidelines, EasyDMARC reviewed the DMARC policies of the top 1,000 global online stores. It found that only 75% had deployed the security protocol.

Poor email deliverability can affect not just customer awareness but also the trust in and financial performance of e-commerce platforms. Emails missing inboxes can erode customer trust and directly impact sales, highlighting an important future link between cybersecurity compliance, brand reputation, and an organization’s bottom line.

Yahoo has indicated that the full impact of the roll-out is yet to be felt, stating before February, ‘enforcement will be gradually rolled out, as we monitor compliance through the first half of the year.’ As a result, businesses may have some leeway to adjust and fully implement DMARC standards before feeling the full effects of poor deliverability.

Gerasim Hovhannisyan, EasyDMARC CEO and co-founder, said: “Many people view DMARC and email authentication measures through the lens of security, seeing them primarily as tools to guard against malicious actors. However, while it is an effective way of fending off phishing and spoofing, the stakes extend far beyond security alone for retailers.

“Adopting these measures is crucial for staying competitive, safeguarding revenue, and maintaining vital customer connections. It’s not just about protection; it’s about ensuring uninterrupted engagement and preserving the trust that fuels relationships and revenue.”

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

If you specialise in Email Marketing we want to hear from you!

Each month on Digital Marketing Briefing we’re shining the spotlight on different parts of the print and marketing sectors – and in March we’ll be focussing on Email Marketing solutions. It’s all part of our ‘Recommended’ editorial feature, designed to help marketing industry professionals find the best products and services available today. So, if you specialise in Email Marketing and would like to be included as part of this exciting new shop window, we’d love to hear from you – for more info, contact Kerry Naumburger on k.**********@fo*********.uk . Mar 2024 – Email Marketing April 2024 – Digital Printing May 2024 – Social Media Jun 2024 – Brand Monitoring July 2024 – Web Analytics Aug 2024 – Conversion Rate Optimisation Sept 2024 – Digital Signage Oct 2024 – Brochure Printing Nov 2024 – Creative & Design Dec 2024 – Online Strategy Jan 2025 – Content Management Feb 2025 – Lead Generation & Tracking

Is email-only outreach a thing of the past?

Lead rates from email-only outreach fell drastically last year, while those from multi-channel continued to climb.

That’s according to new research from Sopro, which noted a 22% drop in success rates for email-only outreach occurred in 2023 vs 2022.

This corresponded to an increase in the number of marketing emails by 49% as businesses battled for attention from prospects.

Three quarters of B2B companies surveyed believe that marketing results are better when email prospecting is combined with other outbound marketing channels, while 68% agree that email prospecting complements inbound marketing channels.

Email still holds a vital role in outreach strategy, however. 67% of buyers said they prefer to be contacted by email than any other channel, while 88% want to hear from suppliers when researching a purchasing decision.

The landscape remains challenging. An average of four stakeholders are now involved in the decision-making process, up from 3.6 in 2023. 11% of companies have between six and nine people involved. When asked to list their main marketing concerns in 2023, respondents cited lead generation (46%), lead quality (38%) and generating quality content (36%).

Sopro analysed data from more than 75.2 million emails and combined them with insights from over 350 sales and marketing professionals, outlined in the State of Prospecting 2024 whitepaper.

The study comes as businesses prepare for new regulations by Google and Yahoo, which are due to be enforced from February 2024. These will apply to anyone who sends more than 5,000 emails per day, in a bid to clamp down on spam.

Ryan Welmans, CEO and co-founder at Sopro said: “It is clearly a tough environment for businesses and marketing professionals, with increased competition and stricter regulations on the way, against a constantly evolving economic backdrop. But this also presents an opportunity for those who have the knowledge and tools to follow best practice and stand out from the crowd.

“The new regulations echo a belief that we have always held at Sopro – that emails should be personalised, relevant and value-driven. When combining expertise with new tools – in particular AI – businesses can offer recipients real personalisation that goes beyond email and that can be maximised across all relevant channels. We hope that the information in this new whitepaper will act as a practical guide for sales and marketing professionals, prompting them to set strong multi-channel strategies for 2024 and beyond.”

