Email Marketing: What's Coming in 2008?

In this article, Jordan Ayan, president of SubscriberMail, and Joel Book, director of eMarketing Education at ExactTarget weigh in on what’s coming in 2008. Here’s a summary of what they said:

1. More CRM integration, especially with software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings. “E-mail can play a vital role in lead nurturing if you can track the many data points that can serve as triggers,” Book said. Having e-mail functionality built into CRM solutions such as Salesforce.com or Microsoft Dynamics CRM makes this possible.
   
   
2. Increased use of automated tools. Triggered messages, rendering tools and segmentation tools should be on your radar once the New Year kicks in—if they aren’t already, Ayan said. “You need the ability to preview messages across multiple clients, [see] how that message is going to look in the in-box,” he said.
   
   
3. Closer alignment of marketing elements. E-mail can’t stand alone anymore, which is why we’re seeing e-mail move up the chain of command from a “siloed” departmental view into the hands of CMOs or directors of marketing. The reason, Ayan said: e-mail supports every other interactive marketing tactic.
   
   For example, people use search engines to identify suppliers with whom they are most likely to do business. Savvy e-mailers, Book said, are using landing pages that link from search engines to invite those prospects to opt in to additional communications. “Most marketers invite signup on the main home page, but the smartest ones figure out which pages are most heavily trafficked and invite opt in there as well,” he said.
   
   
4. Using rich video with e-mail marketing. Although marketers learned that embedding video in e-mail can present difficulties, video does work—especially in the b-to-b market, Book said. The trick is to use e-mail to bring readers to a special landing page where they can view video on their own terms. “The viral effect of video also drives adoption of your e-mail and builds an audience,” he said. 

Source: btobonline.com

Comments

[JT Gillett]

Thanks for the summary!

It seems that social networking may be the biggest trend for email marketers 2008 -- Using gadgets, widgets and rich media to capture the hearts and minds of the youth market is a major challenge for many companies...the evolution of social marketing will be very interesting this year.