These days the topic in email marketing tends to be whether or not email is dead, and before I go any farther in this post, let me just state that email marketing is far from dead. According to Email Institute’s Q1 2011 Email Trends, ‘Open rates (23.3%) increased both quarter over quarter (by 5.6%) and year over year (by 4.2%)’. As long as you are smarter than the average marketer, email will continue to be a successful channel.

A perfect example of this can be found in a recent study by the Relevancy Group, in which they found that when using email, “more than half of all marketers are missing key segmentation opportunities.” So you’re saying 50% of marketers who use a channel that’s more than 15 years old still cannot figure out how to segment properly and deliver relevant content? Kind of scary, no?

As marketing channels evolve, you will continue to run into the challenge of reaching your audience. Telephone has do not dial lists, TV has DVR/TiVo, and Email has SPAM filters. Getting your email delivered is getting tougher and tougher. Internet service providers (ISPs) constantly update their security metrics and use passive indicators – messages deleted without being read and lack of opens or clicks – to determine how they qualify SPAM.

As ISPs like Google, Yahoo and Hotmail continue to evolve their standards, how can marketers stay ahead of the curve and continue to find the Inbox?

Target to Increase relevancy –You often hear people say if you create great content, great content will sell itself. But in email, just because it’s great content doesn’t make it great content to your entire audience. Take the movie industry, for example. Yes, The English Patient was a great flick to some and even won Best Picture in 1997, but I personally would never enjoy the Romance genre. It’s great content overall as witnessed by the award, but its lack of relevancy renders it useless to me. And if I’m in your potential audience, I’m most likely bombarded by emails, so you are going to lose me if you promote the newly released box set.

There have been arguments against the economics behind targeting, most of which has been that it is not worth the time you have to invest (aka laziness). Instead of going into all the arguments, this post does an excellent job explaining why they’re wrong.

Integrate Your Database Data into Your Email Program – The key to providing your customers with relevant email content begins with understanding who they are at their core. Email metrics are great for understanding how your email marketing is performing on a basic level, but in order to provide them with truly relevant and targeted content this has to be combined with your database analytics efforts. Backend analytics that allow you to target based on purchase behavior and demographics will provide greater insight into your consumer and thus a more relevant message.

Don’t Forget to Always Provide Something of Value – This is often overstated and, more times than not, under delivered. I may be an email subscriber, but I don’t always care about the new item you are releasing. Maybe, just maybe, if you throw in a free cookie along with purchase, you might get me to consider.

Corner Bakery does an excellent of this; whenever they promote a new sandwich or menu item, there is always a hook to draw you in. If it’s breakfast, it’s usually coffee, and with lunch it’s a dessert. You just have to determine the cost/benefit analysis of what you give away. In Corner Bakery’s case, a $1.00 coffee or cookie for an $8 dollar purchase makes sense.

Marketing channels will never stop evolving, and labeling any previously successful channel dead is often an overstatement. The key to continued success is understanding your data and letting it drive your marketing efforts – whether it be traditional, email, social or mobile marketing. The biggest issue with email marketing and other digital channels is actually taking the time to dig deeper into the data to continue to target your customers with relevant messages.

So, how will you continue to adapt changes in the email marketing?

About Kyle Henderick

Kyle Henderick has written 2 post in this blog.

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