Another new development is that 18% of people are happy to be contacted by post, which is more than double the number in the previous year. This suggests that personalised direct mail could be highly valuable for intelligent prospecting.

The research indicated that gifting can increase lead quality by 36.1%. Branded merchandise was reported to be the next most successful gift (49%), with beers, wine, or spirits at 44%. Disappointingly for the planet, tree planting was the least used gift option, with 45% of survey respondents failing to redeem the gift.

Do you specialise in Email Marketing? We want to hear from you!

Each month on Digital Marketing Briefing we’re shining the spotlight on different parts of the print and marketing sectors – and in March we’ll be focussing on Email Marketing solutions.

It’s all part of our ‘Recommended’ editorial feature, designed to help marketing industry professionals find the best products and services available today.

So, if you specialise in Email Marketing and would like to be included as part of this exciting new shop window, we’d love to hear from you – for more info, contact Kerry Naumburger on k.**********@fo*********.uk .

Mar – Email Marketing
April – Digital Printing
May – Social Media
Jun – Brand Monitoring
July – Web Analytics
Aug – Conversion Rate Optimisation
Sept – Digital Signage
Oct – Brochure Printing
Nov – Creative & Design
Dec – Online Strategy
Jan 2024 – Content Management
Feb 2024 – Lead Generation & Tracking

Global email marketing software market to reach $2.5bn by 2027

The global market for Email Marketing Software is projected to reach a revised size of $2.5 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 9.2% from $1.3 billion in  2020.

On-Premise, one of the segments analysed in the ReportLinker research, is projected to record 5.4% CAGR and reach $856.1 million by the end of the analysis period.

After an early analysis of the business implications of the pandemic and its induced economic crisis, growth in the Cloud segment is readjusted to a revised 11.8% CAGR for the next 7-year period.

The Email Marketing Software market in the US is estimated at $364.5 million in 2020. China, the world’s second largest economy, is forecast to reach a projected market size of $504.3 million by 2027, trailing a CAGR of 12.2% over the analysis period.

Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 6% and 7.7% respectively over the 2020-2027 period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 6.9% CAGR.

Email Marketing

Do you specialise in Email Marketing? We want to hear from you!

Each month on Digital Marketing Briefing we’re shining the spotlight on different parts of the print and marketing sectors – and in March we’ll be focussing on Email Marketing solutions.

It’s all part of our ‘Recommended’ editorial feature, designed to help marketing industry professionals find the best products and services available today.

So, if you specialise in Email Marketing and would like to be included as part of this exciting new shop window, we’d love to hear from you – for more info, contact Clair Wyld on  c.****@fo*********.uk .

Here’s our features list in full:- Mar – Email Marketing April – Digital Printing May – Social Media Jun – Brand Monitoring July – Web Analytics Aug – Conversion Rate Optimisation Sept – Digital Signage Oct – Brochure Printing Nov – Creative & Design Dec – Online Strategy

Email Marketing

Top tips for better email marketing

By Adam Oldfield, CEO at Force24

Email marketing has been around for a quarter of a century – and it shows no signs of slowing down. Not only does it provide a powerful way for marketers to tell recipients about promotions, brand messages and news – it’s a versatile, low-cost, and efficient tool helping marketers to deliver hyper-personalised comms that are measurable and create positive ROI.

This can certainly be the case if an industry professional chooses to use an integrated email marketing platform that supports their brand in customer engagement.

Of course, the next email campaign will go somewhere as soon as the organisation clicks ‘send’ – but how do marketers know if they’re sending the right message to the right person, at the right time? Plus, modern-day marketers are today battling with privacy and data protection pressures which have come to the fore following the introduction of GDPR so the vital nature of ensuring every piece of comms is compliant has never been more important.

What that also means is that there’s an even greater expectation for brands to only send hyper-personalised content to individuals who have consented to receiving it. With that, the power is ultimately with the recipient and – with data protection regulations and the ability to hit ‘unsubscribe’ at any given time at their fingertips – they truly have the sender right where they want them.

However, marketers are also in a powerful position if they couple email content with an intuitive marketing automation platform because it’s soon to become their most cost-effective, efficient marketing channel. When brands plug in automation too, it can help to understand the audience on a more granular level – resulting in professionals sending relevant digital comms as a result.

So, what are the benefits of email marketing platforms, and what should marketers be looking for when they’re ready to buy a savvy tool that could help transform their customer conversations and empower email deliverability?

  1. Liberating email marketing

As an email marketing tool, it’ll be able to take on the mundane and time-consuming everyday tasks that industry professionals end up putting to the bottom of the ‘to do’ list – such as retrieving data from each campaign which, when manually carried out, can take several hours to collate, and something that won’t ever be entirely complete.

With marketing automation, brands can disconnect from the wheels of the marketing machine as it’s able to manage those routine jobs. And the result? Organisations can spend more time focusing on strategy, creativity, and customer conversations and continue to ensure their brand is engaging the right people, at the right time.

2. Email marketing platform integration for multi-channel journeys

For comms to work in harmony and drive real results, companies need an email marketing platform that can segment audiences and talk to multiple groups of recipients at the same time – all from one email build.

A savvy email marketing platform enables teams to create hyper-relevant landing pages, microsites, newsletters and email journeys – in minutes. And if a marketer is saving hours each week thanks to automation, just think how much time they can spend creating their next campaign!

3. Measuring the metrics that matter

What is being monitored to discover whether the latest email campaign was a success or failure? Are brands analysing what improvements they could make? If they’re only looking at email open and click through rates, it’s vital that marketers delve even deeper into the data because these ‘vanity metrics’ don’t tell the full story as to howengaged a recipient was.

For example, a reader could’ve accidentally clicked on an email and discarded it seconds later. And unfortunately, not only are they not interested in what that piece of content has to say, but the organisation itself is getting skewed data as a result.

However, any savvy marketer will know that they shouldn’t ignore them altogether – it’s just a case of not relying on them as the only form of measurement. Instead, using an email marketing automation platform can monitor each campaign alongside what the lead scoring data is telling marketers about every individual’s interaction in their brand, and where they are in the buying funnel.

And, if marketing departments are  unsure as to what lead scoring is, imagine numbers above each recipients’ head based on how engaged they are in the organisation. The higher the figure, the more these individuals should be targeted with hyper-relevant content they want to consume.

4. Unlocking personalisation using email marketing platforms

And speaking about ultra-individualised digital comms, if brands are sending the right content to the right person, at the right time, email campaigns will be far superior to those of a manual send. That’s because customers are being targeted with the type of material they’re interested in, and it goes a long way towards showing that they’re the onlyperson in the room that a company is talking to (even when the businesses is speaking to multiple recipients).

Consumers no longer want bland, irrelevant ‘batch and blast’ emails because the overall message will be loosely received by all. An audience needs to be segmented into specific groups so they can receive tailored sends that show the brand understands their of-the-moment interests.

Plus, when marketers plug in an email marketing platform, they can help to guide audiences through their customer journey and support conversion thanks to their hyper-relevance.

Email Marketing

5 insights into email marketing from 2020

By Michael Trapani, Senior Director of Product Marketing, Acoustic

Benchmarking an unexpected year, like 2020, can be a significant challenge. With so many factors affecting your company’s performance, how do you go about it? Comparing your performance in 2020 to 2019 (or any other year) will hardly account for the outsized influence a global pandemic had on your business, and the market as a whole.

Our newly released email marketing benchmark report, though, showcases the influence that the pandemic has had on email marketing based on data from thousands of marketing teams.

This benchmark is an indicator for your performance through an unprecedented year and a source of insight into consumers’ responses to the pandemic, current events, and how email marketing prevailed. These metrics uncover five primary insights:

  1. Pandemic lockdowns drove a huge increase in email engagement by consumers.
  2. It wasn’t just the pandemic — other global events impacted performance of email engagement.
  3. Email has further established itself as consumers’ preferred channel of engagement.
  4. COVID-19 messaging grew tiring and drove unsubscribes.
  5. Key industries were affected in different ways as a result of the pandemic and current events.

Let’s take a closer look.

  1. Pandemic Lockdowns Caused a Spike in Engagement

In March and April of 2020, the world entered the first wave of pandemic lockdowns and most of the in-person economy paused. However, while in-person shopping came to a halt, digital soared, leading to a surge in engagement with email marketing. Email marketing open rates increased 31% from January 2020 to April 2020.

While consumers sat at home, they opened more brand emails. Constantly online, the spring of 2020 was the perfect environment for email engagement. With higher open rates, click rates rose too: from January to April 2020, click rates increased 28.6%.  

2. Email Open Rates Coincided with Current Events

The pandemic wasn’t the only event that impacted email marketing performance. Natural disasters coincided with increased email engagement in the energy and environment industry. Unfortunately, the second half of 2020 saw a historic number of hurricanes, wildfires, and droughts. The industry was a clear outlier in the second half of the year, with multiple months exceeding a 40% open rate as a result — well above other industries measured.

The political arena of 2020 also had an impact on email marketing performance. Government-related emails saw a large uptick in November, coinciding with the U.S. presidential election. Open rates continued its upward trajectory for the industry through December, too, after the election was called.

3. In the “New Normal,” Email is Preferred

Email has always been a popular channel, but in the “new normal,” consumers are favoring this channel more than prior to the pandemic. Across the board, open rates increased since the pandemic’s start. While engagement peaked while we were in lockdown in the spring of 2020, engagement rates, overall, increased during the “new normal.”

In fact, every region measured had a higher click-to-open rate in the second half of the year. Europe saw the highest click-to-open rate in H2 of 2020, with an average of 14.8%.

Globally, consumers are more likely to engage with emails. This signifies a growing affinity for email communications as well as brands getting better at targeting the right consumers with each email.

4. COVID-Messaging Grew Tiresome Quickly, Driving Unsubscribes

While engagement was up, so was the unsubscribe rate. Other than India and Asia Pacific, every region had a higher unsubscribe rate in the second half of the year compared to the first. Overall, unsubscribe rates were 34.4% higher by year’s end, globally.

This could be a result of the COVID-19 messaging sent en masse to “unclean” lists. It was common practice for CEOs and brands to send pandemic-related updates to their entire list about the state of their business, like processes installed that kept employees and customers safe. This likely alerted many customers that brands they no longer shop with nor have affinity toward had their contact information, prompting them to unsubscribe.

5. Industry Highs and Lows Throughout 2020

Not all industries were equally prepared for the rapid digital transformation that took place: some industries thrived in a lockdown environment while others suffered. Unsurprisingly, hospitals and healthcare enjoyed high engagement throughout the entirety of H2, ranging between about 30 to 35% open rates. Because consumers were anxious for COVID-19 updates, they were more likely to interact with related content.

Two industries hit especially hard by the pandemic were travel and retail. Travel, for the most part, came to a halt for much of the year and the pandemic’s impact on the retail industry has been well-documented as dozens of retail hallmarks went out of business. This performance is reflected in their email marketing, as well. Travel and retail were two industries with consistently low open rates and low CTORs compared to other industries, rarely eclipsing 15% for open rates and hovering around 10% for CTOR.  

Getting Back to Basics with Email

While 2020 saw unexpected global changes, the “new normal” demonstrates that email marketing is a reliable tool with staying power. Comparing your performance from before and after the pandemic can signify how your brand is performing in the “new normal” as well as how you stack up in your market. Overall, global open rates increased in the latter half of the year by 6.5%. If you trend under the industry average, you can implement strategies to improve your email engagement, such as more advanced targeting to understand what content your audiences interact with more.

Despite many new marketing technologies and opportunities seeming to emerge daily, email is still growing. Make sure your email marketing strategies can keep pace. 

If you’d like to review the results of the full Acoustic report, download it here.

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